[Nottingham] Proposal

[Martin]

Michael Leuty wrote:
> On Wednesday 09 Nov 2005 23:59, Martin wrote:
> 
[---]
> Perhaps they are inhibited by the perceived geekiness of the list, and 
> don't dare post questions?
> 
> Computer geeks in general have a bit of a reputation for not suffering 
> (what they consider to be) fools gladly. On the internet there is a 
> culture of RTFM, do your own research, don't bother me with trivial 
> questions. That is perhaps understandable when there are a large number 
> of newbies. I would hope the geeks here would be more tolerant.

 From the Infopoints maillist, a slight variation re a newbie's view of 
geekieness:

"My own experience showed clearly to me that a level of very local 
friendliness, contact, and support, is important when starting out. I 
went to a LUG evening, but it was very much beyond me and I felt very 
out of place, although people were friendly It was like being on Mars. I 
wanted to know which keys to press. I had been using windows for 20 
years, after all."

"I think that micro-local support/contact groups are needed. If/when 
they exist, then at the time when people want them, they will come, I 
have no doubt. The worst that could happen is that when a person gets 
interested, there is no one to chat to, no friend to get simple advice 
from. A LUG is not this place for most non IT specialists initially."

Which is where our Awareness Days can come in to play I hope.


And in the Linux world, I think we do very much speak a very different 
language to the Windows world...


[---]
>>Whatever, a critical mass is still needed to keep the group
>>alive and more than just Yet Another Maillist.
> 
> I once heard a rule of thumb that you need about 100 participants to keep 
> up discussion, bearing in mind that many of these will only post rarely.

For the high density of Nottingham and environs, if we can't make this 
work here then we must be somehow Very Wrong.

But how and what?


>>I am effectively moderated myself by other listadmins and by the people
>>on this list. If you all stay quiet, then who is to know?
> 
> It's the silence that bothers me.

Yes, curious. Do we all know it all already? (And hence, just like the 
Borg in a hive, there is no need to speak?)


>>Myself, I'm still musing on a few thoughts for what NLUG /is/ and what
>>is wanted.
> 
> We are a Local List for Local People, obviously. For those who attend 
> meetings, the attractions are obvious. For those (like me) who only use 
> the list, I think the attraction should be a small group where the geeks 
> are happy to help the newbies.

Good, and thanks.

Any other views anyone?


Regards,
Martin

-- 
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Martin Lomas
martin at ml1.co.uk
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