[SLUG] 2 things

[john at johnallsopp.co.uk]

> 1 thought occurs,
> the planned subject will have to be flexible enough to
> cope with the possibility that there maybe no interest in the
> forthcoming theme (from Linux Format).

Yers, there's no particular reason to be rigid about it I agree. 2
(more) things tho. The magazines make their money from writing
interesting articles. They are likely to pick interesting topics,
possibly more likely than we are. If they don't, they go bust.

Secondly, there are multiple articles in a magazine. So yes, for, say,
the July meeting if people have no interest in talking about X there's
mini distros and tests of Ubuntu, CentOS, and Robin Hood (whatever
they are), so we could centre on those in preference. Or if people use
another magazine then that's a potential source.

I don't want to spend lots of time agonising over the topics though.
The group would descend into painstaking discussions about
discussions. We don't have a means to resolve disagreements either. If
I say X and you say not, either I say "bugger that, I run the
meetings" and run the risk of being seen as authoritarian, I begin a
possibly long list of suggestions that are increasingly likely to be
vetoed by someone, or we put it to a vote, and since very few people
are currently contributing, I'd expect almost nil response.

I wanted something snappy, automated, and regular. A no-brainer. If it
turns out on the day that no-one has anything to say on the subject,
well, it turns out to be a beer and a chat which is no worse than what
we have at present.

I agree though, the FAQ may also give us topics to work on. My gut
feeling is that the most numerous queries are going to be centered
around early questions .. what is Linux, how does it compare to
Windows, will I still be able to do online chat, that sort of thing.
If we seek to fulfil those questions, we will end up (and I don't say
it's a bad thing) with regular installfests and 'introduction to
Linux' meetings. We will have to prepare and present those, and it'll
feel like we're doing work for others. Those won't hold any interest
for us, besides that we might get some more members. All work and
little reward would mean the group wouldn't be attractive to Linux
enthusiasts. We'll see what the FAQ provides :-)

All done now.
J