---
title: 'Well worth the read: The Oregonian’s coverage of the Winter Coders’ Social'
date: '2009-01-08T09:26:14-08:00'
type: post
word_count: 337
char_count: 2216
tokens: 439
categories:
  - Coverage
  - Events
  - OpenSource
  - Oregon
  - Oregonian
  - Portland
tags:
  - Calagator
  - geekathon
  - 'open source'
  - Oregon
  - Oregonian
  - Portland
  - 'winter coders social'
---

# Well worth the read: The Oregonian’s coverage of the Winter Coders’ Social

It’s not often I get the chance to sing the praises of [*The Oregonian*](http://www.oregonlive.com/oregonian "The Oregonian"), but the [coverage of the Winter Coders’ Social](http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2009/01/geekathon_potlucks_unite_compu.html "Winter Coders Social") is exactly the kind of mainstream coverage this whole Portland open source community deserves.

> Because much of the programming work in Portland is of the freelance or consulting nature, gatherings such as these are good for getting job leads or for simply taking a break from staring at a computer screen. But competitive Silicon Valley this isn’t. Here at CubeSpace, partygoers never get more aggressive than wearing shirts to advertise their preferred programming language — “Perl Mongers” or “Ruby Brigade.” And once the party ends at 10 p.m., plans are made to head up the street to Aztec Willies for another beer.

Silicon Florist favorites [Calagator](http://calagator.org "Calagator"), [Ward Cunningham](http://twitter.com/WardCunningham "Ward Cunningham"), [Selena Deckelmann](http://twitter.com/selenamarie "Selena Deckelmann"), [Audrey Eschright](http://twitter.com/spinnerin "Audrey Eschright"), [Igal Koshevoy](http://twitter.com/igalko "Igal Koshevoy"), and [Bart Massey](http://twitter.com/PO8 "Bart Massey") are all mentioned.

> “The rate of change can drown you,” Eschright says. “You have to stay on top of things and get involved. Be a co-producer. Technology needs to represent who you are.”

As [I’ve mentioned before](http://siliconflorist.com/2009/01/06/concrete5-pours-the-foundation-for-another-portland-user-group/ "User Groups galore"), this is exactly the kind of coverage people have been asking me to pursue—shedding more light on the activities of the open source development community and user groups in the area. I’m glad to see *The O* beating me to the punch.

Grab a cup of coffee—or beverage of your choice—and take few minutes to read “[Geekathon potlucks unite computer herd](http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2009/01/geekathon_potlucks_unite_compu.html "Geekathon potlucks unite computer herd").”