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EXCLUSIVE: Defining the A-List at BloggerCon according to Halley Suitt: “elitist bad-ass-A-list-bloggers exclusive event” revealed.

EXCLUSIVE: Defining the A-List at BloggerCon according to Halley Suitt: “elitist bad-ass-A-list-bloggers exclusive event” revealed.

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Duncan Riley> Whilst I wont be flying half way around the world this year to attend BloggerCon (maybe I’ll win lotto next year!) a new anonymous insider makes me think that all Bloggers are not created equally at the shinning light of Blogging thought: BloggerCon2 (aka Dave-fest).

If you are attending BloggerCon 2, make sure you ask Halley Suitt of Worthwhile Magazine why you weren’t worthwhile enough to be invited to pre-dinner drinks tonight (Friday) Boston time at 5:00pm @ the Millenium Bostonian Hotel (Atrium Lounge) with the likes Jeff Jarvis, Jay Rosen, Adam Curry and a number of others. Perhaps she may have already answered the question of invitations in an email to Dave and others: “Dave = The Drinks @ the Millennium event is NOT open to all. This is a purely snobby elitist bad-ass-A-list-bloggers exclusive event BEFORE the dinner which is open to all.”

So the next question is who makes a “snobby elitist bad-ass-A-list-blogger” according to Halley: lets take a look at the invite list
> > —– Original Message —–
> > From: “Halley Suitt” <[email protected]>
> > To: “Jeff Jarvis” <[email protected]>; “Jeff
> > Jarvis”
> > <[email protected]>; “Jay Rosen” <[email protected]>;
> > “Adam Curry”
> > <[email protected]>; “Adam Curry”
> > <[email protected]>; “Michael Watkins”
> > <[email protected]>; “Michael Watkins”
> > <[email protected]>; “Werner Vogels” <[email protected]>; “David
> > Weinberger”
> > <[email protected]>; “Dave Winer”
> > <[email protected]>; “Dan
> > Gilmor” <[email protected]>; “cheyenne
> > Gnomegirl”
> > <[email protected]>; “Nick Denton”
> > <[email protected]>; “Betsy Devine”
> > <[email protected]>; “Hylton Jolliffe”
> > <[email protected]>; “Renee
> > Blodgett” <[email protected]>; “Britt Blaser”
> > <[email protected]>;
> > “John Palfrey” <[email protected]>;
> > “Jim Moore”
> > <[email protected]>; “J. Scott Johnson”
> > <[email protected]>;
> > “‘Dan Bricklin'” <[email protected]>
> > Cc: <[email protected]>
> > Sent: Thursday, April 15, 2004 7:37 AM
> > Subject: Drinks pre-dinner Friday Night: Millennium
> > Bostonian Hotel
> > > Folks = Jay Rosen, Jeff Jarvis and I are meeting
> > for
> > > drinks at 5:00pm @ the Millenium Bostonian Hotel
> > > (Atrium Lounge) then walking over to the Durgin
> > Park
> > > dinner venue afterwards.
> > >
> > > Let us know if you’d like to join us. And no
> > talking
> > > about POLITICS, okay? (Just kidding.)
> > >
> > > Best – Halley
> > >
> > > SOMEONE, PLS FORWARD TO CAM BARRETT + MATT GROSS +
> > > JOEY DEVILLA — DON’T HAVE THEIR EMAIL.
> > >
> > > WHERE: Atrium Lounge
> > > Millenium Bostonian Hotel @ Faneuil Hall
> > >
> > > WHEN: 5:00PM — Friday
We can’t forget CAM BARRETT + MATT GROSS + JOEY DEVILLA, even though they aren’t in Halley’s address book.

Dave, ever the innocent yet scarry looking Blog guru responds:
> Halley
> — Dave Winer <[email protected]> wrote:
> > If the drinks are open to all, could you announce it
> > here.
> >
> >
> http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/bloggerCon/2004/04/15#a1184
> >
> > Other announcements are welcome of course. ;->
> >
> > Dave
And this is the fun part:
—– Original Message —–
From: “Halley Suitt” <[email protected]>
To: “Dave Winer” <[email protected]>; “Jeff Jarvis” <[email protected]>; “Jeff Jarvis” <[email protected]>; “Jay Rosen” <[email protected]>; “Adam Curry” <[email protected]>; “Adam Curry” <[email protected]>; “Michael Watkins” <[email protected]>; “Michael Watkins” <[email protected]>; “Werner Vogels” <[email protected]>; “David Weinberger” <[email protected]>; “Dan Gilmor” <[email protected]>; “cheyenne Gnomegirl” <[email protected]>; “Nick Denton” <[email protected]>; “Betsy Devine” <[email protected]>; “Hylton Jolliffe” <[email protected]>; “Renee Blodgett” <[email protected]>; “Britt Blaser” <[email protected]>; “John Palfrey” <[email protected]>; “Jim Moore” <[email protected]>; “J. Scott Johnson” <[email protected]>; “‘Dan Bricklin'” <[email protected]>
Cc: <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, April 15, 2004 9:11 AM
Subject: Re: Drinks pre-dinner Friday Night: Millennium Bostonian Hotel

