Thanks to everyone who commented on the original post yesterday or earlier today. I've taken it down for a couple of reasons.
First, the person I was debating with last night was unhappy about the post and claimed that I had misrepresented his position. I'm not sure how, but that was his view.
Second, and more importantly, I should have asked his permission before posting. I was hoping to give a sense of what it's like to go to a scientific conference and all the informal discussions that actually make going to a conference worthwhile. For that reason, it felt important to post it there and then rather than sitting on it for a couple of days as I normally do before posting here.
But when you have an informal conversation with someone in a pub, you don't normally expect it to appear next day on the internet, even if you're not identified as the person involved. I don't want to be in a situation where people won't have these discussions with me for fear of this happening.
I'm still experimenting with blogging and I think I crossed a line with this post.
A straight-down-the-line review of Day 1 to follow.