DISQUS

*Disqus would make this go a lot easier... so I don't have to keep coming back here to comment. It lets you just respond to the comment notification e-mail. *

We didn't attempt to start a council. We brought people together to talk. It was a great meeting and great relationships came of it....so...it was a success.

I think the tech community has done an amazing job of organizing itself over the last five years. I don't buy into the idea that its broken. Instead of just sitting on the sidelines and questioning...why arent you the NYTM's most active participant? Create change from the inside. Make it what you want it to be. I question people who think solutions start with directing attention away from where there is already momentum.

"it’s not an official, elected, community-recognized representing body for all of New York technology."

The only people who are really interested in that are people who want a title, because no one who is already working to create community sees this as necessary to getting anything done. If anything, it's less likely to get anything done. What exactly would this get accomplished that you think needs to get accomplished? Start with an end goal, and then figure out what the best means are to accomplish this... don't start with structure and then figure out what to do with it. That's a bridge to nowhere.

Nate got dragged into running....Honestly, he wasnt going to do it until I, and others) basically forced his hand because we believed he had enough experience with the community to have the right approach. (Of course, now he's glad. ) I felt like a lot of the other folks wanted to win something and Nate's always just wanted to build community, title or not. You shouldn't have to be on this committee to actively bring the community together. No reason why you can't hit up the NYTM list and just say "Hey...here's an effort I'm trying to get off the ground...here's a good idea that needs some support, etc..."

The worst thing about this community it is that not enough of the key people know each other...but that will get solved in time...and its already improving. I got a dozen+ partner level people from VC firms out at the @shakeshack event this summer to mix with hundreds of other folks from the community. That's probably the first time they've all been at the same event together.

It won't improve with more structure though. It improves with people on the ground dragging their friends out to places, running events, etc.....and not just more drinkups with really junior folks. I'm talking opportunities for productive discussion and feedback with people who run stuff and have a lot of experience.

"Joining the existing conversation would be a great start."

You might try some of that yourself.

Last time we chatted, you told me that nothing good ever came out of nextNY, a group with 2000+ members that's been around since... hmm... about 4 months before you finished college. Same goes for Richie's little ad-hoc group--which totally ignored the fact that community leader conversations have been going on for *years*--longer than most of you guys came on the scene. Nate and I brought together a similar council over a year ago--with people Richie isn't even aware of because he's simply not as tapped in as he thinks. I don't think you guys come within a football field of understanding the various groups that make up the community.

It's terrifically amusing when people just anoint themselves "community leaders" and get annoyed when other people don't legitimize them by taking part in the same discussions others have already been having for years.

The fact of the matter is that those involved in the NYTM are more representative of the NY Tech Community than any other group out there--especially when you take into consideration the diversity of networks they bring to the table.

It's not about who's on the list or who isn't... or how many people show up. That's a very narrow minded view. It's that most of the influencers and real innovators in the community are within one degree from the Meetup, and that can't really be said for any other group--so, yes, I think that's very representative.

No, it's not every single tech employee in NYC gathering at CitiField, but it's a terrifically good proxy for the community and getting better everyday.

It makes no sense to have a NYTM rep at your meeting... b/c what is your meeting... a proxy for community leadership? Really? A better one than NYTM is? How old is it? How many people does it represent?

Don't confuse yourself... Just because it isn't "outward reaching" specifically to you, doesn't mean it isn't outward reaching. Perhaps your gold embossed hand written invitation just got lost in the mail. Five hundred other people who enthusiastically recognize this community's value didn't need one to show up and participate.

Here's my best...

http://www.thisisgoingtobebig.com/2008/05/top-1...

I think MDF would agree, right Pete?

1 on Dave's comment... He caved a while ago on Iraq.

I liked this site better when it burned $50 million and it was called Jobster.

You got it all wrong...

Girls separate friends and romance... it's two completely different feelings for them. For guys, it's very heavily tied together, not because I want to sleep with all of my friends, but because the same reasons why I want to be friends with them are the same reasons I want to sleep with them.

I mean, if I have a friend that is super cool, curious, exciting, funny, passionate, etc... name me a good reason why I would not want to sleep with her? Would I look back in 20 years and say, boy, what a bad idea it was to sleep with that super cool, curious, exciting, funny, passionate girl? Hell, the people that made it through whatever friend filters I have are exactly the kind of people I should be sleeping with.

