On 8/15/06, Jon maddog Hall <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
I would like to see GNHLUG "evolve", and not have it the "WEENIES" go off to form a (possibly) competing group.
Well, my intention, at least, is certainly not for duplication of effort or competition, just stewardship. Indeed, in practice, I expect it would be all the same people and rules.
... it seems to me that it should be the goal of the organization to create such a structure and set of arguments for it that the majority of people on the GNHLUG list would embrace it, and therefore support the effort.
My intent was that anyone identifying with GNHLUG would generally agree with the principles and goals behind these efforts. Just like people might support the goals of the EFF, FSF, ACLU, or whatever, without being a member of any of those organizations. The difficulties I allude to are not ones of objection so much as administration. Every time the topic gets brought up, there are always some people that say "Why incorporate?". (It happened again last night at the SLUG (UNH/Durham) meeting, BTW.) Once we explain the why, people usually seem okay with the idea. There are those whose stance can be summarized as, "Well, those sound like valid benefits, but I still suspect it's not worth the effort." Some seem to think it's just not worth the cost; others oppose a perceived bureaucracy; some seem to dislike the idea as a matter of principle, in the vein of libertarianism or constructive anarchism or whatever. I feel some sympathy for all of these points myself (although I still feel the benefits outweigh the costs). So I don't really think anyone is against the idea (not like they're against, say, paying thousands of dollars for closed-source software). But getting a majority of the membership on the same sheet of music is proving to be like nailing jelly to a tree. Hell, just defining the membership is non-trivial. Those are the problems I am targeting with the alternate-name proposal. If you can't bring Mohammad to the mountain, bring the mountain to Mohammad. Certainly, circumventing the wishes of anyone identifying themselves with GNHLUG would be the last thing I want to do. This is not an attempt to override anyone. -- Ben _______________________________________________ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org
