It was Mike who best talked about how, “The web community gets along remarkably well in person.” And really sold me on going to sxsw and even made Matt start planning his flights and hotel reservations. Mike hit it out of the park making sxsw sound like the most exiting place on earth and didn’t really think anyone could make it sound any better.
Not surprisingly Eris brought another dimension to it, something that was mentioned everywhere but never said flat out. It’s the camaraderie is evident everywhere and I seems best summed up in an exchange between Eris and Ben Brown that ended with, “Well here, hold on…..[as he pulls out two books and hands them to me] ….enjoy.”
It seem that sxsw is really the place where you realize that these blogs are people. You can just give away books because Eris is at Erisfree.com and she’s not going anywhere. If she never mails the book back you know exactly where to find her and ask for the book back.
This is more then a web design community but more of a small town mentality reminiscent of my current obsession, Gilmore Girls, though I still making my way through the season one dvd. Every one knows everyone’s name, word travels fast about anything, and people feel fine lending things out.