[SLUG] Scalby School meeting

[Chris More]

> I don't understand what is going on here folks. Or is there some agenda
> going on that I am not aware of? Last nights meeting was an unmitigated
> disaster. When I approached Tim Hutchinson with regard to the
> Scarborough Linux group using the facilities at Scalby School, he agreed
> as a favour from one professional colleague to another, with the added
> bonus of no cost to the group. Last night 3 people turned up, one of
> them a friend of mine who came along to give moral support. Tim is a
> lovely chap but it was still very embarrassing trying to explain to him
> the total lack of interest.
> 
> A question for the group to consider. 
> Do we have the structures in place and the membership to use a facility
> like scalby school responsibly? By this I mean, is the membership big
> enough to have decent meetings? Are we able to organise a yearly meeting
> calendar with talks and activities arranged in advance? Or do I cancel
> the arrangement and we stay with dark, cold and uncomfortable rooms in
> pubs.
> 
> Regards
> 
> Phil
> 
> -- -------------------------------------------
> 
> Pull a chair up, get a large coffee and breath deeply...
> 
> I have not being able some recent meetings due to illness but last night
> I turned up at Scalby School at 7:20pm under the impression that a SLUG
> meeting was in progress. Bearing in mind that there is no information on
> the mailing list nor on the website regarding the specific time and
> location within the school I chose to wait outside and catch people who
> I recognised.
> 
> After a seemingly endless wait in the cold and dark I never saw a
> familiar face, a car that I knew or anything else to suggest that a
> meeting was in progress.
> 
> Given that Scalby School is a large building with more than 1
> entrances/carparks and wandering around within the school grounds is not
> feasible given that it is essentially private property I had no option
> but to leave.
> 
> Congratulations to Phil and everyone else who organises these meetings
> but without making sure that people can get to the right place without
> undue problems largely negates the effort that has been put into setting
> up the meeting.
> 
> I think it is wrong to complain over apathy or meeting agendas, after
> all the meetings are only what you yourself provide/contribute so if you
> choose to complain rather than spend time in bolstering the efforts of
> those who regularly attend then you only have yourself to blame for the
> situation that you yourself have helped to create.
> 
> I should imagine that each person subscribed to the mailing list could
> provide a talk/demonstration relating to some facet of the OS world. If
> things get really desperate I will bring photographs and a biography of
> the penguin that I adopted, a tenuous example maybe but better than
> complaining about lack of action and not doing anything and better than
> complaining about lack of attendance and not turning up.
> 
> Knowing that everyone likes suggestions I propose that each person on
> the mailing list who is in a position to attend a meeting consider what
> facet of OS they could talk about then privately submit their ideas
> someone who could develop these ideas and ultimately a calendar of
> events could be drawn up. Further to this the person who updates the
> website could then provide details of the meetings with the proposed
> agenda for all to see. 
> 
> Just to raise my head further above the parapet and tempt more incoming
> fire from snipers I would be willing to help people in developing any
> ideas they have and in compiling/maintaining the calendar of events. If
> I am treading on anyone's toes in a drunken elephant like stylee then I
> apologise and point out that its hard to know who does what when the
> "who-does-what.shtml" page on the SLUG site has gone.
> 
> Ian
> 
> 

If it is numbers at meetings that are needed perhaps meetings would be better 
attended if there were more emphasis on the "Scarborough" bit rather than the 
"Linux" bit.

I appreciate this IS a Linux User Group,  but perhaps Scarborough would be 
better served with a PC user group encompassing all flavours of OS.   There 
is some cracking freeware available for wndws now and talks such as the 
software patents/copyrights talk covers more than just Linux.

Feel free to shout at me.

Chris