That’s why he likes you…lol… 
WARNING: Any IRL ILP gathering meets are 89% likely to be overrun by the hordes of Monooqists that will engulf everyone in mass praise to their god and bare witness to his prophet, Future Man - otherwise known as - The New Jesus.
COMMIT!
i revoke my comment.
shyster, you’re a hag.
sage, if i ever made it to an ilp meet and greet, i would be far to drunk to mobilize that kind of blind force. it would never happen. i fly solo like whyatt erpp or the lone ranger.
True. 
Hello F(r)iends,
Wyatt Earp had ‘Doc’ Holliday; and the Lone Ranger had “Tonto”.
Does Monooq not have a buddy too?
-thirst4metal
Having experience with many planters who exhibit Antisocial Personality Disorder I’d say theres a good chance Monooq has a dog for a sidekick.
Anyways… Yeah I’d be up for a meet if it was closer to where I lived. But depending on my financial situation at the time, I might even be willing to spring for a ticket.
Thirst… we all know Monooq would have a buddy. Most likely the buddy’s name is Jack or Jim… either way they come in a bottle.
Would beup for that, if the date works it takes an hour.5 on the tube to get to London from Oxford.
bah can’t we have a new england ILP meet ? i just left freakin europe and i’m not flying ten hours again this year. NO NO NO.
At this point, not a chance. I will explain, but if you don’t care, you just want the answer, then don’t read.
I hate social gatherings. Handshaking, small talk, the furrowing of brow as you pretend to listen. The syrup pace of thought exchange. Physical friendships are good for a few things. COmmunication, I find, is not one of them.
But I do share Ben’s aim in spirit. Here’s how I foresee us going to the next level.
There is a core group of users here…maybe that’s elitist to say. But still, I get a sense of main characters and supporting characters…and extras. I see myself as a persistent supporting character (a cameo-style contributor) and would hope that the main characters, whoever so persists over the next five years, will look back at this forum technology as quaint. There will be daring new ways to meet and exchange ideas; to touch eachother’s souls and be digifriends (that’s for you Monooq)…and perhaps change the world. Work, play, seek. Even compete as teams. Imagine yourself deep in some alien cavern armed with a plasma gun, your favorite ILPers by your side in virtual reality spouting philosophy while icing a villain. Imagine the comradery!
What won’t be quaint are the preternatural bonds that will have formed between friends who’ve never met. Without a handshake, a toast, a pick up b-ball game, our neurons will have interlocked like legos in new ways that will redefine what it means to be human, while actually reinvigorating and tapping into the best things that have always made us human.
And this gets back to why I won’t meet. I’ve had enough of watered-down relationships, inefficient communication, prejudice behavior and reptillian flesh games on this plane.
I’ve become dependant on the smooth elixir of edited notions. Through them I have discovered connection. I have discovered myself. I am not the glowering libidinous white guy in the shirt hiding behind my diet coke. I am GAMER. My face is unflinching. I can fly. I don the armor of truth.
Meet me in person and GAMER will die.
Not to mention it would be a total sausage party. (But enough about Dunamis.)
… don’t you want to see what effect this: “Without a handshake, a toast, a pick up b-ball game, our neurons will have interlocked like legos in new ways that will redefine what it means to be human” has on how we interact in-person with those we’ve first met on-line?
Maybe stuff would stay inter-locked, maybe our 'human’ness will stay ‘redefined’… maybe we won’t be so concerned with the “glowering libidinous white guy in the shirt hiding behind (his) diet coke” as we (maybe) would have been, had we not already known you were the “GAMER. (His) face is unflinching. (He) can fly. (He) dons the armor of truth.”
Not that I could come to the gathering… or am trying to live vicariously through you or anything, lol… I’ve met one person off-line whom I initially met on-line… it didn’t seem to diminish anything… in fact it seemed to… increase the bond of friendship… seeing eachother as ‘human’ made us a lot less edgy and more understanding (although still challenging) in discussion, as well (once we returned to our computers… snort snort hehehe)…
“I’ve had enough of watered-down relationships, inefficient communication, prejudice behavior and reptillian flesh games on this plane.” I can relate to that, although I think the ‘inefficient communication’ can be improved over time, with practice. A short gathering like this does not allow close friendships to develop, unless you discover that one of the members lives in the same town… and how often does /that/ happen…? It would ultimately be a disappointment on that note…
Hello F(r)iends,
Crap! I wish I had voted after I had read GAMER’s post. He is so dead on! At the same time though, I am a shallow summa-bitch… so I think I will still attend
[size=150]The Second Annual ILP Gathering[/size]
-Thirst
From my experience, most people use the internet to be the person they want to be. Meeting them allows you to see the person they really are. Everyone needs to come out of their proverbial closets and showcase their skeletons.
Gamer, maybe you fear what people will think of you IRL?
All the best,
Ben
Gamer
Yup. I agree with thirst. God I wish I had read Gamer’s take as well -
We live in such a superficial world - and Gamer is right. The Ken and Barbie mentality would surface and it would be just like any high school sideshow. I can hear it now: “God is she hot” “what a freaking cow,” “Could he get any balder?” You all know that I am more of a gnat here than even part of the fringes. I hover, never really landing and making an impact. Annoying? Probably. Would I want you to meet me?
Probably not.
(I do love sausage however) 
Sorry for the bad attitude, Ben. I broke my ankle today. 
I’ve not joined this thread earlier, because I have extreme time limitations to travel, and there isn’t any way I could attend.
That said, I can see both sides of this coin. The traditional get together (Ben) and the virtual party(Gobbo and Gamer). We can all see the pluses and minuses of the traditional party. We have all participated in them. The ‘ground’ under the virtual meeting is less certain. I doubt that very many of us know what we want, or what to expect from an online experience. It might be interesting.
Two concerns: The traditional meeting excludes all but a hand full of people capable of having time and transportation. It might be great for those attending, but it is too small of a group to call it an ILP gathering. It would just be a small group of people who happen to be members of ILP.
There is the danger of creating another clique within the forum. We have several as it is. There would be forum discussion of all the great fun, all the ‘inside’ jokes, and a seperation of those who did and those who didn’t attend. It could easily turn into an ‘old boys’ club’ which in turn, could alienate many members in the forum.
Sort of a mixed bag, huh? There are several members in the forum I would like to meet personally. It would be nice to get past philosophy, sit with our feet propped up, drink in hand, and be 3D for awhile. Still, ILP is a virtual world of virtual relationships and I’m not sure that stepping outside that would contribute to the health of the forum.
I’m not sure what the answer is, but I think we ought to explore some form of on-line experience that would include more people and preserve some part of the virtual presence.
JT
It’s like when you read a good book, and you really like the writer. Then…you see him on some talk show and it ruins it. He might make a good, charming talk show guest for a night. But reading his books will never be the same. Never.
Anyway, I’m in America and happily married so don’t ask my opinion.
If I was single, I’d consider it…it’d be an adventure to go to Europe AND have people to drink with once I get there.
Bessy, sorry about your ankle! (Please pass the vicodin.)
To JT’s point, I love when he calls it a virtual world. I agree…but I’m very interested and impatient to see how it might become more of a virtual world over time. And not just a social forum. A philosophical forum. A virtual Athens. People still babble in Athens, but it’s philosophically tinged and a cut above the chatter in, say, Crete?
Yep, i’d be willing to come down, i’m 30mins train journey from Central London.
Rami.
Thanks Gamer… for the Vicodin, that is.