[lug] Time for a change

[Chris Riddoch]

Hi, everyone.

As of a few months ago, the university has decided that they should
make the law school charge student groups for the use of the rooms.
Because the very nice people at the law school I've been working with
for the past few years took sympathy on our plight, they postponed
charging us for as long as possible.  That's about to change, and I
highly recommend against involving money in BLUG.

The other change is that I need to move on, and hand BLUG over to
other hands.  Change is hard, but I think we'll all be better off for
it.  I've been writing this email in my head for many months now, and
with the necessary change in meeting locations, this is an opportunity
to change the way we run things, too.

I'm not going to disappear, but I need to stop running BLUG.  This is
part of my personal goal of using computers less.  It's no secret that
I've had serious wrist problems for several years, and I've known for
a long time that the only way I'll really get better is to do
something different.  Obviously, I can't do that without changing what
I do.  It's time I follow through.

I had lunch with Wayde Allen a very long time ago, and he told me that
Hacking Society is originally what he wanted BLUG to be like - an
informal gathering, rather than formal talks.  I know it's good to
have talks, though.  It gives everyone a chance to learn something
about a specific topic.

So for the time being, until other decisions get made, let's still
call the second Thursday of the month BLUG, and meet informally at
Cafe Sole until a plan is made.

Free software and Linux are becoming increasingly popular - we
probably have hundreds, maybe thousands, of local people who can
benefit from a group like BLUG, and Boulder's unique in that we have a
lot of really, really smart people around here who make this an
unusually technical group.  We're the people who are writing the code
that makes the world run on free software, while still helping people
who are just getting started with Linux.  I want to see that continue.

So, what do YOU want the Boulder Linux Users Group to be? And what are
you going to do to help it become like that?

-- 
epistemological humility
  Chris Riddoch