For those who don't know, Convergence is the annual meeting of net.goths. The denizens (and ex-denizens, as many people have moved to other venues, like Livejournal) of alt.gothic.* newsgroups vote each year on proposals put forth by those who get a committee together to host it in the city of their choice.

Convergence is a little odd for me. I know who so many of these people are because I've been online for a while- but I generally keep a low profile so they don't know me. My newsgroup readers deciding to have toxic meltdowns after I've used them perfectly successfully for a few months (every single one I've ever tried), which hasn't helped much either. The only community thing I am really that known in is something that used to pop up on the groups every now and again, but fairly tangentally (and always seemed to be mentioned during those periods right after my newsreader had disintigrated, and before I found a new one I could get working, so I never bothered to speak up). I'm also so not outgoing that mostly I either stick to people I know, or hide in a corner. Even so, I've still managed to meet a few people at Convergences. Oddly enough, with the exception of Convergence 1, even Convergences have been held in cities with one name, and odd Convergences have been held in cities with two. Convergence 1 Chicago, Convergence 2 Boston, Convergence 3 San Francisco, Convergence 4 Toronto, Convergence 5 New Orleans, Convergence 6 Seattle, Convergence 7 New York, Convergence 8 Montréal, Convergence 9 Las Vegas, Convergence 10 Chicago, Convergence 11 San Diego.