[NTLUG:Discuss] Do LUGs Still Matter?

[./aal]

Stan Gatchel wrote:
> /Slashdot is carrying this article. Oh, this oughta be good:
> 
> "Do LUGs still matter 
> <http://software.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=05/12/23/193238>? Back in 
> the day, LUGs were rowdy, popular, and highly contagious centers for 
> aficionados of Linux. Install fests were a big deal. Members came from 
> all walks of life, united only by a penchant for something new and cool, 
> and a chance to place a bet on the impossible notion of world domination 
> by an operating system hacked together by a ragtag bunch of students on 
> the Internet. It's different today. Linux is now mainstream, it's being 
> spread by slick corporate marketing, and with most distros, installation 
> is a snap. So the question arises, do LUGs still matter?"/
> _______________________________________________

Yes they do

It takes some work these days to find one you want to bother showing up for.

Sometimes the good lugs are only available through the net, I have lived 
in other states and had the good fortune of interacting with some 
fantastic lugs.

NTLUG.org is a great lug I attended while I lived in TX. Among its 
regular attendees is the great John Carmack. We had large events with 
great turnout. This is recent not "back in the day".

Lugs are evolving entities. There is always a core of devoted 
individuals or the lug would desolve. Sometimes the ever changing member 
list will include helpful, enthusiastic, and knowledgeable individuals. 
Other times you will encounter the tender mercies of those who prefer to 
nitpick and feed their own ego while advancing their own agendas which 
have little to nothing with supporting the community as a whole. And you 
know who you are.

The strength of a lug is not what you can get from it, but what you put 
into it.

Linux does not pay for PR, we are it.
The only agenda for a lug member to advance is world domination. That 
wont happen by force, that takes deep pockets, it must happen with the 
finesse of a friendly handshake and a smile.

So, in closing, Lugs are only as irrelevant as its members choose to 
make it.



./aal