There are a few things I see going on in SM.

1. it's narcissism. yes, I know that's the cliche that 'outsiders' use to describe SM, but it's vastly accurate. Most of the FB or Tweets are nothing that even smells like conversation, let alone spark anything besides “Indifferent Liked this post.” The small portion that discuss issues are not that far from this paradigm. Somebody posting as an employee is just typing inner dialog most of the time.

2. Too much damn over-sensitivity. I am SO SICK of sensitivity talk and concern… it's out of control. NOBODY has any right to be un-offended. As I tell many people, I already have a wife, you have no basis in which to offend me. SM needs to grow some skin around those balls long before I can kick them. The only thing I suggest, it that if you DO engage in debate or even heated argument online and publicly, be sure you can say it to my/their face if we meet in the real world, at gangplank, or at a eats place.

I will happily do the time for whatever I have to do to you in order to protect myself/and or family. A threat online to me is as good as to my face. I know I will act accordingly.

3. Most people have no idea how to debate in the first place… not sure what to do about that.

lordy i'm tired….

All of the nice squeeky clean uses make it a murtual adoration society. Check out this blog post…TD is not alone in his wish for more assholes on twitter.

http://valleywag.gawker.com/5346947/why-is-ever…

I understand that not offending anyone is considered success, but social discourse requires some debate.

I didn't attend the event, but mostly because I don't really want to be where everyone is now. I want to be where they are going next.

Next time, I should join the illuminating Mr Hurst and get the place rock-n!

All of the nice squeeky clean uses make it a murtual adoration society. Check out this blog post…TD is not alone in his wish for more assholes on twitter.

http://valleywag.gawker.com/5346947/why-is-ever…

I understand that not offending anyone is considered success, but social discourse requires some debate.

I didn't attend the event, but mostly because I don't really want to be where everyone is now. I want to be where they are going next.

Next time, I should join the illuminating Mr Hurst and get the place rock-n!

“Who was a large and loud portion of attendees? The same exact people that attend every other social media seminar in the Valley.”

… isn't true. At least, it wasn't from my perspective. I looked around the room and saw a lot more faces I didn't know. I commented several times that the crowd at SMAZ wasn't comprised of mostly the usual suspects.

But I'm not at all surprised it *seemed* that way from a distance, and I will have to agree on the “loud” part. It's highly likely that your sample size wasn't representative of the general attendance.

The rest of your post? Sure. I love a good debate. I love to be challenged to give more. I may tell you to shut the hell up or figure it out for yourself, but probably not.

Would challenging Jay in that venue help him, me, or anyone? Not really. So I chose to just present different content. Now a panel/discussion would have been interesting on some topics, but that wasn't the format. A panel can allow the debate to continue on Twitter, but then it is an extension of the format and not a distraction. So in addition to the demand, there needs to be a constructive format to support such debate.

There is also the issue of how sometimes the Phx online crowd chooses to define “debate and discuss”, but I think creating events with other formats that target different groups would help that discussion mature. This isn't a random reply – it's something I've been noodling on for a while which is why I've tried to structure Social Media Club like I have recently. Of course, I'm always open to input on how to make it better!

Cheers!