[nflug] any meetings? (fwd)

Sun Nov 20 16:56:50 EST 2005

Ah -- I didn't realize there was a pattern to the "is there a meeting this
week" mails (I'm New Around Here). And since I am (new around here) I hope
you won't take it ill if I ask a few questions. I'm not trying to be
critical -- so if it sounds so, please don't take it that way. 

Poking around the NFLUG web site (and mailing list archives) it seems like
this -- where someone asks if there will be a meeting and then, as often
as not, there is none -- is not a new trend. Now that I know that meetings
are held every third Sunday, I can plan for that in my calendar. But I
think it would be helpful for others like me (especially those who didn't
sign up for the mailing list) if there were a calendar posted to the NFLUG
web site. The front page of the site looks as if it were last updated in
2003, so for other people who are also New Around Here, this might keep
them from popping in to a meeting, not being sure if there actually is
one. I would be happy to code up an HTML calendar of all the third Sundays
in 2006, if it would be wanted? I think it would also help to be more
assertive about meetings -- eg to send out an announcement around the
first of the month stating that "This month's meeting is
(date/time/address)" rather than wait until the Thursday or Friday before
the third Sunday to discuss whether there will be one at all.

The third Sunday in November is today, and it has already been established
that there wasn't a meeting today. The third Sunday next month is December
18, and although that isn't all that near the 25th, the weeks around
Christmas tend to be really very busy for me, so I expect I wouldn't be
able to make that meeting. However, the third Sunday in January is January
15: is it OK to propose that date as a "plenary meeting" where everyone
who is reading this mail will come? And we can discuss things like
speakers and topics and installfests and LinuxWorld Toronto (er, or some
other, closer conference/meeting that is maybe more convenient -- when I
say I am new around here, I mean to Buffalo too)? I'd be happy to
"sponsor" the pizza for everyone who comes, that meeting.

I'm not sure if I agree with Ron that the primary reason for a LUG is
outreach to new/end-users only, but it's definitely "a" primary reason,
and, I'd guess that at each LUG meeting there would be some time set aside
to answer questions for new users? But if we were to start planning in
January for an Installfest in perhaps April or May (so that the weather is
nice but school is still in session) we could probably get it written up
in the Buffalo News & other outlets (and post it to the NFLUG web site),
which would help with outreach to totally new users (if that is indeed an
aim of the LUG -- is it?) How do the meetings tend to be structured?

At least every other time that "is there a meeting this month" gets
discussed, there is a conversation about getting speakers to come to
events. What speakers have we had in the past, and what kind of speakers
do we want? It seems to me (and apologies if I am wrong) that Buffalo is
sort of a small place, and that most of those people we could get as
speakers are quite likely already involved in either NFLUG or UB-FREEUNIX
or BPLUG. Speaking of which, why are there three affinity groups around
the same topic, when none of them seem to be all that active? How much
overlap is there in membership, and has it ever been discussed to
consolidate their activitites?

As David Aquilina mentioned (and thank you, David, for your mail), lining
up speakers is the kind of thing one needs to do a few months in advance.
I would be happy to help coordinate something like that. I'd be curious,
though, to learn how one gets someone like Bob Young to come to a LUG
meeting. Was he in the area anyway? Did Red Hat pay for his travel
expenses? How does that work, in general?

As for local speakers, it seems like someone from SUNY Buffalo to talk
about their Linux cluster might be a worthwhile topic (?); then I for one
would be very curious to hear how the April 2003 "open documents"
resolution from the University of Buffalo

http://lists.canopener.ca/pipermail/discuss/2003-April/000940.html

turned out in Real Life. Is that the kind of topics/speakers we mean when
we say we need to like up some topics and speakers, or do we want more
practical topics like "shell scripting" or "security," where members step 
up to take the floor as speaker for that month? 

And finally, if Bob is in Rochester every weekend and coming to a Sunday
meeting constitutes a two-hour round trip for him to come, do we want to
discuss holding the meetings on a weeknight instead?

