Asking whether machines can think is like asking whether submarines can swim. Because there was no regular outlet for filk music, the only way to enjoy filking was to get together with friends and create your own. These get-togethers started at science fiction conventions, as unofficial events late at night. Being unofficial, filkers were forced to find any place possible to sit down and start singing, much to the horror of the night staff of the hotel. This is where the stories of filking happening in hallways, elevators, and women's rest rooms started.
Conventions continue to be a regular meeting point for filkers.
Soon after the 1980 Los Angeles Westercon, Paul J. Willett, Ev Turner, Gary Anderson and Ron Bounds organized the Los Angeles Filkers Anonymous, a.k.a. Paul Willett provided flyers with information on whose house was to be the site for next month's bash. Times and people have changed. Ev Turner now works Saturdays and is unable to attend LAFA filks. Gary Anderson wandered the country from Ventura to Washington, D.C., to San Jose and has now settled in Pasadena.