All I’m really looking for is something along the lines of “Here are three reasons why I think this post is cravenly optimistic…”

I’m just saying that I feel that you’ve provided sufficient analogies and adjectives to explain HOW you feel, but not enough supporting detail to explain WHY you feel feel that way.

Express it however you feel most comfortable, just please focus less on the how and more on the why.

I would agree that your greatest strength is in your ability to generate innovative thoughts. Good luck with Austin. I’m sure it will be a worthwhile event and that future events will adopt that parts that worked well.

As far as your other comments are concerned, I really don’t see very many specifics that clearly explain why you think this post is “cravenly opportunistic” or my analysis is “shallow”.

I would love it if you could give me a simple paragraph that is devoid of pithy, abstract twitterisms and explains in detail exactly what you disagree with. Abstractions are helpful at times, but I can think of a million different details that could potentially fit under the umbrella of the vague criticisms you left us with. I have no way of being certain which ones you have in mind unless you roll up your sleaves and get more specific.

I don’t think I stated anywhere that I’m immune to innate cowardliness.

I didn’t blow my top at the criticism. I didn’t blow my top, and I’m disappointed in the quality of the analysis and conclusions rather than an instance of criticism.

I appreciate criticism and welcome it, and you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who has meaningfully engaged with me who would refute this.

My intention here isn’t to be a dick. I’m at peace with this.

I’m glad that you appreciate the diversity in Philly ALT.NET. It has always been a goal and a good part of my action and work in community organization to set stages for diversity. I’m glad to see the manifestations of this radiating from early, explicit efforts and considerations. I hope to increase diversity even more at the event in Austin.

No volume of well crafted words can hide the fact that you are being a hypocrite.

The message that you are immune to the innate cowardliness people experience when challenged with change is laughable considering this all started when you blew your top at some light criticism.

Your core mantra of “change or die” is in itself flawed. If you ever stop your eternal trailblazing, you contradict yourself. However, by never adapting to new opinions points that you have the inability to change – thus the larger contradiction.

Suggesting that you are open minded and appreciate bold ideas that push the boundaries let me just say – you are being a dick.

I would be more than excited to be part of a Philly ALT.NET. Diversity is this group’s largest strength, not elitism.

Suppressing craven behaviors or not having the opportunities to express them doesn’t mean that courage has taken root. This community is still far too predisposed to craven opportunism.

The lingering behavioral cancers in the alt.net community aren’t cured. They sleep waiting for the next trigger and the subsequent relapse, as demonstrated here.

I want to organize an event in Austin that follows the path of the first event that I organized in Austin. In many respects, I hope that it won’t be like other events that you’ve attended – not even like events of my own doing that you’ve attended, as the Austin 07 event hopefully was.

I want to get together with people who are looking to give no quarter when it comes to the predispositions to the craven behavior that keeps continuous improvement artificially suppressed.

The Austin event isn’t – as I’ve said – another alt.net club meeting – a club that I’m on the inside of and have no qualms criticizing. I’m confident that others can replicate those kinds of events at will. They’re cookie-cutter events from a conception and organization perspective. My purpose isn’t best served by re-trodding trails that I’ve already been on for some time.

Setting up last year’s event in Austin was pathfinding work. This year’s Austin event will be more pathfinding work – otherwise, I see no point. If you are personally invested in attending an event that is a large-scale alt.net user group open spaces meeting, then the Austin event may not be for you.

I am personally interested in attending more events like Austin 07 and Seattle, but those events don’t really need much pathfinding to make them happen, and anyone in the community should be able to organize them at this point.

The event in Austin is specially meant to address hard issues in continuous improvement – including predispositions toward shallow opportunism that some of this post and its commentary are exemplary of. That is what I see as the next step, and that is where I hope the event in Austin will go. If it doesn’t go there, no sweat – the right people will come and the right thing will happen.

We will be talking about tools and practices again in Austin, but not exclusively, and we’ll hopefully be talking about them within the context of continuous improvement.

I’m suggesting that members of the community search themselves for a considered understanding of whether they are the right people for this event. Again, this isn’t a user-group styled open space we’re talking about. If that’s the kind of thing you want, then don’t waste your time on the Austin event. The law of two feet is sacred and in effect.

No one is black-listed, but consider whether the open spaces event in Austin in the fall is the event that is right for you. If you have questions or doubts, call me up and talk to me about it. We can figure out together whether your interest and investment is commensurate with the intentions of the gathering.

I’m glad that you guys enjoyed Seattle. Your enjoyment of the event is yet more encouragement to me that the encounters and gatherings that I continue conceive of are on the right path. For those of you who chose to not come to Austin, we’ll see you at the next Open Conf styled event.

Thanks for the analysis. I see in you a predisposition to assume everyone sucks. I don’t feel any need to defend myself – I’ve fallen into that trap with you a few times now.

Your analysis isn’t well-considered or well-factored. I see in you a predisposition to community social climbing and opportunism. I’m disappointed in the effort you put into thinking through your conclusion. You can and should do better.

The one caveat is that the conference date will have to be at least 3-4 months away before I can get spousal approval to attend. She informed me as soon as I walked in the door that our daughter had better be sleeping through the night before I go to another one…:-)