I don't think this characterization is fair, and I think you would have a hard time finding somebody who actually worked on Freenet to agree with you. Ian's orginal technical ideas for Freenet - as well as his vision - are very much still a big part of the architecture, and he could never be said to have abandoned it. In fact, time has vindicated many of his ideas to a far greater extent than I expected when we started working with them. You are right that the project has not yet solved the problems it set out to solve - but since it has wildly high ambitions, that should hardly be surprising. I think it has made a positive contribution all the same, if only to our understanding of many of the issues involved.

It is true that the press has had a tendency to paint Ian as the lone father of the project, but that is just the way to press works, and I have never seen Ian taking credit for other peoples work. And, to be honest, after you have done it a few times, you start realizing that dealing with the press isn't nearly as fun as it is cracked up to be, and that Ian has a knack for communication that most nerds, myself included, do not. I think Freenet has been very well served by Ian's ability to effectively communicate it's goals and gain attention -- among other things it has allowed several coders, of whom I was the first but not the last, to work full time for the project for certain periods. That said, I was a bit disappointed when the NYTimes ran a cover story on a presentation Ian and I held at Defcon and forgot to mention me at all, but I got over it :-).

I've spent the last 11 years at various math institutions and conferences all over the world. I think I qualify as a "math nerd", and I have a PhD to prove it. I find the question dumb, and somewhat insulting.

Firstly the whole idea that their is a single "math nerd" type is ridiculous. Very few mathematicians I know fit into the high pants and thick glasses type. A lot of people at my institution are musicians, several play in rock bands at night, some dance, some are training buffs, one guy I know is combining his PhD with playing professional sports and is on his way to Olympics. While most are still guys, a growing portion are girls: some are straight, some are gay, some are single, quite many are married. In fact the variety is probably the only defining feature I can find.

And when it comes to partying, the only special way I can think of that mathematicians like to party is hard. I can remember from many times the surprise of "numerotypicals" after having partyed till dawn with a bunch of mathematicians. While there are certainly the "study and never leave the lab" types - most math nerds know are more like the opposite. The reason for this is probably that math is high stress occupation (try having as your job to push your mind to the very limit of its ability every day) which tends to lead to hard partying behavior. The stress is also the reason why many mathematicians are creatively worn out by 35-40.

So, seriously, stop the silly patronizing and just organize a good party. With lots of booze.