On 05 June 2009 pm 18:00:01 Ray Rashif wrote: > Hi Michael > > Thanks a lot for addressing this. I agree with you entirely, and understand > the situation better. > > I surmise the meetup group was initiated as a complementary solution, and > there were no intentions of actually "forking" a committee. It didn't need > a membership, and hence didn't restrict _active_ participation. It just > happened, because let's not forget that meetup.com is a social networking > site which people sign up for with interest, and unfortunately it appears > to be serving a separate group after many years of functioning on behalf of > the OSS community in its entirety. (Though like you say, they would be the > same people if things were different.) At least that's how I'm seeing it as > a latecomer (or newcomer =p). As far as a committee is concerned, I'd be > happy to lend my support and most importantly, time.
Hi Ray, Probably you are not aware of the history of LUGS and how SLMG came to be. SLMG was started because of a few issues: - LUGS, in those days was insisting on a $10 entrance fee. I have opposed this idea vehemently [you google]. Many in the community felt so. The linux community in SG was ( and is still ) on Life Support System and insisting on $10 entrace fee was like adding insult to injury. The whole idea of FLOSS is openness , and especially the free-beer part too, atleast for newbies. We cannot have the Enterprise Linux kind of paid Enterprise LUGS. Many faithfuls will anyway pay the dues whether compulsory or not. I can vouch for that since I pay my dues to Vegetarian Society whether I get a reminder or not, whether I participate in their activities or not. - There was a general feeling that LUGS was dominated by experienced & expert members who probably did not welcome newbies , however, I know that was not true. This is what I heard (in 2004, quite often) from new members at SLMG. - LUGS would routinely ignore suggestions from members. I guess an overworked committee with very few volunteers , and members who did more talking than action may be the cause. I guess the financial mess that resulted from a major event (was it Asian OSS conference?) that LUGS attempted to organize was also a big reason. - SLMG was much more casual and easy going in format with absolutely no minimum entrance criteria. You are interested? Just walk in. I guess the initial sponsorship of curry puffs by Novell did help too ;-) - SLMG was not created as a competitor to LUGS but to supplant the efforts and engage those fence sitters and those in the Windows camp and newbies/first timers. Moreover, the idea of Meetup groups was new and interesting too. A lot of SLMG members found SLMG via meetup.com - I think those who run SLMG, and I can definitely vouch for atleast Darrell and Tom (oh and even DRigby of Ubuntu.sg), are keen to work closely with LUGS. In fact, FOSA has been formed recently as an umbrella organizations for all OSS groups in SG. It is now a registered org, and will have its first AGM at the June meetup. Be there. I think LUGS is a dead org. It is best to shut it down and accept SLMG / FOSA as the new org for OSS effort in Singapore. If not, LUGS need to prove that it still has the energy by organizing atleast an AGM, if not monthly meetings or installfests. I need to say the above since Michael Clark stated that "The fact that people want to maintain a division and partisanship is why I'm now hesitant to offer any support - as i'm not interested in all of the politics... " in another email and I know that, that statement is incorrect. I know the folks running SLMG well. They are openminded and co-operative. If you don't believe me, just attend some SLMG meetups. I hope this is enough for now. Regards Anand > > Right, I nearly forgot about things called themes. OK, so here is one: > > http://moinmo.in/ThemeMarket/Explorer > > Just kidding. I'd recommend: > > http://moinmo.in/ThemeMarket/Mandarin > > Or: > > http://people.ubuntu.com/~henrik/moin/themes/ with customisation of course. > A good read: > > http://blogs.toasttechnology.com.au/roller/teantoast/entry/theme_developeme >nt_in_moinmoin > > Once it's up, do inform us. Then anyone can just go and help rearrange the > content around/in the new layout. _______________________________________________ Slugnet mailing list [email protected] http://wiki.lugs.org.sg/LugsMailingListFaq http://www.lugs.org.sg/mailman/listinfo/slugnet
