Me either, and me either. The fests I’ve attended have not been primarily about drinking, though some people do.
The ones I’ve all been to in Minneapolis have been lunch. Usually weekday lunches.
So I’ve been to one or two - it doesn’t seem to have changed how people deal with me on the boards.
On the other hand, I’m on another board and there I won’t do meets.
I’ve been to two Dopefests, and didn’t have a drink at either one. Some people did have a drink or two but nobody got hammered or even tipsy at either Dopefest.
I"ve been to one, and I enjoyed it. Supper, getting to know a few people IRL and actually were meeting another Doper were the highlights. Of course, there were only five of us (Dopers in Montana.)
I’d be happy to do it again. Tripler was talking about doing a camping Dopefest but if it ever happened I missed it.
whistlepig
I do feel at home drinking in bars, but I would gladly attend a DopeFest somewhere else in order that the greatest number of people feel comfortable attending, even if that’s a library or museum or someone’s house.
A good compromise would seem to be a TGI Friday’s or other similar bar & grill type restaurant: anyone who wanted to could grab a beer, anyone who didn’t want to could refrain, neither would seem out of the ordinary, and nobody would be likely to get shitfaced.
(underscoring mine) Ahem - we sure fooled you!! 
I’ve been to a number of Dopefests, had Dopers over to my house (including 2 who spent the night) and exchanged phone calls with some. Most of the people I’ve met have been just as nice as can be. Of course, like in any large group of people, there were some incompatible personalities, although I never saw anything ever get ugly.
I’ll go to other fests in the future, and I’d love to host another at my place, although living in the boonies makes my locale less than desirable for most folks.
Possibly. I have nothing against the idea in practice. I’ve done it with other online communities ( also essentially defunct these days ) and a few of my closest “flesh space” friends these days I originally met online ( or were friends of friends I met online ).
But I’ve found that my one ( err…“one of” ) my essential character flaws is that my shyness shoots way up in any group of non-close-acquaintances above, say, 6-8. Large groups, especially in crowded, noisy venues ( I do drink, but am mildly agoraphobic in a not-quite-phobic, but very easily irritated sense ), often make me feel ill at ease and I tend to get a bit antisocial. Which kind of defeats the purpose of being social :D.
That and I work exceptionally inconvenient hours for socializing ( every Friday and Saturday evening, among other things ).
I’ve been to four, I think, including the Chicago one that MBG referred to above. All of them have been great experiences.
You should definitely go if you get the chance.
GT
Not exactly like that. available light and I were at the designated meeting place by ourselves at the appointed time. After some phone calls it was determined that no on else was going to make it for various reasons, so we went off and did our own thing.
I don’t like doing either either,* but that hasn’t stopped me from enjoying the two dopefests I’ve been to that were bar-centric. The point is to hang out with the other Dopers, not to get abominably shit-faced. Bars simply serve as convenient places for large groups to gather and talk for several hours at a stretch.
- :dubious:
Your shirt’s still too damn loud.
Consider yourself slapped.
None of the Dopefests I’ve been to have been about drinking. The Chicago one ended up in a bar because that’s what was still open at the time. Some people were drinking alcoholic beverages, but it wasn’t a requirement. And we started out in a restaurant. The point of the Dopefests I’ve been to was to be able to get together and talk. Not everyone talked a lot, but I think everyone enjoyed themselves.
Most Dopefests recently have been dinners, lunches or picnics, I think (yes, I compulsively read Dopefest threads, even when there’s no chance I’ll attend). A couple have been trips to exhibits or parks.
GT
Geez, I don’t know how I missed that entire thread. Oh well, I was busy moving anyway, not sure if I could have made it.
Yeah, we did it. . . it was when I got back from Afghanistan, and myself, BrattiAtti and GingerOfTheNorth got together at Glacier National Park. I’d be willing to do another one again sometime. . . but I’m now down southeast in Georgia and it’d have to be this spring sometime. . .
Tripler
I got EOD school and all this summer, yo.
I was supposed to go to that one in SF in july but had to stalk down John Waters that night. Priorities you know? I’d definitely go to the next one provided that it were in San Francisco proper and not out in murderville oakland or something. And there would definitely have to be alcohol. But since there was one so recently I’m sure i’ll be waiting a while.
I’ve never been to one but I’d like to go to one at some point. The only drawback I could possibly see is that I think I’m a lot younger than most of the Dopers and so it might be kind of hard to connect with them, that and I’d probably get drunk and make a fool of myself.
I would attend not only a hypothetical dopefest, but a Bay Area dopefest specifically. I’m one of those.
I am also perturbed to discover I missed one mere months ago. sturmhauke and I will be meeting on the corner of 6th & Mission with Steel Reserves in brown bags, sometime later tonight. Come join.
I’ve been to two. One down in WV around Halloween in 2001, and the other up in Montreal in…2005?
I’m pretty socially inhibited even on the board but have been to two 'fests and, due to my moving cross-country twice in the past four years, I’ve made varying levels of real-world friendships with half a dozen Dopers scattered all across the US and consider one of those one of my very best friends.