[conspire] I'm thinking of doing a LUG near Coos Bay, OR

[Michael Paoli]

See also:
http://linuxmafia.com/lug/User-Group-HOWTO.html

And to both the above and below, I'd also add:

We're not all (or even necessarily mostly) old curmudgeons.  And we
don't all nor necessarily even mostly bash Microsoft and post-Y2K
technologies (besides, there are generally bigger evils to be bashed).
And many (even quite) younger folks are also rather to highly interested
in Linux.  Many are very interested in LUGs ... or at least would be if
they knew they existed.  Sometimes the communications and hangouts and
such - physical and/or virtual don't overlap quite so much - but there
certainly are opportunities there.  Sometimes have had a rather large
bunch of younger folks come to a LUG meeting.  Sometimes have even had
kids as young as around 12 ... enthusiastically dragging a parental
unit in tow along with 'em (probably 'cause mommy/ daddy wouldn't let
'em go by themselves).

And many of us do very much use and/or embrace newer technologies, and
yes, very much including Linux.

I'd also add/suggest - on domain name, chose carefully and wisely.
That's something that can be difficult to change later ... at least
without losing a lot of effective visibility (e.g. search engines will
need find and index site again, even more challenging to update wetware
of folks as they may continue to remember old domain).  I'd generally
suggest a .org - or alternatively .com or .net - at least for US based
LUGs (and probably some more suitable domain(s) for other countries, but
practice/convention and what's best will of course vary by country).
Generally avoid "vanity" domains or domains that are generally for other
purposes, etc.  E.g. one might get an .xyz or .tv or .cc or whatever for
cheap ... but such often has quite the (and often deserved) reputation
for spam and cruft, so often folks avoid such, may be much more
challenging to effectively send mail from such, etc.  So, something like
that generally not worth the few bucks a year one would save in direct
costs - notably for all the other headaches and issues one trades it
for.  Also of note, many such domains aren't so well run/administered,
and may be subject to the whims of some relatively small entity or
government, so, might be $2.00/yr. now, but they may decide to raise the
price to $200.00/yr. next year ... after you're quite dependent upon the
domain.  Anyway, many other considerations on picking a good domain
name, but that should at least get you started.  Oh, and regarding
registrars, etc., also have a peek here:
https://www.wiki.balug.org/wiki/doku.php?id=system:registrars

And, key for Internet presence:
web site and email list(s).
Also recommended to use a subdomain for list(s),
e.g. lists.EXAMPLE.org.  That then makes it much more manageable to have
list(s) and web site separately hosted/administered - if and as one may
wish to do so, though they needn't be separate.  If they're all on same
domain, it can be much more challenging to infeasible to have them
separately hosted.  Similar considerations may also well apply to
non-list email, though it may make sense to use same subdomain for both
list and non-list email, e.g. mail.EXAMPLE.org.  Not impossible to
change those things later, but easier if one doesn't have to.  And the
non-list email usually isn't as big a deal, as it's typically much less
volume than list email.

Yeah, many won't consider it to be a "real" LUG until it's got a web
site (with its own domain) and email ... and not like some freebie
services for both (ugh).  As many would say with such "free" services
from such (larger) providers, if you're not the customer, you're the
product (being sold, or others' access to you).

Self-hosted, or other hosted services?  There are various pros and cons.
I'll skip most of the details.  But self-hosted for LUG tends to have
bit more cred ... 'cause hey, Linux can sure as heck do that, and not
exactly rocket science ... though actually being able to successfully
send email and have it mostly land in folks' "inboxes" or the like, is a
pretty dang non-trivial matter, and generally requires at least some
ongoing level of care, attention, and staying sufficiently current with
relevant requirements (and can be quite the major hurdle to at least get
started) - so many will opt for having mail/list services hosted.  That,
however, doesn't make them totally free of all such hassles - one still
has some ongoing work to do.  E.g. if the content/sending is taken over
by spam or seen by most as unwanted spam, nothing about having sending
be a hosted service will particularly fix or solve that.  Oh, also on
self-hosted vs. "not" ... cloud ... topic which continues to be relevant
- could do, or also do, some relevant cloud hosted service(s) ... cred,
etc.  Maybe even high(er) availability with cloud and self-hosted.  In
any case, can always start pretty simple one way or another.

Meetings ... [+]online?  Most notably with and post COVID-19, many LUGs
went online, and many remain so or continue to also have that.  So, that
certainly has advantages ... though well doing both online and physical
and trying to well integrate them can be a bit challenging.  And as for
online meetings, there are also multiple means of doing that with
OpenSource software too - one can even self-host such servers.

Well ... probably enough rambling for now, but that should provide fair
bit of additional reasonably relevant information.

On Wed, Nov 13, 2024 at 2:03 AM Ron / BCLUG <admin at bclug.ca> wrote:
>
> Rev Anon wrote on 2024-11-11 09:46:
>
> > I'm thinking of doing a LUG near Coos Bay, OR, any advice?
>
> There are probably people nearby that use and are *enthusiastic* about
> Linux, so go for it.
>
>
> Some thoughts:
>
> Register a domain and put some info on it about what the LUG is about
> and where it's located (mention Oregon - cast a wide net).
>
> This will help people find you and be a landing page URL that you can
> share to garner interest. This can usually be small and self-hosted:
> WordPress is okay for this, for example.
>
>
> It's *hard* finding people interested.  I'd estimate 50% of LUG members
> are 50 years old or older. Heck, probably 50% retired. How does one
> reach such a demographic? They're not on social media much.
>
> However, local Reddit for r/yourRegion can be notified occasionally,
> maybe Facebook too.
>
> Local educational institutions from HS to post-secondary. Maybe some CS
> classes nearby? High schools probably have computer clubs.
>
>
> Consider a mailing list or other communication channel for your LUG.
> There's a demographic split on whether email or instant messaging is
> best, but everyone has access to email and older folks hate installing
> apps / signing up for proprietary platforms.
>
>
> Consider virtual vs in-person vs hybrid. If in-person, where? Usually
> libraries and community centres have rooms that can be booked.
>
>
>
> Consider the culture you want / want to avoid.  This is a bit
> forward-looking, but each LUG has a different "vibe" to it.
>
> Things I've seen recently:
>
> "Winblows blah blah Winblows blah blah Crapple"
>
> That crap will turn people off, yet in the yearofourlord 2024 actual
> adults still talk like that.
>
>
> There's a certain amount of curmudgeon appeal to LUGs. I call it the
> "oldster hipsters" aka Digital Amish.
>
> Everything post Y2K sucks, is too complicated, is just for bringing in
> Windows users; the pain of configuring WiFi from the CLI is a good
> thing; "Linux is now just a poor implementation of Windows" (yep,
> systemd haters are often nuts).
>
>
> Any new CS grads, young-uns looking to get knowledgeable about Linux
> since it's a great dev environment - they don't want to be subjected to
> religious battles from the early 2000s, they want to know how can they
> better use this platform for developing and deploying their projects.
>
> They want to become more employable in today's job market, not
> re-litigate old battles from the past.
>
>
>
>
> Whew, that was kinda long & ranty.
>
>
> Anyway, I'd say go for it and wish you success!