After returning home from Saturday's ConvergeSouth sessions I sat down and wrote a post that started thusly... "It seems that after every weblog convention that Dave Winer chooses to attend, someone feels compelled to point out that he can come off as real ass at these things. I will be the chosen one for ConvergeSouth..."
But I just filed my obligatory Winer criticism away and never published it because I didn't want to come off as the only person who had anything negative to say about what occured during an otherwise extraordinary event. But since Chewie brought it up...
I sat in on three sessions that started off without Dave in attendance. But several minutes into each of them, in strolled the 'inventer of blogs' and at the very next statement made by either a presenter or an attendee - Dave made it clear that the session was going to be about what he wanted to talk about.
At Lex Alexander and Jay Rosen's session on Saturday, I was helping with the podium's computer when Winer made his late entrance. He took great exception to the first comment he heard and off he went in his dominating and confrontational manner. I saw two women hold their hands up to contribute their comments, but apparently they didn't realize that after Winer saunters into a room, he then owned said room.
They held their hands up so long that, after a while, they had to use their other hand to support their aching muscles. All the while Winer would not wait his turn to speak but just kept talking over the top of everyone blurting out his brand of "...hey y'all... I'm here now... look at me." The women waited patiently, but then I watched in disgust as the two of them, sitting in separate sections of the auditorium, finally lowered their fatigued arms and left the room half-way through the session a few minutes apart. I was through with the bullying, too, and left right after them.
The next day I went to sit in on the topic of Chewie's post: "Blogging from the outside". I entered the room relieved to see that Dave had chosen another session to disrupt. But after Tiffany Brown started to lay out her points of discussion, in walked the "inventer of the un-conference style conference" and sat right next to me. Almost immediately after sitting down, and while Brown was still giving her opening remarks, Winer jumped in with both feet in his mouth. No hand raising, no 'excuse me', no clearing of his throat... he just confronted her with something like... "now wait just a minute... here's where you are wrong..." The 'conversation' digressed into exactly where Winer wanted it to go and stayed there the whole time I could stay and stomach it.
A short way into 'what Dave wanted to talk about', Bora shot back at him with a comment like, "... you didn't hear what Tiffany said about (the diversity of webloggers) in her opening, but you are assuming you know what she thinks." Dave was indignant, "...Well maybe I should leave, then." After already having been in two other 'its really all about Winer' sessions, I'd had enough and turned to him and said quietly, "yes, maybe you should." But I'm sure he didn't hear me because he was already off continuing to give Brown's session the Winercentric treatment. Having no interest in any more of his conversation domination, I just got up and left... steaming at how such a brilliant man's accomplishments can be so sullied by his world reknown (thanks Sun) rudeness and blowhardery.
Chewie writes this about future ConvergeSouth events... "Perhaps, before next year, we should have a collective conversation about what people are seeking in a conference about web diversity, and what role bullying and "rock stars" need to play in that setting.
Perhaps we do Chewie. As for me I know of one "rock star" who shouldn't be invited to any meeting of polite (some say dull) company.
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Bill O' Pad got the Winer treatment.... and he was just trying to help the man with his wifi.
7:55:31 PM 
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