[Bradford] Stinky room, on-line meetings and publicity

[Nick Rhodes]

One thought I have had is LUGs feel rather isolated in the current internet, nowadays people gravitate to social media platforms for discussions and to get information, they are easy to locate and easy to search. 
I have a feeling most new-ish Linux users don't even know what a mailing list is (alone IRC or newsgroups) and think blogs and forums are for old people.

If there is an aim to attract more members, then we need to think about investigating utilising more modern platforms to host discussions, discord has been mentioned, but I think it's worth exploring a presence on Lemmy and Mastodon. These are federated Reddit and Twitter alternatives that embrace open ethos.
There are more options to explore, but most are closed-off, is choosing closed platforms a fair trade for better exposure ?

I've not had much thought about in-person meetings, I am very out of the loop with what the current fashion is, or what the location options are, but my personal situation has improved, so I will be able attend more regularly and in person.

One final note - I personally like the Blog as a place to keep record of discussions of meetings.

Cheers, Nick

> On 22/06/2023 14:11 BST John Robert Hudson via Bradford <bradford at mailman.lug.org.uk> wrote:
> 
>  
> Hi Brian
> 
> BradLUG has always been an umbrella organisation for people wanting to share 
> experiences - we have had social events, outings and for many years IT Stuff.
> 
> There is nothing to stop anyone from starting a Meetup or similar - other than 
> their willingness to maintain it. Perhaps this would attract members who are 
> not attracted to the current meetings. There have always been people who would 
> get involved in activities other than our regular meetings.
> 
> John
> 
> On Wednesday, 21 June 2023 21:11:50 BST bradlug--- via Bradford wrote:
> > There was some talkat the last meeting about attendance and also on-line
> > meetings.
> > 
> > Here is my view onthis matter. I definitely do not like that meeting room in
> > BCB. Youmay have noticed that whenever I have attended, in person, that
> > Ihave propped open the door to allow some air in. This time the roomstank
> > of sweaty bodies, it had obviously been occupied earlier andthe stink had
> > not moved out due to the terrible lack of ventilation.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > If we want to havemore participants then we need to use one of the
> > establishedplatforms. 'Meetup' is an obvious one and 'Discord' for
> > on-linemeetings. However 'Element' might be a better choice from the
> > FOSSviewpoint.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > I think that themeetings should all be on-line but interspersed with social
> > meetingsat the pub.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > As examples: ‘PCPro’ do their podcast live on Discord. ‘Malaga Mobile’
> > and‘Barcamp Manchester’ also use Discord. ‘IoT North’ use Meetupfor general
> > contact but ‘Youtube’ live video, together with useof text for questions to
> > presenters.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > However, if there isa formal move to go on-line AND to get more participants
> > then we allneed to make a special effort to make sure that all our AV is
> > workingcorrectly in advance of the meetings.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Comments and viewsplease.
> > Refs: 
> > WordPress Leeds Online - Monthly Meetup, Tue, Jun 27, 2023, 5:30 PM | Meetup
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
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> > 
> > 
> > 
> > WordPress Leeds Online - Monthly Meetup, Tue, Jun 27, 2023, 5:30 PM | ...
> > 
> > Our monthly meetup for WordPress users, bloggers and developers. The meetup
> > has been running online since March ...
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
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> > 
> > IoT North - Leeds (Leeds, United Kingdom)
> > 
> > 
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> > 
> > 
> > Brian
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
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> Bradford at mailman.lug.org.uk
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