[ale] A little ALE history ...

[Simba]

I didn't mean to suggest meetup.com should be dumped, only that I don't
want to use it and I am glad that it isn't a requirement.

I signed up some long time ago for some other group and was disgusted by
the upsells and ads and all the crap that people insert into perfectly
good apps thinking they can profit from strangers' social lives.
Something basically nobody ever had the audacity to try before the dot
com bubble.

It's doubly weird that the massive failure of hundreds of people who
thought they'd won the internet lottery somehow inspired a lot of other
lottery-dreamers to try harder.

People are strange.


Simba Lion - https://tailpuff.net
https://keybase.io/simbalion

"Why is a raven like a writing desk?"
On 8/21/18 9:31 AM, DJ-Pfulio via Ale wrote:
> A little history about ALE ... lest we forget and make the same mistakes again.
> 
> Nobody likes meetup.com and the $16/month fee (Thank Brian for paying that BTW),
> but ... ALE was dying.  There was an email war a few years ago which turned off
> hundreds of our silent members.  They left or at least they dropped the email
> subscription.
> 
> A few other Linux groups were started because they wanted to help others with
> Linux.  For whatever reason, they choose meetup.com and started growing.
> 
> **People Won't Google for "Atlanta Linux"**
> 
> At first I was a little disappointed that people would show up to these
> "meetups" because they'd been looking for a LUG, but couldn't find one in
> Atlanta.  Like google isn't a thing - but it wasn't working. I started attending
> the GA-400 Linux meetup near I-285 in Smyrna, which only had 2 meetings anywhere
> near GA-400. ;)  That group grew to have more members than ale.org (based on
> email subscriptions) in about 18 months.  Meetup helps people find us that
> otherwise wouldn't.
> 
> I'm a little fuzzy on the ALE email counts, but I think we'd lost over 900
> members before someone had a crazy idea to merge GA-400, ALE-NW, ALE-Central
> into a single meetup group. Any Linux group anywhere near Atlanta that wants to
> share our infrastructure (and meetup costs!) are welcome.  There have been a few
> attempts to start ALE-NE and ALE-North.  ALE-SW has been going at least 3 yrs
> thanks for Phil.
> 
> Thanks to meetup, we have over 1,200 members now - more than ever in the last
> decade (I wasn't around before then).  The growth from 500-1000 was fairly
> quick, though most never actually show up to any meeting.
> 
> Yes, meetup.com sucks, but it saved ALE from being a 55+ group.  At ALE-NW, we
> have 30 and younger people almost every week.  Maybe that generation is better
> with apps and meetup.com has an app?
> 
> To get ALE-NE going, someone simply needs to step up, find a place to meet and
> start showing up there on a consistent basis.  Monthly, weekly, just showing up
> and sitting there is probably enough to get some core members who will share the
> load (i.e. show up). Let me or one of the other "organizers" know and we'll get
> you access to ALE stuff so you can announce on meetup.  There isn't any special
> access on this email listsrv or on IRC #ALE which is mostly dead, BTW.
> 
> There's something about sitting next to someone trying to learn a little Linux
> and getting them started.
> 
> And life gets in the way for everyone.  People burn out and need to step back.
> Some partnerships naturally fail after a few years, like ALE @ KSU has 3 times
> now.  70 students show up, then 20, then 5.  They have great facilities, which
> is why we like to be there, but that isn't as important as having a core group
> who is interested and shows up to meetings.
> 
> We are always looking for volunteers in ALE to help. Complaining is your right,
> and we allow free speech here beyond where it makes sense for the group, IMHO.
> But actions matter more.  Give a presentation at ALE-Centra, show up weekly and
> help out the organizers for a little bit at the other locations.  See if there
> is something you can do that works for you and others?
> 
> An ALE T-shirt design would be cool, right?  These days making custom t-shirts
> can easily be outsourced online, but a design with unlimited rights is necessary.
> 
> This group has tremendous expertise, but many of our members seem to locked
> under non-disclosure agreements. I've never understood how sharing general Linux
> knowledge falls into that camp.  Push back with your employers. Help out ALE
> with some basic knowledge.  Lightning talks, 15-90 minute talks - all are needed
> for ALE-Central.
> 
> Phil has the reigns at ALE-Central, so just send him an email if you'd like to
> present or help.  You can find all the organizers either on this list or on
> meetup (Organizers) to start a conversation.
> 
> If you see Brian, please buy him a beer or a sandwich/pizza or put a $5-er
> (cash!) in his bag for all he does. He never asks, but the meetup costs are
> $130+/yr.
> 
> Jim is hosting the ale.org and email list on a system he owns and maintains.
> Robert does the wordpress and listsrv stuff as needed.
> 
> It is about time for our quarterly ALE "how-we meet" reminder email.  I'll push
> that out in the next week or two.  It would be great to include an ALE-NE
> announcement, if possible!
> 
> Sorry, I didn't mean to go on so much here, but I can't help it (as you all
> know). ;)
> 
> -jd
> 
> 
> On 08/20/2018 07:35 PM, Steve Litt via Ale wrote:
>> On Mon, 20 Aug 2018 15:18:27 -0400
>> Simba via Ale <ale at ale.org> wrote:
>>
>>> I hate meetup.com (and most other social media sites), 
>>
>> Me too. Meetup.com has simply inserted itself as a middleman in a
>> function performed by LUGs themselves from the 1990's. Notice their
>> indemnification clauses and other odious legalspeak. Notice that they
>> advertise other meetings to your audience, so they're really using your
>> group as an advertisement, perhaps pulling people away.
>>
>>> is that
>>> actually required to attend meetings? I hope not.
>>
>> I hope not too, and I'm glad ALE has a mailing list independent of
>> meetup.com. 
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