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

[Michael Paoli]

Yes, although Meetup.com can be useful way to find/attract new members,
etc., it is also a rather pricey option - and one mostly doesn't have
(much) control of the data, can't well back it up, etc.  So, alas, many
a LUG (or wannabe(s)), have done the Meetup.com thing ... then quite
disappeared after someone gets tired of paying those non-trivial amounts
on a rather regular basis.  And trying to collect "dues" from members,
or regularly asking for contributions/donations to fund a Meetup.com
or other fairly pricey presence tends to also annoy and chase away
(potential) members.

There can be similar(ish) issues, with, e.g.:
Facebook.com
Twitter (or X or whatever the hell they're calling it these days)
Linkedin.com
WordPress.com (notably not having domain one owns, and using
WordPress.com's hosting and domain, and if "free" - the you're the
product included advertising)
Etc.

Also, unless the LUG's primary presence is on Meetup.com (not
recommended, but there are some out there that do that), I generally
recommend very specifically not using the words or terms "Meetup" or
"meet up" when referring to the LUG or meetings, etc., as many may
presume upon hearing/reading such that, "Oh, Meetup.com" - and will go
look there, and if they don't find the LUG there will then often not
look further or presume the LUG doesn't or no longer exists.

Sometime LUG(s) or attempts thereof use "free" (or expensive) provider
services or the like, and then may effectively disappear (whether the
LUG still exists and/or has since been active or not), and sometimes
there's little to no trace to be found nor trail to follow for more
current information, from earlier (not to pick on, but) e.g.:
Fresno Open Source User Group (FOSUG)
https://www.facebook.com/events/460012748240050
At least last I checked, wasn't able to find any further traces of
existence or subsequent activity.
And, yeah,
https://www.facebook.com/events/460012748240050
Isn't exactly a highly memorable URL to be able to find something like
information about
Fresno Open Source User Group (FOSUG)
and even the continued existence of any content at that URL is totally
under the control and up to the whims of Facebook.com.
Whereas, if there were, e.g. FOSUG.org. ... ooh, there is!
Uhm, well ... never mind ... registrar's parked/landing page.
Looks like at least somebody owns it ... and paid for years:
Registry Expiry Date: 2028-03-21T04:35:17Z
But not really any "there" there yet/currently ... and, alas,
"of course" they (probably by default) hid the whois data,
so yeah, good luck on finding/reaching a contact.
You'll notice the whois contact information for, e.g.
berkeleylug.com, linuxmafia.com, and balug.org are public - generally a
good thing (though some may not pass all that data along to default
whois server(s) one may be using - still is available by using relevant
whois server(s)).
It's not like key person(s) behind LUG domains are some state secret or
anything, so why hide it?

On Wed, Nov 13, 2024 at 9:19 PM Ron / BCLUG <admin at bclug.ca> wrote:
>
> Michael Paoli wrote on 2024-11-13 11:58:
>
> > 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.
>
> Michael made lots of good points, and it'd be neat to see actual kids
> (not < 30yo == kids like in my life as an oldster).
>
> Wanted to add - meetup.com for better or worse is probably the most
> effective way to attract new users. This is not free though. And, I hear
> the UI is painful.
>
> LinkedIn is another potential venue to attract people.