IRC Meetings

[Craig Younkins]

I apologize, this discussion should not have been started in the mailing
list. I have moved it into this forum
thread<http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=4406299>.
Please continue the discussion there.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=4406299

Craig Younkins

On Mon, Feb 25, 2008 at 5:07 PM, Joel Leininger <leiningr at comcast.net>
wrote:

> I also think that a heads-up reminder email, the day of the IRC meeting
> is a good idea.  I plumb forgot about the last one.
>
> As I said before, I'm in (schedule permitting) for the presentations. I
> agree with Josh that install-fests largely miss the point, although I
> realize that among our group there are guys who are drawn to that. Fair
> enough. Install fests don't bother me until they begin to take up all
> the attention of the group, and then I find myself losing interest.
>
> Line up presentation venues, and point me in the right direction.  That
> sort of thing generates interested bodies, and interested bodies keep
> LoCos going. We've already worked out, for the most part, the
> presentation itself. More polish will come with more iterations. (And,
> Vista drums up interest for our cause, or something like what we offer.)
>
> -J.
>
>
>
>
> On Mon, 2008-02-25 at 15:53 -0500, Josh Rhoderick wrote:
>
> > >
> > > The IRC chats should continue. That's great, but if no one attends, do
> > > they
> > > happen? I can say from my point is that I tend to forget to log in for
> > > them,
> > > or do not have time to. It's not a matter that it's not on my
> calendar,
> > > it's
> > > a factor of simply 7pm coming and going without a thought about the
> chat.
> > > The few that I have actually gotten in on it has been the same people
> for
> > > the most part that attend the physical meetings.
> >
> >
> > I don't think it's reasonable to cancel the IRC meetings because you
> forget
> > them. Maybe we can send out e-mail reminders or send SMS messages prior
> to
> > the meeting or something. Or even a phone tree.
> >
> > I've been unable to make the physical meetings. I don't get home from
> work
> > until around 6pm most nights, and then I'd have to leave immediately to
> make
> > it to Columbia by 7pm. That means I wouldn't get a chance to eat,
> shower, or
> > do anything until I get home around 10pm. For me, that's a tight
> schedule,
> > especially considering that I work full-time and I'm a student. My point
> is
> > that without the IRC meetings, I would have no way of meeting with the
> team.
> > Getting rid of the IRC meetings would be a quaint way of telling me that
> I'm
> > not worth the effort... as well anyone else who happens to live too far
> away
> > to commute to physical meetings. I did some search of other LoCos to
> find
> > out how they manage these, and most have IRC meetings far more regularly
> > than physical meetings.
> >
> > Another thing I see is wanting to do more enthusiast type activities.
> What
> > > do you picture being done at these? Is it simply an Ubuntu Users
> gathering
> > > such as we did for the Gutsy release or do you want to work a
> presentation
> > > into this? From discussions we've had on the upcoming install fest and
> > > this
> > > thread I do have a first thought on a topic. Either we do the 'Why
> > > Ubuntu?'
> > > presentation or a 'New Life For Your Old PC!' type of presentation.
> This
> > > leads to a when and where discussion.
> >
> >
> > Sure, we could do a number of things. As I mentioned above, I've been
> doing
> > some research on other LoCos and there are a variety of things we could
> do.
> > Some are physical, others are internet-based. We can discuss these in
> > upcoming meetings or in the forums. I've been planning to start a thread
> > about this for a while now but I wanted to gather my thoughts first.
> >
> > As for the the install fests, this is something that members seem to
> want to
> > > do. I don't feel that we are cracking a whip in this direction, but it
> is
> > > something that we get people wanting to help with.
> > >
> >
> > I don't want to sound like an install fest hater, but I think it's
> critical
> > that we first acknowledge our target audience. Who are we trying to
> reach?
> > How are we most likely to reach them? If you think about this for a few
> > seconds, you'll realize that install fests are not the way to reach our
> > target audience. The people we're trying to reach don't even know what
> an
> > install fest is, and those who DO know what they are probably don't need
> to
> > attend one unless they have a particularly troublesome computer. So what
> > we're left with is an event (mostly planned, managed, and executed by
> Craig
> > and John) that takes up all of our time. Besides, Ubuntu is easy to
> install,
> > right? Why are we spending so much time INSTALLING it? Let's spread
> Ubuntu.
> > Let's talk about it. Let's show it to people. Let's popularize it. Let's
> > work on it and make it better. Have you seen the new LoCo initiative? I
> > don't have a link at the moment, but Jono is pushing for LoCos to start
> > doing bug-squashing and documentation.
> >
> > Frankly, I think we'd get more exposure by walking around the mall while
> > wearing Ubuntu T-shirts than doing 20 install fests. So, yes, the team
> may
> > enjoy doing install fests, but that doesn't mean that they should
> monopolize
> > our time and effort. Poor Craig is ripping out his hair trying to pull
> these
> > things together. If everyone is so interested in them, why aren't more
> > people stepping up to help out?
> >
> > -- Josh
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