On Wed, Mar 28, 2007 at 08:17:39PM +0100, TheVeech wrote: > No worries. Seriously, I think most people's ideas of them are that > they're a bit like a geekfest, something akin to a Star Trek convention > (which also caricatures them!). That said, the people I know who are > proficient with Linux could hardly be described as 'geek' types. > > Just laugh off things like this, call them daft and slip in the truth > while you're at it. The reader-response studies I've come across are on > your side. Besides, the facts speak for themselves, as you've already > outlined and made everyone here aware of, if they didn't already know > (neutralising the negativity of the caricature, IMHO). > > Another possibility is to find a way to address it, if it becomes an > irritant. But if you think such things are bad, try sitting through > '300'. Now THAT's bad! >
Nicely done, thanks. > You mentioned that there's some communication between LUGs - is there > anything worthwhile where people can read up on them (so far, though, > it's mainly people who are already members who are talking about them > here)? Another query is if there's coordination for things like > campaigns, events, etc.? > Well, we often invite other LUGs to come and visit us, and we invite ourselves to other LUGs where practical. We have had a joint meeting at Surry LUG meeting venue (RedHat in Guildford), and on a number of occassions people from Surrey have come along to a Hants meet. Indeed people from Sussex have also come to Hants in the past. We are lucky that we have quite a large well connected venue at Southampton Uni. There is also a mailing list just for LUGMasters where people running LUGs can share information, and others can disseminate info "down" to the LUGs rather than mail them all individually. > Any national events? > A friend of mine organised a national install day a few years ago and I think his current opinion is "never again". It's like herding cats. Each LUG has its own agenda, own way of doing things. They rarely agree on anything. If the LUGMaster list is anything to go by they never will. I suspect that distro-specific groups such as this one are better placed to organise these things because there are many people here who represent LUGs or are members of LUGs. So they could take that national plan to their LUG who may comprise people who are interested and will help, and people who hate Ubuntu and would never be seen associated with it. It's that difference of opinion that makes multi-LUG events near impossible to organise. There is of course the international event "Software Freedom Day" which transcends LUGs and distro specific groups because it focuses on software *freedom* not Linux, not GNU, not Ubuntu. Freedom which is *generally* something we *roughly* strive towards. > Being as enthusiastic as you are about this, you should think about > doing some sort of feature on it. > Hahah. It's tricky. Nobody represents all LUGs. Anything anyone says or does will be countered vigarously by someone else, so it generally goes undone, and unsaid. As an example I have known lengthy threads about what type of gaffer/duct/masking tape to buy to tidy cables at a LUG meeting. This went on for many days and involved the opinion of around 6 people. Scale that up to 100+ LUGs organising an event. *shudder* :) > > Each to their own I guess, but at least give them a chance :) > > You already have. I'm sold! > Hurrah! :) Cheers, Al. -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.kubuntu.org/UKTeam/
