Re: discord -- perhaps, in the interest of supporting open protocols, we could create a Matrix space on element.io? It is free.
Cheers, Erica ------- Original Message ------- On Monday, December 12th, 2022 at 5:43 PM, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Evan makes many useful points. > > I am the only official maintainer of the system and I only signed on to be > backup. I just haven't taken the time to figure everything out. > > What's wrong with the current system? > > - there are (rarely) messages that require moderation on the mailing list > and that isn't being done in a timely fashion. We have volunteers but > the board has not yet considered them (I asked the board to do so). > > - a particularly important example is that Alan hasn't been whitelisted > for the announce list. I will endeavour to do this. I haven't yet > invested the time to figure out how to do this. > > - Gitlab hosts our meeting minutes and agendas. The new board members, > particularly Evan, don't seem to like that collaborative tool. (I'm > comfortable enough with it; it seems easy to me.) > > - at some point we are going to have to update the system to a newer > releases of software (mostly: debian, mailman). As usual, there will be > unknown hazards there. (Scott has thought about this.) > > In my estimation, switching to a variety of other tools will cause at > least as many problems as they will solve. > > The key issues are: > > - we need a way of attracting volunteers (and new members; I will pretend > that that is a separate problem) > > - get volunteer time and effort to provide services that work for us. > "Us" means maintainers and users. > > - get enough volunteers so the we can survive unexpected resignations. > > - help volunteers do the right thing: work towards positive goals. > > - select tools that provide good services, ones that the "users" are happy > to use. > > - ease "users" into becoming comfortable and productive with the tools > > - the tools must have a path into the indefinite future. Forced migration > is not fun. > > It seems that the scarce resource is competent admins. Someone with > enough time can become competent, so the main scarcity is time. > > We do seem to burn out competent people. We all leave them to do their > tasks until that happens. We really need a pipeline of people to step > forward. > > The task are not all that hard but when a small number of folks take on > all the load, we get problems because successors are not being trained. > > I personally think that the existing services are mostly fine but need > more: > > - maintainer cycles (currently my fault) > > - opportunities for users to master > > I am not going to be an admin of a non-Linux solution. > > ================ > > Just because "we've always done it this way" is not a sufficient argument. > > I'm not engaged in Discord but maybe others are. That's why Evan's push > to create Discord channels is worth a try. Especially since he did the > work. > > ================ > > Most of the time I've spent as a volunteer has been attending board > meetings. I am not a member of the board but am invited to attend. > > That shows how little time I've actually put into maintenance. I should > have spent more; I should have fixed the whitelisting problem. > > It is a worrisome sign that the board meetings sometimes don't reach > quorum. > > | From: Evan Leibovitch via talk [email protected] > > | To: GTALUG Talk [email protected] > > | Cc: Evan Leibovitch [email protected] > > | Date: Tue, 29 Nov 2022 16:36:05 -0500 > | Subject: [GTALUG] At the GTALUG AGM: How we handle Internet services > | > | [Apologies if you received this message more than once] > | > | Hello everyone, > | > | By now you may have read or heard elsewhere about the announcement of the > | Annual General Meeting (AGM) for the Greater Toronto Linux User Group > | (GTALUG), to be held virtually https://blue.lpi.org/b/eva-zjc-gjy-kgl on > > | Tuesday December 13. > | > | Along with other AGM business, we will be discussing how GTALUG goes > | forward with our online services. > | > | TL;DR: A number of the people who used to set up and run our online > | services (mainly the website and mailing lists) have left the GTALUG Board, > | and those who remain have neither the time to fix nor familiarity with the > | tools currently running these services. > | > | As Google has provided to GTALUG its nonprofit services which include full > | access to commercial Google Workplace (formerly G Suite), the Board has > | been investigating migrating some of our online services there. > | > | While to some such a move would be controversial, the status quo is > | unsustainable. So either we need new people to step forward to operate what > | exists, or we need to move to a service -- provided free of charge -- that > | can dramatically simplify operations. > | > | The Board wants to have an open discussion on the issue before deciding, > | and the issue will be raised at the AGM. We look forward to hearing your > | views. While responses to this email will certainly be read, the full > | discussion will take place at the AGM. > | > | Evan Leibovitch, Toronto Canada > | @evanleibovitch / @el56 > | > --- > Post to this mailing list [email protected] > Unsubscribe from this mailing list https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk --- Post to this mailing list [email protected] Unsubscribe from this mailing list https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
