I haven't seen grifters in the community. But there definitely are narcissists and other ucky personality types. This is true of ALL communities... As soon as a

I haven't seen grifters in the community. But there definitely are narcissists and other ucky personality types. This is true of ALL communities... As soon as a niche group offers a position of power/importance the turds will line up to battle over it. Best advice I have is, avoid the whole situation and have fun. If you really want this kind of stuff to be part of your career, this is what that kind of career path is... lots of politics, drama, defending a title, etc. Conferences can be good for meeting people, and I guess self promotion. But it's just like anything else, there's going to be people who will do anything to meddle regardless of merit. There's going to be "cool kids" and "losers". If you seek equanimity, you won't find it in a hierarchical power structure. Blogs are way better than talks anyways.