Gawker: valleywag, winecamp

Chris Messina taking your spotlight, Tara Hunt? Join the club.

Nick Douglas — Tue, 30 May 2006 11:00:00 EDT

Web 2.0 (TM) marketer Tara Hunt is less than pleased with how "the media" (read: the SF Chronicle's embedded reporter Dan Fost) covered her event this weekend:

This past weekend, Chris and I (as well as a huge number of other people) were behind a very successful WineCamp, yet, when reported by the media, Chris was the only one mentioned as being behind it.

Funny, Tara, that sounds familiar. Kinda like Fost's note before heading to Winecamp:

The event is part of Chris Messina's Bar Camp un-conferences.

Oh really, Dan? So Barcamp's founding fathers —

Andy Smith (back left), Ryan King (back right), Tantek Celik (front left), Matt Mullenweg (front right), and the Eris Stassi (founding mother, not pictured) — Chris (center, squinting) didn't mention them when you fact-checked with him?

You...you did fact-check about Barcamp, right? I hear fact-checking separates real journalists from unreliable blogs like Valleywag.

Sometimes, being a PiC really sucks [Tara Hunt]
TECH CHRONICLES [Dan Fost at SF Chronicle]
Photo: BarCampPlanners, where are you now? [Ryan King on Flickr via the ryan king]

Wine Camp: Glad you didn't go yet?

Nick Douglas — Tue, 30 May 2006 10:30:00 EDT

To prove how X-TREEM bloggers roll (they camp! it's in-tents), joined-at-the-hip tech couple Chris Messina and Tara Hunt pulled a gaggle of geeks out to Winecamp this weekend for some roughing-it fun. (By roughing it, I mean their Macs weren't connected to the Internet.) Embedded reporter Dan Fost (pictured) reports at the SF Chronicle's tech blog:

Just because a conference has no organized agenda and no featured speakers doesn't mean it will devolve into chaos. Instead, groups formed instantly with verve and enthusiasm, and discussions ranged from highly geeky topics like the Drupal open source software to how to help nonprofits use technology.

Maybe I'm lowbrow, but normal people don't call that a successful conference. They call it a lousy camping trip.

Survivor: Winecamp [Dan Fost at SF Gate]
Photo: Wine Camp Calaveras [Tara Hunt on Flickr]

To-Do: Meet Markoff, the LJ guy, your maker

Nick Douglas — Thu, 25 May 2006 15:30:28 EDT

Great weekend ahead, and I'm not just saying that 'cause Valleywag takes a half-day tomorrow. Here — meet someone important by Memorial Day and pump 'em for info.

Thursday night: The bigshots and crackpots of consumer tech journalism wish Register journalist Andrew Orlowski a warm goodbye at the Edinburgh Castle Pub. Mosey up to the NYT's John Markoff and order Mac fanboy-baiter John C. Dvorak a drink — when he's really drunk, Dvorak gets totally coherent. [Dvorak.org/Orlowski]
Thursday night: Attendees at tonight's wine tasting in Redwood City include Brad the LiveJournal founder, Hugh the business card cartoonist, and Niniane the Google blogger. I'm cancelling (gotta wish Orlowski goodbye, right?), so e-mail Kai Chang to try for my spot on the guest list. [Evite]
Friday through Sunday: As previously pimped here, it's Winecamp! Register for 60 bucks, and that's just to pay for the food. The business plan: After the crowd gets drunk on free wine, organizer Chris Messina converts everyone to Scientology. [Winecamp]

To-Do this week: Liquid lunch

Nick Douglas — Mon, 22 May 2006 16:07:51 EDT

Pick your poison in this booze-soaked week of geek gatherings. As usual, links go to each event's Upcoming.org page.

Tuesday afternoon: Come to Mountain View for martinis at the third Two Martini Tuesday. [Upcoming]
Tuesday night: Then hit San Jose for beer at Tony Soprano's Pizzeria in San Jose. It's a Geek Dinner featuring bloggers, podcasters, and their fans. [Upcoming]
Thursday: More beer and pizza at Lanesplitter's for the Berkeley Tribe member meetup. (Only 97 days until Burning Man, guys!) [Upcoming]
Friday to Sunday: This weekend, get out your corkscrew for all the vino flowing at Wine Camp. The whole Web 2.0 gang — Tara Hunt of Riya, developers from Technorati and Rubyred Labs, blogger Susan Mernit will be supping some very fancy Kool-Aid at this BarCamp spinoff. [Upcoming]