[kwlug-disc] I miss KWLUG so badly!

[Bob Jonkman]

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I also agree with everything Paul says.

Except
> Dealing with membership fees and the restrictions of a nonprofit 
> structure is a hassle, which is why I have resisted it (and 
> probably hurt KWLUG in the process).

One of the most appealing things about KWLUG and the other UGs I
attend is that they're freely open to anyone to participate. There's a
huge barrier when an org charges membership fees. It excludes that
portion of the population that can't afford even a small fee, makes
those who haven't paid feel guilty or excluded, and discourages the
casual one-time visitor from participating.  Never mind the difficulty
in finding members who are keen enough to put in extra time to
organize membership lists, dues schedules, board elections, and all
those other things that are not core to the purpose of the organization.

While I agree that "Dealing with membership fees and the restrictions
of a nonprofit structure is a hassle", not having membership fees has
not hurt KWLUG and has likely contributed to its longevity.

- --Bob.


On 2017-11-22 10:03 AM, Paul Nijjar via kwlug-disc wrote:
> 
> We miss you too! I do, anyways.
> 
> It sounds to me as if VanLUG is in trouble, but not critically so. 
> Do you have any inclination/energy to help revive it? You could be 
> the VanLUG that you want to see in the world.
> 
> KWLUG went through a similar process where things were still 
> happening but the organizers were losing enthusiasm, and then an 
> energetic young man by the name of Richard Weait came in and 
> revitalized the place with his energy. That kept KWLUG going for
> at least a decade longer than it would otherwise have, even though 
> Richard has since moved on.
> 
> Here are some easy wins, based upon looking at the website and what
> you have told us:
> 
> - You could work with the website maintainer and make some small 
> fixes. The front page could show upcoming meetings rather than the
>  wall of text that is there now.  You could figure out what the 
> proper meeting day is and then make sure the website reflects that
>  information. You could set up some contact mechanisms that work, 
> even if they are just ineffectively obfuscated email addresses 
> ("Contact us at vanlug at gmail dot com") and not real webforms.
> 
> - You have done all kinds of interesting things, and you gave a 
> talk with Bob Jonkman on some of them. You could revive that talk 
> or offer to give a different one, the same way you were planning on
> speaking with KWLUG.
> 
> - There is a watcamp-style listing of tech events for Vancouver at
>  http://startupnorth.ca/events/vancouver-events/ . I see that the 
> last VanLUG meeting was not on that. It might be possible to get 
> future VanLUG meetings there (or maybe you can use that calendar to
> find a less dysfunctional community).
> 
> - After putting your money where your mouth is by giving a talk, 
> you could get some of the members to commit to giving talks in 
> future months, thus ensuring that there are regular meetings 
> happening. One of the reasons KWLUG still exists is because we do 
> not take months off. As soon as you start skipping meetings you
> are in trouble.
> 
> There are some things that are less easy wins. Losing a mailing 
> list is traumatic; if we lost kwlug-announce and its subscription 
> base then KWLUG would likely be hosed. Dealing with membership
> fees and the restrictions of a nonprofit structure is a hassle,
> which is why I have resisted it (and probably hurt KWLUG in the
> process).
> 
> The existing website is not fantastic but it is functional enough.
>  People want to integrate all kinds of functionality into their 
> websites, but I have come to believe that splitting this 
> functionality can be a good idea. kwlug.org is now mostly an 
> announcement site. If we had to deal with memberships and fees and
>  such, then my preferred solution would be for the treasurer to
> have a spreadsheet or a GnuCash setup or something rather than
> trying to integrate some e-commerce solution into the main website.
> But these things are out of your hands as a newbie.
> 
> What you do have to offer is a set of fresh eyes and (potentially)
>  some energy. Both of these things are invaluable to keeping user 
> groups alive.
> 
> You may well get resistance to change from the old guard. That's 
> okay. Sunny persistence goes a long way. Once people start
> trusting you and believing that you are in this for the long haul
> (or the medium haul) they will trust you more.
> 
> Of course, if VanLUG is not worth your time or energy then you 
> should not feel obligated to revive it. But it seems that the 
> opportunity is there if you want to take it on.
> 
> - Paul
> 
> 
> 
> On Tue, Nov 21, 2017 at 07:48:27PM -0800, Ronald Barnes wrote:
>> 
>> Hi everyone,
>> 
>> I just had to say how much I'm missing KWLUG.
>> 
>> The organizational skills by Paul, Andrew, and everyone are 
>> sorely missed in Vancouver.
>> 
>> 
>> /begin rant
>> 
>> Since arriving back in Vancouver in July, there has been *one* 
>> presentation at VanLUG - a display of BSD file system hierarchy.
>> 
>> On average, 3-4 regulars attend and a couple stragglers.  There 
>> are *nine* Board of Director members though.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> The web site states:
>> 
>>> As a registered non-profit society in British Columbia, VanLUG 
>>> is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors. Without its 
>>> executive, the VanLUG community would be quite disfunctional 
>>> [sic].
>> 
>> Yet the president admitted on the recently restarted mailing 
>> list:
>> 
>>> Although we've been working on our website for *years*, we
>>> have yet to get the back-end to function properly. We can't
>>> input data manually, we can't get proper reports out, we can't 
>>> transfer funds into our bank account. MySQL currently tells us 
>>> that VanLUG has three members.
>> 
>> It's unfathomable that a LUG would spend "years" on a simple web 
>> site and still be non-functioning.
>> 
>> 
>> They want $20 per year for membership.
>> 
>> 
>> * Their web site listed monthly meetings on the 2nd monday of 
>> each month, and on another page, on the 3rd monday of each month.
>> * The mailing list was out-sourced and they lost all data. *
>> Their Twitter account wasn't even registered. * The "Contact Us
>> at the form below" ... didn't actually have a form to contact
>> them at. * etc ad nauseam
>> 
>> /end rant
>> 
>> Gawd, I miss KWLUG!
>> 
>> 
>> r b
>> 
>> _______________________________________________ kwlug-disc 
>> mailing list kwlug-disc at kwlug.org 
>> http://kwlug.org/mailman/listinfo/kwlug-disc_kwlug.org
> 

- -- 
Bob Jonkman <bjonkman at sobac.com>          Phone: +1-519-635-9413
SOBAC Microcomputer Services             http://sobac.com/sobac/
Software   ---   Office & Business Automation   ---   Consulting
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