[tptacek]

No. I have been in (minor, our fault, it all worked out, though not the way I wanted it to) commercial disputes with this organization in the past. They are not fucking around.

Look, I've got two things going on with this whole story:

First, it's pretty clear that Dmitry (a name I know only from HN from the past couple days) deliberately arranged the showdown with the Goons. He got what he wanted. Nobody should be clutching pearls about his experience on the stage.

Second, while none of us know the particulars of Entropic's contracts with DEF CON, and we could still learn new stuff that would make it clear DEF CON is in the wrong, there are a lot of people on HN that are trying to (or aspire to) consulting, and there is something very important to learn from what's happening here: you do not want to do what Entropic did and pick a fight with your client, because (1) you're probably not experiencing something that is that out of the norm for consulting and (2) other prospective clients are absolutely going to take notice.

[threatofrain]

From what I understand... it's possible that while Dmitry may have wanted to help Entropic, what ended up happening is Dmitry burned bridges for Entropic. Entropic by now has no choice but to come out with a statement since from their perspective, Defcon was already throwing their name under the bus, basically saying Entropic exercised bad faith and incompetence.

[doctorpangloss]

> They are not fucking around.

How would you feel that reading that line of yours made my eyes roll?

You’re mocking this guy for creating drama, then you go and say these conference organizers are some dramatic hyperbole. “The only valid drama is my drama.” It’s the pot calling the kettle black!

[tptacek]

I mean that they're serious about business, not "there's a lot of holes in the desert".