The Washington DC Bloggers Meet held in the food court of Union Station was a grand success. Guerilla reporters of famous newspapers ignored the meeting instead choosing to cover breaking stories in Fallujah. Noone called themselves “elite” , noone arrived claiming to be the “real DC” bloggers, noone hit on anyone and the meeting went off peacefully.
Michael Higgins, the amazingly plugged-in blogger whose knowledge of India has to be seen to be believed, came in prepared with small table signs, a “happy birthday” cake and a present for the Ravikiran Rao, who was driving down with Arzan from New York. (I am hoping Michael puts up the complete list of attendees with links—so I am avoiding a full rollcall here). Hands were shaken, introductions exchanged, beer was consumed, chicken tikka masala was devoured (well at least I did) and war stories were exchanged.
Yes Mithun-da was discussed. EM’s tattoo was not. Liberterians Libertarians came up. Libras did not.
Arzan made a compelling case for putting Adsense in my posts so as to cover hosting costs. Incidentally, I hope my readers will not mind if I put a few ads tastefully around —right? Right? Yo hoo….
Chetan gave me a card of appreciation for my blog—-which was a very sweet gesture that melted my heart. And as it usually happens when someone does something so nice, I ended up ogling him for the duration of the time we came back via metro.
To my relief, he did not take my picture.
Till the next time—which I hope shall be sooner than expected.
[Update: Chetan blogs about the meet here and Michael does so here [Pictures here]
The Greatbong Blog & Podcast 
I really hope we have a rocking Calcutta meet next time Arnab da. I am glad you had a rocking time. I believe you SHOULD put adsense as well. You blog for pleasure which means you do not want to earn money out of it. But if you buy a site, the hosting costs should be relieved as much as possible via the blog itself according to me.
1) You misspelt libertarians. tut-tut.
2) I havent as yet seen any blog where ads are tastefully put around.. You can go ahead and put them, I (and others) ofcourse will continue to read you, but it sure as hell will detract from the “thematic integrity” of your blog’s appearance.
Yet again I forgot to sign in..
Seems you had a great time GB. I would love to meet you too someday, but maybe in a different kind of coffee shop, say the ones in Amsterdam. There I can just die laughing while consuming space cakes, magic mushrooms, hash shakes and smoking cannabis; while you crack joke after joke after joke.
Great gesture by Chetan indeed.!
Not only Adsense, but also YPN. Since they are new, they give out bigger commissions.
And i tend to disagree with Anonymous. There are numerous blogs where they have done it very tastefully.
I wont point ont the sites here, because I dont want to give them a plug. But am sure you can check them out.
As regards the meet, u bet it was rocking. Well worth the 9 hours Ravikiran and I spent in the car to attend a 4 hour meet…..
Ad Sense??? Considering that google serves ads related to the website’s content, I wonder what ads will appear in the 1900-HOTTIES or the Desi Baba posts 😉
Hi Greatbong
I had loads of fun meeting you and Ravikiran, Arzan, Chetan and many other bloggers. I will have a round-up of the blog-meet on my blog in a while (which could mean an hour or a year).
We will definitely have to have another one. There were many bloggers who seemed interested but had to miss out at the last moment so it would be great if they could come. I think that maybe in May or June would be good, based on what is convenient for others.
I have my version of the blog meeting recap up on my blog.
Sounds great. Wish I could have been there 🙂
YOURFAN writes:
@GB: Nice to know that you had a great time at the meet. No problem with the ads on your blog as long as they don’t appear covering half of the post like the one that we get on cable TV cinemas over here.
@Yourfan2: For once I differ with your opinion. You wished you could be present at the meet. But I don’t. I want to keep the association on a virtual level – that is sort of romantic. Besides who can guarantee that the great bully Akash or people like him won’t show up to spoil the meet? I detest the idea of ever meeting people like Akash – not that I disagree with his opinion (which I do with so many others) but exclusively because the way he conducts/presents himself. I hate arrogant people.
Its good to hear that you have blogger meets in Washington D.C
here’s a one that took place in Delhi:
http://mayankchauhan.blogspot.com/2006/02/delhi-bloggers-meet.html
Thanks for your kind words Greatbong. I had a gala time at the meet interacting with you and other bloggers. We should do this often seems to be the demand from everyone present. I have posted my version of the happenings at the meet here.
@Pratyush: Yes looking forward to meeting you at Calcutta.
@Venu: Corrected. And okay then it wont be tasteful. I just need to recover some costs.
@yourfan2: Sounds great….what an amazing atmosphere for a blog meet. However since that sounds a bit implausible right now, let me extend an invitation for a meet anytime in US whenever you come down to DC/MD/VA area.
@arZan: Glad that it was worth your time—your enthusiasm was indeed inspiring.
@Anil: Google would serve appositely watered-down contextual ads—I am sure.
@Michael: Right. May-June would be a good time.
@Vulturo: Maybe you will next time. Or the time after that.
@yourfan: Nothing will be covered…no annoying graphics playing about you can be assured.
Now I understand your point about the virtual level—but after a time it is indeed a great desire on the part of bloggers to get to know the person(s) behind the reader(s). Especially for people like yourfan2 and you who have supported RTDM for so long. Which is why I always would love to meet you two. As well as as many readers as possible.
As to Akash coming, he is totally welcome. (Actually he stays quite close to Amsterdam country-wise, don’t you Akash?)—I may disagree with his opinion, his way of expressing it and his hidden agenda but that doesnt make him any less fascinating a person to meet. And really life would be boring if the only persons you wanted to interact with were people who liked you.
@Mayank: I would like to be part of a Delhi bloggers meet when I visit the city.
@Chetan: Likewise.
This was a nice account O Great bong….
Saket,
“Sounds great. Wish I could have been there :-)”
Considering your latest experience, that was the saddest comment I have ever read.
LOL, Man
YOURFAN writes:
@GB: – It seems you missed my point all together. I agree with you that life would be boring if we only met people whom we like. But I said —-“not that I disagree with his opinion (which I do with so many others) but exclusively because the way he(Akash) conducts/presents himself. I hate arrogant peopleâ€. I always try to avoid people who are flat out arrogant and refuse to listen to or respect others’ opinions. If you can tolerate flat out arrogant like Akash then you are more mature than I am and I congratulate you. But, honestly doesn’t that type of behavior upset you?
@yourfan: Arrogance upsets me as much as it would anyone—-but that still doesnt mean I wont enjoy meeting an arrogant person. The trick is not to get internally affected by the arrogance, but to stand back and let the concerned person babble on—-it’s rather fun actually. 🙂
Tch! Tch!
Missed this one – but I promise the next time it happens, I will reschedule my desh trip 😀 (or um… maybe not hehehe!!).
Great to read abt this meet – was fun!
Suyog
Wow GB. Looks like you guys had a whale of a time. Wish I could’ve been there.
*goes around and kicks himself that hardly any desi bloggers that he reads live in Texas*
Suhail:
There are lots of great bloggers in Texas. Patrix is there. Ash is there. Shanti is there. Plus many others I am sure.
@Suyog: You were much missed..
@Suhail: Well if you are planning to come up to Virginia, do inform us and we can do a blogmeet.