Thank you for your patience,
-nora 

On Sat, 19 Nov 2005, Joshua Ronne Altemoos wrote:

> Date: Sat, 19 Nov 2005 15:36:39 -0500 (EST)
> From: Joshua Ronne Altemoos <joshua at wolfnix.net>
> Reply-To: nflug at nflug.org
> To: nflug at nflug.org
> Subject: Re: [nflug] any meetings?
> 
> The meeting place is at the ansonia center you can get there by Rail by
> getting off at the theather station and walking down main past studio
> arena and it is right there just amke sure you are at the right door and
> you would ring teh NYCLU office. The meetings are always the 3rd sunday of
> the month if convient and if people say they will come.
> 
> 
> 
> josh
> >
> >
> >
> > PS (sorry i thought of it only after hitting send) -- as for topics, how
> > about "community outreach and member recruitment so that future meetings
> > are better attended" =)
> > -n
> >
> > On Sat, 19 Nov 2005, JS Kelly wrote:
> >
> >> I'd like vey much to come to meetings. One thing that has kept me away
> >> is
> >> that they are always announced so suddenly -- is there any value in
> >> doing
> >> a standing meeting (every third Thursday of the month, or something like
> >> that?). Doing it on a weekday would also mean that it doesn't cost you
> >> an
> >> extra trip from Rochester. The other thing I was a little bit concerned
> >> about was actually finding the meeting; after reading about how
> >> confusing
> >> it was to find it in the new downtown location. In the winter months
> >> (basically, when it is snowing) I would have to come in by bus, because
> >> I
> >> only have a "summer car." That's fine, but I mention it because it means
> >> that the downtown location is more convenient for me than any of the
> >> suburban ones that have been proposed every once in a while when the
> >> topic
> >> comes up.
> >>
> >> thanks,
> >> -nora
> >>
> >>
> >> On Fri, 18 Nov 2005, Robert Meyer wrote:
> >>
> >> > Date: Fri, 18 Nov 2005 11:55:02 -0800 (PST)
> >> > From: Robert Meyer <meyer_rm at yahoo.com>
> >> > Reply-To: nflug at nflug.org
> >> > To: nflug at nflug.org
> >> > Subject: Re: [nflug] any meetings?
> >> >
> >> > Well, the response when I've asked about who is going to be at a
> >> meeting has
> >> > been quite underwhelming.  I've been spending weekends in Rochester so
> >> it's an
> >> > hour trip for me to come back for a meeting.  This something that I
> >> wouldn't
> >> > mind doing if there was going to be decent attendance but the last
> >> time I asked
> >> > who was going to be there, I got two responses.
> >> >
> >> > I can't be available this weekend due to prior commitments.  I need to
> >> know how
> >> > many people are interested in attending meetings.  The last several
> >> have had
> >> > very few attendees.  One meeting, if it wasn't for Ron bringing his
> >> students, I
> >> > would have been the only person to show up.
> >> >
> >> > So, if we're going to have meetings, we need to find out if anyone is
> >> going to
> >> > show up and we also need people to offer topics for discussion and to
> >> volunteer
> >> > to present things.
> >> >
> >> > What say, folks?
> >> >
> >> > Cheers!
> >> >
> >> > Bob
> >> >
> >> > --- anthonyriga <torrodimerda at yahoo.com> wrote:
> >> >
> >> > >
> >> > >
> >> > >
> >> > > ---------------------------------
> >> > >  Yahoo! FareChase - Search multiple travel sites in one click.  >
> >> > _______________________________________________
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> >> > >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > __________________________________
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> >> > _______________________________________________
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> >> >
> >>
> >> Nora Mikes
> >> jskelly at jskelly.com
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> nflug mailing list
> >> nflug at nflug.org
> >> http://www.nflug.org/mailman/listinfo/nflug
> >>
> >
> > Nora Mikes
> > jskelly at jskelly.com
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > nflug mailing list
> > nflug at nflug.org
> > http://www.nflug.org/mailman/listinfo/nflug
> >
> 
> 
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Nora Mikes
jskelly at jskelly.com

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