On Wed, March 19, 2014 01:01, Steve Meyers wrote: > There were some features on the old site that I'm not sure were used > much. These include the member directory, contractor directory, and > local company statistics. If these are important to you, please let me > know, and I will endeavor to get them working again. If nobody objects, > we'll just leave them be.
The contractor directory and company directory were used extensively as outreach data to non-PLUGers. I am in a position to know that about $60,000 in total contract dollars over the last several years can be attributed directly to PLUG's contractor list. A few people on that list were probably aware of how helpful it has been. The member directories and company list represented some of the most visited areas of the site. I would love to see these features come back - but not in their old form. They would be much more useful to the broader local IT community if we had an easier way for non-members to interact with them and find needed resources. The company directory should probably be geared toward a "Linux services provider" approach, rather than "people who use Linux" one. Because, let's face it, just about every company uses Linux in some way or another. The contractor list should be featured under a "Find a Local Linux Contractor" link, and include community vetted profiles of local Linux guns for hire. This single feature would be simply major. There isn't really another good tool for this locally. I'd love to see the Open West guys get involved in that regard, or perhaps a collaborative project with SLLUG. In short, I believe those two features were considered quite valuable to PLUG in our ability to reach out to those who need people with Linux skills. With some polish, I would argue it would be a *major* reason to sign up and participate with the PLUG community. -Ryan /* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
