That's a good takeaway. One of my mentors is the organizer of an invite-only meetup which I really wanted to go to, and while he did add me at the last second

That's a good takeaway. One of my mentors is the organizer of an invite-only meetup which I really wanted to go to, and while he did add me at the last second to the invite list, I didn't get a badge. I simply acted as if I belonged (which I did), and I got by security, into the afterparty, etc. I do believe the blog author crossed the line, but I also feel it's forgiveable/acceptable as an experiment, but not as something repeatable.