 So I have a few thoughts on \#37c3, and this will be a long and personal one. Let me start by being overly generic, just like I usually do, and get to a point later on. It’s a good one I promise :) I’ve been to a few conferences, but none twice so far, so I’d call myself decently unbiased. The first two I ever went to belong in what I call the “corporate” category, which is true for most IT conferences out there. (1/11) 10 comments
I know many who are having lots of fun there and wouldn’t want to spend their time on anything else. But there’s also the other kind of IT conference, and you know what’s coming next. Noone’s going to that kind of conference because they want to “network” and talk about business opportunities using FLOSS and have in-person technical project meetings. (3/11) I’m going there because I like to do random shit with technology, not because it’s useful, but because it’s fun, interesting, or someone said it was impossible. I’m going there because other people there are not my colleagues, they are my family, my friends, my loved ones, my lovers and hookups. I’m going there because queer and Antifa flags are waving in the main entrance and I can comfortably do hours of offensive lesbian kissing in public. (4/11) I’m going there because people will take me as I am, not how I have to pretend to be in the outside world. I absolutely loved GPN, but I wasn’t prepared for 37C3. I *hoped* it would be a bigger version of GPN but part of me was expecting it to be more corporate and “clean”. Surely not the whole CCC would be… uhm, well it clearly is just about as queer, leftist, hacker-y, nerdy, neurodivergent, … as me. (5/11) Normal, you know? I feel normal in this place, nowhere else except Chaos. I should say a word or two about my actual experience at Congress. There’s too many things to list, and some should stay on my lewd account :P but regardless. I’ve wandered through the assemblies for hours (or days depending on how you count) and experienced all the insanely amazing things people are doing. (6/11) I met so many friends, the internet ones (hi andrew) and the offline ones (hi quinn), the far away ones (hi leo) and the nearby ones (hi ctbk). I nerded out with people more knowledgeable in my own talk topic than I am, I heard some amazing things in the few talks I did visit (the Lützerath and Assange talks were *on fire*, a shame they weren’t recorded). I held two talks, and my main talk was appreciated lots by people in-person and online. (7/11) Someone made a viral post of mine into a professionally-made sign and gifted it to me. I met someone by accident while waiting for a friend and oops, here I go again, turning one of these events into a four-day date. (We need more places to have sex discretely, I’m not the kind to disrespect the Nap-Lab rules.) Maybe that’s the reason I feel so incredibly good about Congress, but it can’t be all of it, so many other memories are with me now. (8/11) Post-congress depression hit not as hard as I had expected, maybe because I’ve been feeling so much better than in a while. And watching talks and speaking with my new relationships-are-complicated person has been carrying the spirit over. I’m with the Chaos for about a year now, maybe one and a half if you count me joining https://chaos.social thanks to @networkexception. I know why I’m part of this community. (9/11) I was really at a low point just before Congress and it helped immensely, just like anything I do with all of you does. Every one of you make me feel loved and important and worthy. I don’t get those feelings too much from other places, and definitely not in such a massive sum as here. So yeah. Here’s to many more years of Congress, GPN, and whatnot. (10/11) I’ve not even been to many of the smaller Chaos events due to lack of time and interest, but let’s see what I can do :) Much love to everyone I met in Hamburg, and much love to everyone else as well. ~ klfr |
Gregory's Server
FrOSCon and FOSDEM, while vastly different in scope and size, are both organized as a technical event for networking and information exchange. Now that’s not a bad thing at all – the spirit is good, people are nice, everyone’s excited about FLOSS, there’s lots to learn, et cetera. In fact I will be going back to FOSDEM this year because I’m excited about learning from people in the Rust and RISC-V spaces and reconnecting with SerenityOS friends. (2/11)