Hi All,
Sorry in advance for being so long winded, but I think it needs to be said.
First off I would like to thank Michael for bringing this up as I think
a discussion on this issue is long over due. Michael and I have been
talking about this for a very long time. Thanks to Edwin for indirectly
bringing this up :)
First of all I think that LUGS is not a dead organization and closing it
down is the worst idea I have heard in a long time. LUGS still is the
face of open source in Singapore. When people with open source
backgrounds come to Singapore to live or present something they
immediately find LUGS, as is done all over the world. LUG is a world
wide phenonema. Google searches for "Linux singapore" and "Open Source
Singapore" result in 1st and 4th hit respectively. In addition, someone
who I met recently who moved to Singapore ended up getting a job through
Slugnet.
So dead or out lived its usefulness, I don't think so.
A NOTE ON SLMG
I moved back to Singapore right around the time when all these issue
came up with LUGS. General consensus was that LUGS was bad due to a
number of reasons that have already been discussed.
For a while I thought of LUGS as evil and did not want to have anything
to do with it. But eventually everyone sees the truth and LUGS was not
the evil monster I thought them to be. They were just going through a
tough patch and never quite recovered from that. I am sure the
intension of the exco were nobel and I signed up as a member anyway.
Anyhow around that time I took over SLMG from Darrel and I was
organizing meeting for a while (Darrel really is the life force of
SLMG). At the same time Michael was also having monthly meetings under
the LUGS banner. We decided that it was pointless to both be running
meetings as the resource for presenters was very limited. So we
unofficially joined forces and called SLMG a sister organization of
LUGS. However, due to some reason I don't remember exactly, SLMG did
not officially recognize LUGS (likely due to the fact that I would need
to get approval from the exco, I remember once that I used the LUGS name
somewhere and was told not to, maybe that was it).
This has been an issue that has been nagging me for a while as I
personally would like to officially join SLMG and LUGS as a cohesive
unit that can complement each others strength. As the topic is very
sensitive, for some unknown reason, it seemed to me that there would be
a lot of resistance from the various factions.
BACK TO LUGS
Its true that LUGS has been rudderless for some time, for what ever
reasons it may have been it doesn't really matter now. I know people
are busy and its hard to juggle between work, family, LUGS, etc and when
you get into a rut its hard to pull out from it. The important thing at
this point is to get out of the RUT and move forward.
So to try and understand why LUGS is the way it is now I think we need
to see what were some of the pain points.
1. No Meetings and perceived competition from SLMG.
2. There have been very few exco meetings to make resolutions to get
stuff done. Getting consensus to get things done was difficult.
3. Membership registration and dues were largely ignored.
4. No online banking made it was difficult to track membership.
5. No central PO box/Secretarial services.
6. Web site fell into disrepair.
In addition, to this:
1. There are so many Linux groups out there trying to do the same thing.
There needs to be a greater sense of "Singapore Linux" as opposed to
SLMG, Team Ubuntu, LinuxNUS, etc.
2. We are all the same people doing the same stuff.
So based on these issues, please pipe in if you feel there are other
stuff to mention, we can work towards reviving LUGS to its former glory.
Here are some ideas that Michael and I have thrown about in the past.
1. LUGS/SLMG: SLMG and LUGS officially recognize each other. We need
not officially turn SLMG over to LUGS but for all intensive purposes one
organization with meetup doing what it has been doing all along, which
is to conduct informal monthly meetings.
2. LUGS/SLMG MEETINGS: Meetup.com is good at doing meetings and there is
no need to compete with LUGS on that. We can state SLMG and LUGS are
organizing the event, regardless of who put in the effort to organize
the event. We are all the same people.
3. NEW LUGS EXCO: At the moment, I think it is safe to say that we need
a new exco and we should vote one in. From what I understand there
appears to be no serious objections from the current exco.
4. NEW LUGS EXCO STRUCTURE: I just asked for a call to action on the
FOSA exco and no one has expressed any interest in running it. To think
that FOSA and LUGS be able to get 6 exco each is probably not a reality.
We need to streamline the exco down to the minumum 3 elected positions
of president, secretary and treasurer with possibly 6 elected paid
members to participate in quorums and other issues requiring consensus.
These 6 people would have minimal responsibility except to ensure that
the organization moves in the right direction (A guardian of sorts). As
for the 3 main positions, they should be cross functional without
compromising conflict of interest. Mainly the duty of secretary should
be shared amongst all 3 people. Signing of cheques must have a minimum
2 signature. Anyway the nitty gritty of this can be worked out.
5. CONSENSUS MODELS: For general consensus stuff, we should adopt a
different model. Michael likes the Apache "Lazy Consensus" model. This
is where a proposal is made via email and if no one objects to it it can
be considered as approved. Michael can elaborate on this.
6. MEMBERSHIP: There should be both paid and non-paid membership types.
Membership registration should be an automated process with online
payments (who cares if we have to pay a transaction fee).
7. MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS: Paid membership should provide for additional
benefits: <name>@lugs.org.sg, discounts at tech stores, a personal home
page/blog of lugs site, etc. We can work to build on this through our
membership dues.
8. PO BOX VS SECRETARIAL SERVICE: I used a business registration
company to register my company and I use their address and they forward
my mail to me. I pay them annually to use their address and I give them
$50 for stamps. I think that this may be a better bet than getting a PO
Box that no one will ever go to.
9. WEBSITE AND LOGO: We need a new LUGS website and potentially a new
logo for a "fresh start" :). We need this to be a full on CMS like
Drupal. The site should be setup to give space to all linux groups in
singapore and to allow them to manage a page of their content. In
addition, we can incorporate the meetup.com api to publish meeting
events from SLMG/LUGS. It needs to have a membership registration and
payment mechanisms. Yong Han has offered help in this, thanks.
10 ONLINE BANKING: Just sort it out.
So I am willing to move forward on this. Ray, John, Anand, Michael and
Yong Han are you interested in bringing LUGS back to its past glory? Or
for that matter anyone who is interested let me know. I am willing to
take the first step and get this moving.
In my opinion, majority of the pain points can be sorted out with the
following:
1. A new website that handles membership registration and linking to
meetup.com api.
2. Secretarial services and address
3. Streamlined Exco.
So basically we need the following people:
3 people for the primary exco
6 Guardians
1 Webmaster (Knows or willing to learn drupal or what ever CMS we choose)
1 Graphic designer for a new logo and web stuff.
Michael get your cheque book ready ;)
Tom
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