I agree. You make a good point (even though I will never accept that cons==conferences). Next time I will just silently downvote, and move on. I apologize to all for expressing this pedantic feeling.
It's not pedantic. Pedantic would imply that your complaint has an iota of validity to it, which it does not. You literally cannot exist as a functioning member of society if you are opposed to using context in interpreting communication, or to the evolution of language.
Look, I am completely out of my element on this one, and apparently, the people attracted to this entry feel very strongly about it. I've only ever been to industry and academic conferences, and I would actually characterize these other things as festivals.
Browsing HN via /newcomments inherently places every comment out of context, and I realize it is my choice to browse that way. I also strongly disagree that my complaint is without "an iota of validity." As to your last point, I am pretty much a loner, so that's not off base.
Reading your comments, and not wishing to cause offense, I would guess that you're not neurotypical. Communication is messy, and being outside the neurotypical territory may explain why it's frustrating to come across these things.
I apologize for being insensitive to this possibility.
