I should be:
- explaining the importance of understanding parse order in your templates – thanks to Low (@low)
- listing 10 ways to make ExpressionEngine rock even harder than it already does – thanks to Matt Weinberg (@mrw)
- assisting you in tuning your EE site to be as fast as possible – thanks to Jacob Russell (@jacobrussell)
- giving you really cool insight into things the EE docs don’t tell you about Addon development – thanks to Mark Huot (@markhuot)
- tearing the covers off of ExpressionEngine and discussing what we all saw – thanks to Rob Sanchez (@_rsan)
- discussing the potential benefits of prototyping in EE – thanks to Ruthie Bendor (@unruthless)
But I’m not. I’m writing about dildos. And that is lame.
VS. EECI2010
Everything about EECI2011 felt bigger and better to me than EECI2010. There were more people here (twice as many in fact). I’m sure some of the attendees had things to complain about, but the general vibe in the room was incredibly positive. Everyone seemed excited about the future of EllisLab and ExpressionEngine. Although maybe that’s just it, maybe they are just confident that there is a future.
The Invisible Dog Art Center was a great venue for the event, and Brooklyn in general provided an almost infinite amount of spots for people to congregate and continue the discussions that were started during the actual conference.
Paul Burton & #dildogate
The event started off with some controversy: #dildogate. Paul Burton (@16toads) took the stage to give the first talk of the conference, entitled “Don’t Call Me A Freelancer”. Paul’s presentation included some R-Rated illustrations he had created and also a screen filled with dildos with hats photoshopped on them.
Take a look at Paul’s slides and decide for yourself if you find them offensive. [Edit: These are not the original slides. They have been replaced on Speakerdeck. I do not currently have access to a link to the original slides]
- I was not personally offended by the content of the slides
- Other people were clearly offended by the content of the slides
The real shame here, is that #dildogate did two things:
- It eclipsed in attention an otherwise brilliant presentation. I was genuinely wrapped the entire time Paul was speaking and I found him to be easily one of the best presenters.
- It affected the external perception of EECI2011. There were 300 of us in attendance, but there were also thousands of others following the #eeci2011 hashtag.
It is the latter that I am most concerned with. I am afraid that this years EECI may have seemed like a toxic environment filled with angry rioters carrying pitchforks. It wasn’t, and believe me, I know toxic environments (I was at EECI2010). The reason this is such a shame, is that what should have been coming across was the feeling of renewed hope that I sensed among the developer community. The sense of faith in what EllisLab is doing and the direction they are steering this ship.
It important to note that #dildogate was not the fault of either Whoooz! Webmedia or EllisLab. They didn’t screen the speaker’s presentations – which was the right thing to do. If you were pissed off by what Paul had to say – be pissed off at Paul. Send him an email, tweet at him, DM him and explain what you found inappropriate about his presentation.
The problem right now, is that people seem to be directing their anger at EECI, Whoooz, or EllisLab which isn’t fair to any of them, and more importantly it isn’t fair to the community.
Occupy EllisLab
I’ll say this again, because I think it is wildly important. EllisLab & Whoooz! better not screen future presentations for content.
EECI is vital to us. It is vital because of what it isn’t.
- EECI is not a conference for us to pat ourselves on the back for how well we are doing.
- EECI is not a conference for us to go hear things we already know.
- EECI is not a place for us to go have smoke blown up our ass
EECI2010 in San Francisco was exactly what EECI should be about. It was my first EECI and I wasn’t sure what to expect. It felt more like Occupy EllisLab than it did like a bunch of people hugging and telling each other how great they are. Look at what it accomplished! Noone will argue that EllisLab isn’t in a better state in 2011 than it was in 2010. Everyone needs to remember that many of the changes since EECI2010, are thanks in part to the very toxic nature of that event.
The presenters in San Francisco didn’t hold back. Many of them included very direct comments for EllisLab expressing their disaproval with the state of EE. This is why it’s vital that we don’t restrain our presenters in any way. When things go wrong, we need to make sure that a platform still exists for EE users to be pissed off at EllisLab (or anyone else).
I realize that developers voicing their discontent with EllisLabs in 2010 and Paul Burton putting R-Rated pictures in his slides in 2011 are not the same thing. However, giving the conference creators any say in what the presenters can and cannot discuss is a slippery slope that I am not willing to go down.
If You’re Pissed Off…
Be pissed off. It’s ok. Just focus your anger in the right direction. If Paul offended you, be pissed off at Paul. Something tells me he will be ok with that.
It is our responsibility as those in attendance at EECI2011 to reflect the positivity that was very much present in Brooklyn this week.
