Which reminds me . . . I plan to attend also carefully avoids twickster’s straight line. It looks as if no one has volunteered beverages yet—I could bring a selection of bottled water, lemonades, and other rehydrating beverages.
Time to speak up, buttercup. 
Ok, I am coming! Leave approved and scheduled. I am doing a one day, up and back drive by thing. I will be willing to take all those able to get into a Toyota Corolla. (Not looking for a record, or anything.) I can bring folks from the Fairfax VA area, including the Vienna METRO station. (North side exit, where the Cue busses load.) I will accept, but do not require help with gas. Really, don’t hurt yourself. I plan to be fairly early arriving, and medium hangaroundish leaving.
I will bring a water cooler full of ice, and enough Kimche to feed fifty white folks. (A pint was fine, last year.) I will probably bring some other damned thing as well. I ain’t planning that far ahead, but I will try not to egregiously duplicate other things mentioned in the thread.
I will run off a set of 4 x 6 prints of “Great Gettysdopes of the Past” too. I plan to take pictures this time as well.
See everyone there!
Tris
Err… I really hope that none of you misunderstand my asking-- I’m not trying to offend in the least. What exactly is the point of Gettysdope? I live in NEPA and I’m sort of interested (maybe). But, is there any real reason to go, other then to meet strangers and say “hey, I’m a member of SD too!” 
Do people, like, sell things or something? It sounds like a giant picnic. Why would someone actually travel just to see people that frequent the same message board that they do?
Yes, we do.
But, we are all just lonely internet loosers, you know?
No, wait, that’s not it.
Yeah, we’re stalkers! That’s it! Yeah, we get together and stalk eachother.
Really.
OK, maybe not really.
People on this board really like each other. I went all the way to North Carolina and back to bring two Board members to the first Gettysdope. Intelligent people, with a wide range of interests, and a very open minded attitude. Worth the trip.
Tris
Mmmmmm. It isn’t homemade, by any chance, is it?
The last time I got homemade kimche was way back in high school when I helped a Korean friend of mine pass bio; he convinced his grandma to give me some she’d made herself.
YUM!
Sex. It’s mostly about the sex. Granted, mid-summer in Pennsylvania isn’t exactly the most temperate clime for such a thing, but when a body’s gotta do it, a body’s gotta do it.
(On a note of actual gravity, it’s about meeting, in person, the people you first met online. The concept, even beyond meeting just one person for coffee somewhere but to the level of a board-based group of people, is hardly something specific to the SDMB; a game I play, Kingdom of Loathing, has had a number of these things in the past, and there have been similar things coordinated in many other Internet communities.)
iampunha, it’s great to see you back! I’ve missed you.
Clockwork And Candy, this is basically a chance to meet people we’ve interacted with face-to-face and find out what they’re really like. There are some people who are coming who I’ve built up a real affection for over the years, and it’s fun to meet people I already regard as friends.
That said, there’s a chance I’ll have to cancel. I’ll go into more detail about it later, when I know more. With any luck, I’ll no for sure by the end of the week, and yes, it is good news.
I’ll keep you posted.
Clockwork and Candy – yup, “just” a picnic – with about 50 or 60 people there, who basically have one thing in common: The Dope. Well, make that two things – since we all hang out at the Dope because we’re smart, interesting people, that’s the other commonality.
What I love about Dopefests is that they bring together a batch of people who, if you’re walking past the pavilion, it is totally unapparent what they might be doing together. The age range of Dopers is teens to sixtysomething, and since there’s plenty of kids running around as well, we’ve got the single digit crowd covered as well. Primarily, though not exclusively, Caucasian – but gender and sexual preference pretty thoroughly mixed. (Tris – apparently I didn’t download it – do you have the group lineup shot from last year?)
And everyone just has a fine old time gabbing and eating and gabbing some more. Some of the conversations are “so, didja read that Pit thread,” others are about common interests we’ve discovered we have here, and others are general conversations between friends, because a lot of us have made friendships here that have gone off the Boards.
It is a lot of fun, and it’s turned into an event that people look forward to each year – when did we start trying to pick a date? In February? That’s how much people look forward to it.
Basically, danceswithcats and I planned the first one in 2004. I was sick of travelling to DC and Philly, and thought something in Central PA would be a good middle ground. It went off so well that we had one last year, and now again this year.
On this board, there is a lot of interaction between members. As twickster pointed out, there are common interests; the SDMB is just a good place to share them. It’s always kind of neat to meet people for the first time in real life.
Robin, who met her husband on the SDMB
I hate to say this, but I’m not sure I can make it, as the person I intended to go with (the one with the car) is likely not going. Drat.
Meeting Dopers IRL has been an enhancement of my on board relationship with them. When you can picture someone’s face, hear their voice in your head, and such-it lends a level of depth to typed words the next time you read their posts. Plus, what’s not to like about a big potluck pic-a-nic, Boo-boo? 
I’ll be there too, bringing an as-yet-undetermined food item and getting there through an as-yet-undetermined transportation method.
Okay, so far at a little more than two weeks out from surgery, it looks like I’ll feel up to attending, so we’re pretty definite!
You’re back! How was the trip?
It was amazing! i haven’t posted anything yet, mostly because I came back to a very busy time of the year for me. I’ll have pictures and posts ready soon.
I’m still planning to be there. I had had a question about which side of the pond I’d be on, but the trip has been delayed to late August. (The trip is for work, where we install the software system we’ve been developing. Management is recognizing the need to have me join the trip, which would be a good thing for me.)
Here is the best group shot of Gettysdope II that I have. Focus is a little soft. Sorry.
It’s a big file, so, start tapping your toe, if you are on dial up.
Tris
pseudotriton ruber ruber is going to come down from NYC and spend Fri. and Sat. nights chez twicks, so we’ll be riding out in El Kiario – which means back seat only for you and the good doctor. It’s a possibility – but if you’re going to want actual legroom, you might want to start talking Meros into coming.
I’m still planning on coming, though I’m not sure who/how many Maxxlings I’ll be lugging along with me, or what I’ll be bringing [del]to be sacrificed[/del] to eat.