[chiglug] "Windy City Linux Users Group" on meetup.com

[Steve Litt]

On Tue, 25 Aug 2015 14:46:29 -0500
Jim Campbell <jcampbell at gnome.org> wrote:

> Hi All,
> 
> I get a lot of notices about Windy City Linux Users Group Meetings on
> Meetup.com, but most of them are for meetups of a few people at a
> restaurant or donut shop. Do you think we should have a separate
> ChicagoLUG meetup group? I don't know of anyone other than Mike McCune
> who goes to both sets, and it might clear things up for our group and
> reduce email noise.
> 
> I'm not sure if it would be worth the hassle, but thought I'd start w/
> asking what people thought.

Meetup: Not a fan.

First, read their TOS, specifically indemnification. If you have a
house or other assets, think about it. You post something, somebody
takes offense to what you post, sues Meetup, and now *you're* paying
Meetup's legal bills while the the lawyers you pay for defend *Meetup*,
and possibly throw *you* under the bus.

Second, most Meetup meetings are just what you describe: A few people
getting together in a restaraunt and offtopic gabbing. And it's
*always* a noisy restaurant where nothing technical can be
discussed by more than the four people in closest proximity. A
presentation: Forget it.

Maybe Meetup meetings are usually this way because the barrier to entry
for forming a Meetup group is so low that it's done by people without
the energy and leadership skills to attract people who volunteer to put
together a website and mailing list and acquire a meeting place.

To me, most Meetup groups suppress technologists' natural inclination
to network and form user groups. People figure "oh, there's a Meetup
group, so I won't form one." So instead of meeting lots of go-getters
who can help them learn tech and serve as contacts and recommendations,
they go to an overpriced, underquality loud restaraunt and try to
listen to the table's conversation.

I'm in Orlando (GoLUG), and if there were such a Linux Meetup group in
Orlando, I'd go there with GoLUG cards and recruit their membership to
GoLUG meetings, where we have presentations and discussion in a real
room with no music. I'd be doing everyone a favor except those with a
lot of ego in the Meetup game.

By the way, GoLUG, and every other LUG I've belonged to, has a "meeting
after the meeting" in a restaraunt, so those who want to socialize can
do so. Best of both worlds.

Seriously, if I were you guys, I'd recruit the Meetup guys to come to
your real LUG's meetings.

To me, Meetup inserted itself into the natural inclination for Geeks to
gather, and Meetup's help was never needed.

SteveT

Steve Litt 
August 2015 featured book: Troubleshooting: Just the Facts
http://www.troubleshooters.com/tjust