diff --git a/content/english/news/winding-down.md b/content/english/news/winding-down.md index 19259e9..82aaa99 100644 --- a/content/english/news/winding-down.md +++ b/content/english/news/winding-down.md @@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ I hinted at economic trouble at the beginning of [this](/news/summer-update-2025 In the last Handmade Seattle I made a mistake with the balance of content. It was definitely jarring to have little in the way of old-school technical presentations. This caused a 50-50 split of positive versus negative feedback: the positive commentary came largely from newcomers, while the negative came largely from veterans. The reader can visit [older](/news) blog posts where I apologized and asked for feedback. -However, I stand by all my speakers (read: their right to speak their mind unencumbered) and refuse to add disclaimers/warnings inside published recordings. It is obvious giving speakers air time doesn't mean I endorse all their views. In any case, the most controversial talk by far was Andrew Kelley's keynote on [Day One](/media/seattle-2024/hms-day-one/). +However, I stand by all my speakers and refuse to add disclaimers/warnings inside published recordings. It is obvious giving speakers air time doesn't mean I endorse all their views. In any case, the most controversial talk by far was Andrew Kelley's keynote on [Day One](/media/seattle-2024/hms-day-one/). I received a barrage of vile essays in my Inbox and Discord DMs, calling me a communist (what?) for platforming Andrew's message. I lost once good friends, including Ginger Bill, the creator of Odin: @@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ Regardless of what you think of this, I forgave both of them and I'm opting to p #### Could things have been different? -Maybe. Without social media or perverse incentives for online drama things could've gone differently: in the end this was just one event. In fact a Seattle meetup member called me a “young grasshopper” as a community organizer. That caught me off guard until I looked around. Important things take time indeed: TED Talks have existed for four decades; DEFCON is thirty years old; many open-source conferences spent twenty years figuring things out. Herding cats is slow and messy. +Maybe. Without social media or perverse incentives for online drama we would've gotten more perspective: in the end this was just one event. In fact a Seattle meetup member called me a “young grasshopper” as a community organizer. That caught me off guard until I looked around. Important things take time indeed: TED Talks have existed for four decades; DEFCON is thirty years old; many open-source conferences spent twenty years figuring things out. Herding cats is slow and messy. I’m done running conferences though. Besides the reasons above, they feed the egos of a few “anointed” speakers and require a social-media hustle I won’t play. I’m opting out. I prefer building stuff that gets people offline: better meetups, our own server racks, and self-hosted tools for indie devs with serious Handmade projects.