[ale] ALE-NW dying

[Jim Kinney]

+1M  :-(
On Jan 2, 2015 9:39 AM, "Brian MacLeod" <nym.bnm at gmail.com> wrote:

> I’m going to be a little harsher, and probably overstep, but…
>
> ALE-NW isn’t dying.  ALE is dying.
>
> I presented in December for Central, and there were 3-4 people other than
> me.  When I asked Jim Kinney if this was just a holiday thing, he said no —
> that’s been the attendance for ALE Central for months now, and if that
> continues, there’s not much point in having a venue anymore and I agreed.
>
> It is a trend I hear is occurring with many face to face groups — one
> hiccup here, one miscommunication there, and a whole group dies because
> people don’t want to bother in a day and age where telecommute applications
> are becoming a norm.  People in general aren’t looking at face-to-face
> meetings as being important anymore.
> Someone mentioned at that meeting that the AUUG is suffering from lower
> numbers every month.
>
> There will be some who will put the blame on certain people and certina
> behaviors on the mailing list.  I doubt that, I think that was mere
> coincidence.  I know there were people I used to be able to count on being
> at Central who I’ve not seen in over a year, and some of these were folks
> who I would also go to an after meeting and have beers with.  A lot of
> those old-timers have other things to do, and the new kids don’t see much
> value in travelling to a meeting when there are vast resources available to
> learn from online.
>
> And that’s before we even talk about leadership and venue issues.
>
> So now that I’ve pooped on the parade, I think we need to open up a
> conversation of what ALE is, because I don’t think ALE is returning as much
> value as it once did.  Maybe it’ll still be a good “post an email and get a
> response” group.  The face to face stuff, I think, may be done unless 1)
> someone has a really good idea of a good value add for meetings, and 2) is
> willing to champion it.
>
> I admittedly don’t even have #1.
>
> And even if someone steps up to help lead ALE-NW, if a venue change is
> also occurring, I would have my doubts of continuing the level of
> participation.  Suddenly, there something for people to figure out (where
> am I going, where do I park now) and that’s when they decide it isn’t worth
> the little extra effort.  The timing of Central’s drop seems to be roughly
> correlated to that last move, though JIm and I can attest to the number
> falling even before that.
>
> I don’t want to see it die, because frankly, ALE has become less a place
> for me to get help on technical issues and more a place where I can work on
> some of my social issues and work on my presenting skills when I have
> interesting topics for folks, and occasionally help someone else out.
>
> Brian
>
>
>
> On Dec 31, 2014, at 10:55 AM, JD <jdp at algoloma.com> wrote:
>
> > Someone needs to step up and take over leadership of ALE-NW.  I will do
> what I
> > can to transfer everything over. There isn't much involved, mainly just
> contacts
> > for the school and potential speakers.
> >
> > Don't let your ALE-NW die.
> >
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>
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