I read your other post but didn't want to quote it because of length. Was Big O there for the event? I'm curious if he reported from experience or if he was fed the information. He could be the source of the misinformation or could have been a victim of someone with an agenda.
No, he was not there.
I don't really think it's the type of thing to get fed misinformation. There were not many sites there in that first year and we were all really close-knit....we still are. It brought the fan-sites together as a way to work together and benefit each other. Things like Met-Life takeover were born from Web Weekend, among other things. I've been on podcasts of other sites, helped in fundraising and gotten many members throughout the years that started at other places.
We also shared info behind the scenes to help stop trolls that were out to destroy our goodwill.