gnhlug-discuss Digest, Vol 40, Issue 20

[Ralph Mack]

gnhlug-discuss-request at mail.gnhlug.org wrote:
> In my personal opinion:
>
>   I suspect efforts should *not* start with speakers.  I think part of
> the waning interest in GNHLUG meetings is related to them becoming a
> lecture series instead of a *user group*.  Get people together first.
>   
I thoroughly agree with Ben. One thing that might make things interesting
is to announce a round table topic for people to think about in advance.
>   Plus, I believe simple gatherings of friendly people would be more
> useful to Linux newcomers, which is something GNHLUG has been
> struggling to attract.  And it's certainly less work for organizers to
> just get together with like-minded comrades than it is to organize a
> presentation every month.  :)
>   
If you want to attract Linux newcomers, it would be good to be sensitive
to the level of questions for the announced topic. Linux attracts a fair
number of people who are curious, fearless, bored, and stony broke and
found a castaway computer at the curb on trash day. (At least these are
the guys I'm generally helping out. :)) They may have written a short
script or two - or not. They're likelier to attend a group that is
talking about using and maintaining the system than the roaring debate
around the ownership and future of MySQL or the latest Python feature.

Of course, it's a user group. We can still talk about all sorts of other
things, but the point of the announced round table topic is to draw in
people, particularly people who are trying out Linux and are likelier to
stick with it if they have a local community they can turn to when they
get stuck.

So here's a topic suggestion:

"What distribution do you use? What do you like about it? What don't you
like about it? What is puzzling you right now about it?" If you have a
laptop with your favorite distro on it, bring it. Otherwise, just bring
yourself, your experiences, your opinions, and your questions. We should
probably have some folks in the group planning to show up with a variety
of distros - perhaps Ubuntu, Fedora, Gentoo, and Slackware, at a minimum,
representing different approaches to compare.
>   I always thought the idea of a Manchester meeting had the benefit of
> being fairly centrally located for the southern population centers.
> It's convenient to Nashua and Concord, and reasonable for the seacoast
> and Monadnock regions.
>   
It certainly would work for me and putting the meeting in a centrally
located place like Manchester would ensure a critical mass of points of
view, something vitally important in a round table discussion.
>   Again, the above is my opinion.  Anyone organizing anything is free
> to organize whatever they want.  The decisions go to the doers, not
> the peanut gallery.
>   
Again, Ben is right. :) Now that I've put my 2 cents in, I will retreat
into the shadows - but if I don't have a prior commitment for that night,
whatever night it is, I will be delighted to attend and participate.

Ralph