Among some other really cringey behaviors.

I've seen bottles of alcohol passed around doing talks and heard more than a few really off color jokes about criminal sex acts and such. Vegas waitresses have seen it all also but there was over the top behavior.

We're in a victim dominant culture now, "it's not you or what you've done, you're just a victim of evil or something" but at more than a few Def Cons and more than a few times, it was really uncomfortable to be there and see some of the stuff that was happening.

Defcon was always a very boozy conference. It's not a professional event. It's Burning Man for high school AV clubs.

I think it might be "Burning Man" for the guys not quite "cool enough" to be in the high school AV Club...

Yes, counter-culture is counter-culture. It was meant to make normals uncomfy.

Guess what? Hotels are run by normals.

And they are perfectly fine with the crowd. I've chatted with many hotel staff and almost all of them are happy with the DC crowd. Generally tips well and are polite even when drunk, some assholes, but thats normal with any crowd.

Worst case scenario is usually they tell people to disperse, but otherwise, they always seemed to laugh when they saw shenanigans (except for people fucking with Casino machines, thats a fast way to make them mad)

So how would you explain the original cancellation of DEF CON 32?

Probably, because of what mrandish said at the start of the thread. Management thinks they can earn more money from others. If hotel staff is treated well and/or gets good tips doesn't factor in the decision process which event is hosted. As long as someone spends enough for managers to get their bonuses management is happy.

It doesn't appear there are any similar sized conferences scheduled for the original time slot though? Or that there will be one in the near future, unless you know of some information.

There are still shenanigans, but all of the wildness has calmed down -- both via goon enforcement and casino staff knowledge.

For example, the ATMs on casino floors are probably some of the most secure in the nation during the con. Harassment is also taken actually seriously.

That sounds like DefCon 7 at the Alexis Park. I think I remember seeing a photo of a golf cart in the pool.

I quit going after 7. It seemed like they partying had vastly I overtaken any actual technical content. I don't drink and I'm not super social, so it just seemed like it wasn't "for me" anymore.

Edit: It has probably changed in the intervening years but every time I looked into it it seemed like more spectacle than tech. DerbyCon filled the niche for me for a few years but then it got impossible to get tickets for and imploded. (I know there's a lot of backstory about DerbyCon that I don't know, too. For me it was just a fun way to feel a little of the DefCon 3 vibes again.)

Other than the first item, this does not seem especially extreme by Vegas standards.

You don't think breaking into a secured area and removing expensive hardware from the roof is extreme?

Removing expensive hardware is crossing a line but a lot of people break into secured areas a lot.

Remember, this is the Las Vegas strip. The frame of reference for normal is a bit different.

I was at DEF CON 26 & 27 and people had punched/torn holes in the drywall in several places, and at one stairwell where you could reach up and slap the ceiling, chunks of ceiling were falling off from where people were gouging it.

DEF CON is a hell of a party, and I hope to go this year, but the attendees are a force to be reckoned with. Even I ended up fucking up a homemade badge, and tossing a failing lithium battery into the trash in the middle of a casino, only to learn later I created a trash fire, so I know firsthand that we're a problematic bunch.

Well you know you shouldn't put lithium batteries in the trash, worse still indoors in a hotel. DEF CON didn't have a contact for e-waste recycling?

I attended Def Con 7 and witnessed people pick the lock of a utility room on my hotel floor and change the phone wiring.

Also, I was a 17 year old girl at the time, and I felt sexually threatened several times during the event. That is the only place I have visited where I would make a statement of that nature.

Sounds pretty fun. Maybe not if you are an organizer though.