LPLUG - Lexington Professional Linux Users Group

Changes are Coming!

For our February meeting, instead of holding elections, we will be discussing a possible change of direction for our group.

As most of you are aware, we’ve struggled with attendance and participation for a long time.  There are many reasons for this, but two reasons were just brought to the Exec-Committee’s attention.  Our name seems to have turned several people away from becoming members of our little group.  Those people were looking for a LUG experience, but were either put off because of the “professional” moniker or the fact that we have Lexington in our name.  This has prevented several people who consider themselves “hobbyists” or from surrounding cities from even stopping to look at us.

In fact several of these people had decided to form a LUG of their own to cater to these people because of the initial put-off apparently built into our name.  When the Exec-Committee found out about this, we sat down with these people and had a discussion about why they chose to go on their own instead of joining us.

After some discussion, we can see their point.

Beyond that, we want to make sure that we’re not diluting the waters when it comes to serving our community.  We really do not need to have several three or four person groups, each going in their own direction, when we can have a larger group that has the ability to serve everyone.

So, our talks led us to talks of a merger of sorts for both of our groups.  In doing so we would turn our collective attention to all Linux/FOSS people in the Lexington/Central Kentucky area.  This merger would allow us to pool our resources, gather a greater range of people and hopefully prevent either individual group’s membership from disappearing.

There are still several details to be worked out, but the one we need to focus on for the immediate future – with respect to our meeting – is what our group’s thought are about a merger of this nature.  So be thinking about it.  In the next day or so a thread on the mailing list will be available for everyone to have a say in this possibility.
In either case, we would like to hear from EVERYONE about this – whether you think it’s a good idea or not – we need to hear from you.  It would be awesome if you attended the upcoming meeting in a couple of weeks to discuss it in person.  Your voice counts and we need to hear it now more than ever.

---

Posted by Aaediwen

At 02:05 PM on February 3rd, 2008

I was just told of this, and I agree, I don't see the sense in multiple LUGs for a area the size of Lexington. I've been looking for an opportunity to attend LPLUG meetings, but corporate bureaucracy makes it impossible for me to run off in the middle of the day in the middle of the week. Also, the word 'professional' in the name is a bit awkward too. it gives the feeling that the only ones who can contribute to it are people who use Linux day to day in their pay-the-bills 9-5 job. I personally use the OS day to day, but not for work. I would welcome the opportunity to gather with fellow members of the Linux community, provided a practical time.

---