I haven’t experienced mics bad enough to make me wish I were there in person. And I haven’t had that experience in any online poster hall, but maybe I just got lucky?

No, I don’t share location data with Google. What gave you that idea?

And your phone’s GPS wouldn’t work for all of those cases because…?

Ugh. I don’t go to conferences to socialize. I realize that many people do, but I don’t think that’s an appropriate use of institutional resources.

I disagree that location is necessary functionality.

Great gods. I don’t even drive across town for staff meetings. There’s always a video call alternative, and about half our personnel use it.

Exactly. Pay for your own vacation.

I don’t really see the need for a location service in the first place. My phone can share my GPS coordinates with first responders in an emergency. For everything else, there’s simply typing in the location I want to know about.

One positive from the pandemic was the realization that in-person conferences are almost always a waste of time and money.

If an online conference goes sideways, it’s easy enough to close the browser and carry on.

Sadly because I have many friends from China, I’ve come to the conclusion that anything sourced in any way from China is likely a product of forced labor. To the extent possible, these days I avoid anything touched by Chinese industry in any way.