> Dave = The Drinks @ the Millennium event is NOT open
> to all. This is a purely snobby elitist bad-ass-A-list-bloggers
> exclusive event BEFORE the dinner which is open to all.
>
> I do have another open-to-all event that I’ll post at
> that link though, thanks for mentioning it.
>
> Halley
Dave turns out to be a good bloke after all!
> — Dave Winer <[email protected]> wrote:
Rather than argue about this, I’d ask everyone to please carefully review the guidelines for the conference.

http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/bloggerCon/II/newbies

It’s worth doing this right. Having even one elitist meetup spoils the whole thing, imho. It makes people who aren’t invited feel bad. I know because I feel that way about it (even though I was invited). Part of me feels like I should announce a competing event so that everyone who is included can feel good about this meeting. I encourage you to change this Halley, I doubt if you’ll get substantially more people if you open it up, and so what if you do? You can still talk with the people you like.

We’ll talk about this, for sure, at the National Anthem session, where everyone is invited, and we’re making arrangements for an overflow room because we think more people are going to show up than we initially planned for.

See Also
Russia

>Dave

Now a short word of wisdom: 1: I am not going to reveal who sent this to me: what I would ask is that those on the list show maturity in not going hunting for a source. After all, why spoil a perfectly snobbish soiree by pointing fingers…..

Attending BloggerCon: let me know Halleys response: we are also looking for any independent feedback on the event, email:[email protected]

View Comments (14)
  • And all this time I thought only people who made fun of “A-List Bloggers” called them that. Who knew they actually labeled themselves this way? Mebbe it is a Halley thing. Somehow I can’t see Joey Devilla keeping a straight face whilst referring to himself as “A-list”

    Of course, Halley didn’t have his address, so he might really be an “A-minus” guy.

  • Some people in every group feel like they need to be in the in crowd,it makes them better. Of course, usually they’re so insecure that their pleasure is derived from keeping others out.
    Halley should be ashamed.

  • Some people in every group feel like they need to be in the in crowd,it makes them better. Of course, usually they’re so insecure that their pleasure is derived from keeping others out.
    Halley should be ashamed.

  • Wheee! The A-list defined :-)

    It’s like a leaked memo from Republican HQ where they talk about the “little people”, versus the ones who really rule the (blog)world.

    – Not an A lister

  • Halley’s clearly being sarcastic but wanting to communicate that she’s just like her friends to go to dinner. Do all of you invite every person you know to every event you ever hold? Or do you sometimes not invite your drinking buddies to dinner with your boss?

    Maybe the tongue-in-cheek nature of Halley’s description doesn’t come across well if you don’t know how she talks in real life, but you’re all making yourselves look foolish and petty by making a big deal out of this. And clearly this isn’t a canonical enumeration of the a-list, I’m not on it.

    (See? That’s more of that humor you’re not getting.)

  • Ah well, it’s Halley’s perogative to have drinks with whoever she chooses.

    Does this make us feel better? All C- and D-list bloggers are invited to the McDonald’s at Faneuil Hall at 6:00pm for McFlurries before the Durgin park event.

  • Boy oh boy, you guys are bored! Thanks Anil for actually understanding the words “tongue-in-cheek” — surprise, I invited people I know, not some “A list” which I think is ridiculous. Are you sure these folks are happy with YOU having made all their email addresses public?!

    BTW, I’d love to see all 400 of Dave Winer’s closest friends at drinks tonight. Come one, come all.

    Thanks for the publicity. This reminds me of start-ups who know the best way to announce their product is make people sign a non-disclosure agreement!

    Catch you all later —

    H

  • Anil, I got the humor. But, ruefully, it’s funny because it’s true.

    It is the absolute right of the world blog cabal to have drinks together. Do you hear me? I say unto you, that the masters of the blogoverse have a free-market entitlement to private parties.

    Heaven forbid that anyone should think that individual choices of the blog-gods should be mocked. That would be blasphemy. Or at least communism.

    And with that, I seal my fate as Z-list forever :-)

  • Anil
    You are taking me far too seriously: whilst the content is 100% true, you’ve got to admit that the “elitist bad-ass-A-list-bloggers exclusive event” is a classic worthy of reporting, even if the context may have been in jest.
    I respect the right for anyone to meet in private, but the conflict of ideas in these emails is a fascinating insite into how the so-called “A-List” functions.
    Its not a go at all the people on the list (I’ve got a lot of time in particular for Jeff Jarvis whom I’ve corresponded with previously, and no, he wasn’t the one who leaked it), and I’ll agree with you fully: the list is not complete: perhaps there’s a story you might want to tell me about why you were snubbed as I would have though you’d be on it.
    regards
    Duncan

  • Maybe it’s just that i’m used to Halley’s writing, but it was incredibly clear to me that (as usual) she was being her sarcastic/tongue-in-cheek self, which is what I like about her. No offense, but it’s pretty lame that people made a big deal about it. It is clear to me, as Anil pointed out, that she just wanted to have drinks with some friends. There are times for big public celebrations, and other times when that is a bit too much and you want a more personal environment. Anyway, that’s all i’ve got to say =)

  • But it should be noted that there thousands of us that don’t have the money to fly off to a shitty place like Boston for the weekend. It just makes me laugh. But what is sad is some people will take this seriously and can not read thru the supposed sarcasm. Gag Gag

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