[SWLUG] #swlug IRC channel location - reasons to move

[Justin]

On Thu, 2005-08-18 at 17:50 +0100, Chris M. Jackson wrote:
> On the lesser note of IRC, if we're going to move, it really should be
> an upgrade either to a better protocol or somewhere the LUG might have
> more control (e.g. a dedicated IRC server) - better still, a
> combination of the two.  Personally, I'm not really seeing a benefit
> to a move to OFTC.
My feelings exactly, this is a discussion i have tried to kick off a few
times now, but nothing has yet happened, probably because the existing
solution was 'good enough' for most people.  

If the current division continues i may just go ahead and try to
implement something different for myself, in the hope that it will be
perceived as an improvement, and thus precipitate a mass change.

> On the somewhat more important issue of the group as a whole, I'm not
> sure that a complete split would be the right way to go.  On one side,
> some will complain that all the big decisions end up taken by a small
> hardcore in Swansea.  On the other, some will say that few people tend
> to volunteer, leaving the same old people to do the work.  An option
> worth considering, at the risk of factionalising the LUG even more, is
> to form "branches".

As best as i can understand, certain people feel that they want the lug
to do things other than just the lowest-common-denominator regularly
scheduled meetings, to which i say Great! When/Where are you thinking
of? announce your plans...

You dont need a seperate branch or lug to do that, the mailing lists are
there for you to announce it, the websites there for you to advertise it
(if anyone wants to contribute to the site, just ask, several have,
although little has come of it yet) 

A complaint i have heard is that whenever someone suggests something,
they get put off by a negative response. well duh!. It is a very well
documented saying that you cannot please all of the people all of the
time, this really is true, in any sizable group you will -always- get
some contrary opinion. if you try to please them all then you end up
with something like the meeting structure we have already, which is what
you were trying to avoid, right?

So please, if anyone has suggestions of events they want to do, and want
to involve (any number of) other swlug members in, then please just get
on and do it. You dont need, and likely wont get, the approval of
_every_ other swlug member, you just need _enough_ other people who like
it for your event to work, and even then, many who wont state an opinion
will go along with it anyway, so its always worth trying.