Every niche convention either stops existing or transitions into a business that slowly gets rid of all the fun stuff that created it in the first place.
There is not just the big end of year congress, but also lots of smaller events organised and run by regional CCC (like) groups in Europe e.g. MRMCD, EasterHegg, the Dutch camps changing the name every time (next one is WHY2025).
> Every niche convention either stops existing or transitions into a business that slowly gets rid of all the fun stuff that created it in the first place.
It parallels what Ivan Illich said about revolutions, namely that if a revolution survives it will turn into a system that stifles the same freedoms it supported.
Aka, either you die the hero, or see yourself become the corporate stooge/villain.
Not really. The Dutch hacker camps have been pretty constant (save for 2021 for Covid reasons). Run by mostly volunteers yes but basically every participant is a volunteer. It's part of the fun.
They've not really shrunk or significantly grown and are really opposed to corporate and government interests (as Fox-IT found out in 2013)
Absolutely. They're a bit more maker than hacker focused but for me that's a good thing.
I just don't really like going to the UK anymore since Brexit. It just puts me off because the main driver of it was xenophobia. I've avoided it, I have not been there at all since Brexit. I probably won't ever go there again unless there's a serious change. Of course none of this is on the EMF community which is great, I've met many of them at other things.
As for the hacker camps I only really go to the Netherlands ones. The Congress is too expensive for me with the hotels around Christmas and with my lack of car it's hard to go camping in Germany so I've never been to the chaos camp either. Within Holland it's been easier because they've recently been at locations near me.