And yes, girls can be friends with people they've slept with in the past... and of course, by definition, with people it didn't work out with, only b/c then you'd still be going out with them.

If I meet a girl and I think that she's absolutely not the kind of girl I'd ever sleep with... why would I wanna be friends with her? And attraction is not the key here, because for me personally, with reason, I'm attracted to a wide range of types, conventional and otherwise, and much more focused on personality. Everyone looks the same in the dark.

...except Glacier National Park.

Is this a sponsored post?

Or, they could just get a Get Satisfaction account...

Parents really shouldn't push their religions on kids so early. :)

Funny, I just wrote about the same thing, and I hadn't read your post.

If you haven't noticed, though, it's not my candidate that's trying to make the superdelegate voting an insider deal, it's yours.

Getting the superdelegates on her side regardless of where the other delegates are is such an obvious part of Hillary's plan that I think you're remiss not to mention it and call for her to follow where the actual voters fall out on this one.

As much as I like Bill, too, "those forces" that bring out divisive tactics include the Clintons. That's why I liked what the Tribune had to say:

"We're urging votes for a candidate whose political views we often disagree with. But this is a more complicated contest, and a more complex candidate, than the norm. This nation's next president inherits a war -- against terrorists in Iraq and elsewhere -- that has found many ways to divide Americans. Capitol Hill is gridlocked and uncivil. Our discourse is hostage to blame.

Obama can help this nation move forward. A Tribune profile last May labeled his eight years in Springfield as "a study in complexity, caution and calculation. In the minority party for all but his final two years in the Statehouse, he tempered a progressive agenda with a cold dash of realism, often forging consensus with conservative Republicans when other liberals wanted to crusade.""

Maybe next time you won't blatently violate the company's TOS from the account your stored all your stuff in.

I'd never try some kind of picture scraper/syncer, etc from my own Flickr account with 2500+ pictures... I think I'd setup a dummy account to do that with first.

@ianbetteridge Totally agree... in fact, posted about it: http://www.thisisgoingtobebig.com/2008/01/you-d... Friendship data belongs to two people and others trusted the TOS to put it up there. Spot on!

I'd easily pay for Twitter.

And here I thought you guys had some kind of paranormal symmetrical bookstacking thing going a la Ghostbusters.

"Dr Ray Stantz: Symmetrical book stacking. Just like the Philadelphia mass turbulence of 1947.
Dr. Peter Venkman: You're right, no human being would stack books like this. "

It's actually Alex's fault that I did. :)

I take your route (actually, take Bruckner to 15 to 91 and avoid 95 entirely) but I was driving up to Babson and Alex did me a favor to e-mail me directions. His directions were from their website, which gave the local route 95, so instead of bothering him again, I just used what I had.

Unfortunately, joining Facebook groups is just about all you can get this demo to do.

Thanks for the link!

I will say though that rather than compare NYC to the Valley, I was more saying that you can definitely be successful here--with a lot less difficulty than others would have you believe. I wasn't trying to be comparative... HOWEVER, I will say that if I had to be on the East Coast, I think you could make a strong case for being here instead of Boston.

Band name suggestions:

Half the Day Down
Blueberry Pancakes
Out and About
Say Enough
Together
Perfect Weather
Since the Storm
More Things I Suck At
Blogging from Flock
Is Disappointed
Such Good Friends
Media Updated
Spoke Too Soon
Customizing Some Kicks
See the Scarecrows
Annual Reports
Getting Ready
Happily Fatigued
Loudest Hotel
For Breakfast
Day 107
Dancing with Spaniards
Interrupting the Game
Overnight Kayaking
In a Meeting
Chinatown Bus to Boston
Pumped for the Weekend
Social Luddite

(All grabbed from my various feeds integrated into Flock)

Def meant month...

Third Foldershare.... just works.... sync local files to other machines... plus, login to the site if you need to pull down a file in another location.

My money's on Fred this time...

I almost thought maybe this was a follow up to the "Buying and Selling at the same time" post... Thought maybe I was missed. :(

Admit it... Walken put it over the top. :)

Thanks for the great review!!