On Fri, Jan 20, 2006 at 05:35:09PM -0700, Michael Moore wrote: > > This is a problem. You may not enjoy the desktop as much as back-end > stuff, but other people do. I think that Desktop Linux users are just > as valid of candidates for membership in the UUG as is someone who > sets up LFS or runs MythTV.
Ok. As far as answering questions go, I think we should be happy to help anyone who asks a question. We should try not to be rude to anyone. I'm sure I could do better. We should also allow anyone to come who wants to. I agree with you on all of this. However, this does not mean that we should be a desktop club. We have traditionally been "the geekiest club on campus," and that's what's kept us going. I will heartily oppose any effort to turn us into a Desktop Linux Club. When desktop-related stuff comes up on the list, that's great, but I don't think we should have desktop-oriented meetings. I think they're boring, and that's there's really not much to learn from them. > Even after these two years or so in the UUG, I feel like I'm still > striving for acceptance because I'm not as dedicated to Linux as some > others here. I can only imagine the pressure that noobies arriving now > are feeling. Maybe I'm just over sensitive, but I can't imagine that > they feel welcome here. Please explain how you're still striving for acceptance. I've felt for a long time that you're a great member of the club and have made a lot of contributions, and you're even an officer. I can't think of what the problem is. I say that sincerely. > It's been a few months since I was on the Mac users group, but that > mailing list would happily chat about the most simplistic, inane > desktop activities without passing judgement on those asking the > questions. Everyone has to start somewhere with their interest in > Linux. If it's in using the cool eye candy in the E-Live Enlightenment > CD, or learning how to set up Linux on a Mac, we should welcome them > all. I'm all about not passing judgment, and I don't think we should try to stifle anything, but that doesn't mean we should actively promote discussion of "simplistic, inane desktop activities." Let people get interested with "cool eye candy" and have a great time. With Google, there's really no reason to need a large amount of help with that, but if someone has a question, they can certainly ask. We just shouldn't spend more than the occasional meeting on that sort of thing (the presentation would be 40 seconds long: "Download the CD, and then boot off it."). Once they develop an interest in geeky stuff, the UUG is the best place to go. > It's been a while since I turned to the UUG to answer my technical > questions because I feel much more welcomed by, for example, the > Ubuntu forums, or the Inkscape mailing list. This is _exactly_ what I'm saying. There are so many specific communities out there for desktop-related issues. There is so much help out there for distro-specific problems. The UUG has nothing to add. The specialized communities will always do a better job at what they do. The problem is that our focus is shifting away from what we're good at and towards what we stink at. Fortunately, we've also had some really good meetings--we just need to get new people involved and make sure that there's always something going on. -- Andrew McNabb http://www.mcnabbs.org/andrew/ PGP Fingerprint: 8A17 B57C 6879 1863 DE55 8012 AB4D 6098 8826 6868
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