[TriLUG] Announcement: New NCSU Linux Users Group Forming

[Jon Carnes]

On Thu, 2003-07-31 at 11:34, prhodes at vdsinc.com wrote:

> > Sounds more like an "anti-group" than a pro-interest group.  You might
> > want to work on your charter a little and make it more positive. "The
> > enemy of my enemy" works fine for awhile, but unless you have some
> > positive goals you are not going to grow or maintain membership.
> 
> 
> I'm not sure I understand where you're coming from, Jon.  Sounds like he's
> just trying to say (emphatically) that this is a group for people who just
> want to *use* Linux, and not try to become uber-geeks, or get mired up
> in some "Linux must take over the world" evangelism stuff, or sit around
> spending hours debating Emacs vs. Vi vs. Pico, etc.
> 
> Personally I think he's onto something, and definitely think there is
> room for a group like he's describing.  For the more advanced / geeky
> crowd,
> there will still be Tri-LUG and the existing NCSU LUG... but for the
> casual types, I think a group like he's describing would be a huge boon.
> TTYL,
> 
> Phil

I agree, and you give a good positive summary of what it looks like he
is trying to accomplish. I simply pointed out that he starts out his
charter with four (well really three) negatives:

> First Rule Of NOSUL: NOSUL is not a unix group
> 
> Second Rule Of NOSUL: NOSUL is not a unix group.
> 
> Third Rule: No terminals or command lines at meetings.
> 
> Fourth Rule: vi, emacs, and shell scripts do not exist.
> 

BTW, I really like the fifth rule:

> Fifth Rule: it is okay to be a beginner.

Even with the negative approach, I like his idea. Just like Jason Tower,
I am in the business of moving folks over to Linux desktop systems. I
would love for them to have a Users Group that helps them feel more
comfortable in making that transition.

Ed Hill's post about the Fun-da-mental group is right on, and good
example of presenting this idea in a positive light.
  http://www.thegeek.nu/LinuxFun.htm

I hope the group gets a good start, and I hope it expands beyond just
NCSU!

Good Luck to all - Jon Carnes