Hey

[Matt]

Oh my god, more then like two people have signed up already! OK,
there's only seven of us, but still, wow! :)

As the instigator of this little experiment, I guess I should provide
some background here, if not for you guys specifically, then for the
folks that come later.

First off, as I implied in my tweet, the purpose of this little group
is to provide a forum for folks who are fans of the Nerdapalooza fest
to get together and chat. One of the biggest things that struck me
about the fest was the camaraderie between all the folks in
attendance. It is my hope, that this list can play a role in growing
that sense of community and may be taking it outside of the confines
of the fest.

The reason that I decided to mention the idea of setting up a new
community, instead of just using one of the many message boards that
are out there is two fold,

1) To be completely honest, I've never been able to get the hand of
message boards. I received my first email address back in '93 and as
a music geek who was drawn to smaller groups (i.e. groups that
couldn't support a usenet group) I spent a lot of my 20s hanging out
on various email lists. I've just never found an message board
community that rivaled a good email list for intimacy or sense of
community. Message boards have always come across, to me at least, as
a group of folks brought together by common interest. Where a well
tended email list, I've found, can take on the sense of a group of
friends bullshitting and chatting about this and that. Google groups
seemed like a nice middle ground. For those who prefer a web
interface, you've got it. For folks, like myself, who prefer to get
emails, we have that as well.

2) As far as I know, all of the message boards out there are tied
into one of the various scenes that make up the greater Geek Culture
Movement. You've got boards that are set up for specific artists
(Front, chris, coulton, etc.) and boards that are set up for specific
scenes (nerdcore, vgim, wrock, etc). I don't know of any boards that
are, by design, meant to straddle all the different scenes and be
about the larger movement as a whole. This cross scene nature though,
seems to be an integral part of the Nerdapalooza experience. Yeah,
the fest tends towards nerdcore, but this past weekend we had
nerdcore, geek rock (grock), wrock, what ever you call folks like devo
spice/luke ski/fump, and vgim. And since Cross Platform looks to have
died, I figured it would be cool to set something else up.

Now that the why is out of the way, I guess I should get into the how.

As I said, I've spent a fair amount of time on various email lists.
In that time, I've found that the best communities tend to involve the
fewest rules, at least until they get insanely large (not a problem I
see us running into). So for now, the only rules are going to be have
fun and be cool. If we need to look into something beyond that, we'll
cross that bridge when we come to it. So, if you find a band that you
think we'd dig, let us know. If someone drops a new album, feel free
to throw something out. If you just find a funny link that you want
to share, go ahead. If it becomes an issue, we'll deal with it then.
For now, the list is new, so there are no issues, so feel free to post
anything.

Since I have nothing else to offer, and since I know there's at least
one person on this list I didn't meet last weekend, I'll throw out an
intro for posterity.

So, I'm Matt. I write the free-geek blog (http://free-geek.net/)
occasionally. And now and then Z takes pity on me and mentions me at
Hipster, please! I live in central MD and work as a database
programmer. I dabble in a variety of fandoms, but am primarily a
music geek. If you can't tell by all the references to community, I
come with more then mild hippie overtones. I also fluctuate between
referring to myself as a deadhead or former deadhead, depending on how
long its been since one of the boys did something to piss me off.
(after the latest reunion tour, I'm back to being a head) I also grew
up in the DC metro area though, and have been more then a little
influenced by that city's punk scene. I was originally drawn to the
wrock scene for its punk overtones and its fondness for pop melody
(I'm very much a pop kid, btw), but have found myself drifting away
from wrock and more into nerdcore and grok over the last year or so.
I also still hold out hope that we can pull the indiepop kids into
this mess.

So that's about it for me I guess. If you want to throw out an intro
go for it. If not, then just post what you want.

Matt

p.s. Oh yeah, I'm also known in some circles for very long rambling
emails. Especially when I'm drunk. Some people like them, others
just hit delete.

[krazykraker]

well, i must say your onto something here... may not be the prettiest
way of doing it, but its certainly effective. Personally i like the
boards because there mildly simpilier to navigate and deal with (and
most look nice) however, if there begins to get too much going on...
you begin to lose interest, so this, where its consice and simple may
be the way to go for most people. Also, i am the krazykraker, aka
tatersalid, aka Emrikol, Nice to meet ya all... namely you oh long
winded one ^_^