Mike Stopforth

well this has been a mountain out of a molehill & not sure how it turned into a ball of poo.
But as those who’ve been to the geekdinners know, I’ve also been organising these splendid dinners.. not about glory, we do it out of pleasure, to connect with others of our kind who think & live their lives in a peculiarly geeky fashion over a hearty dinner & sparking conversation.
And until now.. it’s been nothing but a joy.

Mike we all LOVED the 27 idea. simple.
The co.branding of the event with Stormhoek was irksome because Cerebra is a TECH company. simple.
There was feedback on the wiki cos the guys didn’t like the Cerebra branding. but we all loved the 27 idea.

You teach companies the benefit of dealing with negative feedback; so it was odd that you backed out; though I know it’s sometimes sore from those who care for you & are close. It wasn’t a personal attack. It wasn’t an attack on Cerebra.
..it was just that we had different opinions on who was branding the event. That’s all.

I personally adore you and think you are courageous and exceptional… but it doesn’t mean that I think ALL your ideas are winners.
Would be severely kak to see our little geek community divided over a trifling. South Africa knows division deep within her wounds. Unity among the smart & the fearless is what we strive for.

(thank you for the call Mike. So sad you felt personally slighted, we’re all here to back each other up, and I will continue to do so for you: you are doing wonders for the industry).
Hopefully we can map the network together & get our connection up & running sweet again..

PS. sorry to all who are now witness to the blog version of the soapie drama. Dirty laundry day it is

My title is harsh… Apologies… but I just found it kind of humourous that something like this happened outside of the software development arena where it happens very, very often!

Stupid question time – what is the wiki password?

So it’s not just the personal bloggers who are susceptible to a bit of misunderstanding and occasional treading on toes. Geeks do it too! Who would have thought: Geeks have egos and feelings and even the odd temper tantrum.

Let me preface what am I about to say with two things:

1. I’ve had wine. Which makes me even more theatrical and histrionic (and long-winded it would appear)
2. I love Mike. I think he is a lovely, sweet, kind-hearted, super guy. Even though he is the complete antithesis of me – about 400 years younger than I am, a happy-clapper and a really good person (i.e. I am a bitchy old shrew). So I might be a leeeeetle biased here.

Perhaps it wasn’t the right idea to have a branded dinner, (I’m thinking ‘why the fark would it matter’, but what do I know, I am not a Geek), but I am a little disappointed in some of the responses. I honestly don’t think it was necessary to make it personal. Why aim barbs at Mike and his experience or lack thereof? Come on guys, I thought you were above all of that.

Re the branded thing – I have to say that I find it all slightly amusing. It’s like the surfer sub-culture: all SO very non-conformist, non-materialistic, alternate, individualistic whatever, and yet they ALL wear Billabong and Quicksilver etc. Like I say, who cares whether it is branded or not? Especially with a small, upcoming ‘brand’ that stemmed from the very thing you are trying to create, a collection of like minded people who have a similar passion for the technology. Will having the brand on the dinner REALLY impact the integrity of the events? (Like Mike has that kind of clout!) Will that prostitute the good intentions of friendship, camaraderie and let’s be honest here, a bit of aspiring commercial networking as well.

But again, as I said, what do I know. If you want to keep it unbranded, then fine. But don’t attack the guy for trying to do what he thought was a good thing. That seems really unfair. Leave that shit for the mommy blogging brigade where we have our little mini drama’s on a daily basis

And don’t go breaking up with each other. I’ve just found you all and I am so excited to be an honorary Geek (am way too materialistic / branded / doff to be a true Geek). I want to be invited to more Geek dinners. And I think you are ALL completely divine, if a little odd.

Now, all of you – go kiss and make up. NOW!!

Wow! what a heated debate over something so small.
We could of simply said 27 geek dinner and put on the side sponsored by Stormhoek wine and Cerebra. Anyone who what’s to contribute to the party in terms of organisation, not speaking, gets to add their little sponsor thing like they did on the web2.0 conference .
Or have something like event organised by …, wine supplied by …, audio and lighting by…, like hollywood

I think when you say it’s a collaboration between x and y, the other people who took part feel a little excluded.
It’s not only the organizers that make the event, but all the participants.
Granted I haven’t taken much part in contributing to the organising or speaking at the event. I just sit there and learn and try to act like I know a lot and drink the wine and provide , hopefully intelligent conversation, but isn’t that what the geek dinner is also about apart from the actual speakers.

Jaxon, the wiki password is: convers8

Just to boil your bunny a bit more..

Uhhm.. what if the 27th is on a Sunday or public holiday ?

Also, most people are in some form of week-day routine.. Tuesdays are CLUG dinners, Wednesdays are Amobia meetings..

This is like “First Tuesday” with a bug in the logic (-:

I’d rather do a monthly local (cpt) dinner and then once in a blue moon (maybe 6mnts) try inspire a group of people to make the effort to travel to Jhb.. to meet our smog-munching-mine-heap-loving-geek-brothers at a “big” event.

I’ll jump on the bandwagon here and say I’m with Max, Paul, Angus and Miguel on this one. Even if I was able to attend 27’s I wouldn’t give rocks if they were sponsored/collaborated/hosted by any particular company.

As long as the people are cool, and conversation is good- I would be there. If someone is going to go to all the effort to organize something, surely it is only fair that they take the credit for it.

I doubt for one minute that Mike, Dave, and Carl had any intention of hijacking the community, they just enjoyed the geekdinners and wanted them to happen more often- and that takes planning/time/money/etc. Keep it up guys, maybe one day I’ll be able to attend.

mike,
with a bit of luck I’ll be in SA on the 27th of April. If it is a jozi session, I’d love to pop by, even if you are cobranding it, and there are opensaucers present.

Good to see you in the social media google group.

Greetings from an oddly warm Germany.
Thomas

How fucked up! This whole situation is very sad indeed. Fair play to you Mike, organise the event, brand it any way you want, and to hell with the purists.

You can’t please everyone, there’s always going to be someone too punk rock for Punk Rock…!

Wow, in Afrikaans we have an expression for all the people who have commented so far…

“Ou tannies met nat broeke”