Are Social Networking Sites Reducing Activity on This List?

Wed May 1 15:26:41 MST 2013

I can't do anything about the distance, but the know nothing part is 
false.  People always assume that they don't know anything worth passing 
along, but everyone in plug is different and everyone's knowledge base 
is different.
For instance, I put myself at just about 19 years of using Linux, but 
I've never used XBMC... something I know you have been up to your 
armpits in lately... Yeah, you don't know everything about it, but you 
can certainly relay how you have been using it, what it can do for us 
and what you want learned along the way.   The really cool thing is that 
there are a lot of people that will know more than you, and that's not a 
bad thing... more than once I have seen people vent a frustration they 
are having with their topic of choice and someone will chime in from the 
audience with the answer, if it's simple, of offer to walk them through 
it after the presentation if it takes more than a minute.

Hans has often times pointed out that the best way to learn something is 
to do a presentation about it.  There are a lot of topics that we want 
to learn about, but usually don't have enough incentive to get ourselves 
started on them.  Well, pick one of those and decide to do a 
presentation on it.  Hans does that all the time.  I can't even tell you 
how many time he's come to the meeting and talked for a hour about 
something he didn't know much about the day before.

I think people forget that the best presentations don't cover every 
aspect of a piece of software.  The best presentations tell you what a 
piece of software does and highlights a few features, then leaves the 
audience to decide if it's worth their time to use the software.  If 
there is enough demand, then you can do a/some follow up presentations 
on the same topic that explore different aspects of the software.

I'd much rather have a cool drink of water from a glass than to feel 
like I've had a drink from a fire hose.

Brian Cluff

On 05/01/2013 02:44 PM, Michael Havens wrote:
> Brian, I would love to help but, alas, I know not what I can do being a
> no-nothing and living so far away.
> :-)~MIKE~(-:
>
>
> On Wed, May 1, 2013 at 2:38 PM, Brian Cluff <brian at snaptek.com
> <mailto:brian at snaptek.com>> wrote:
>
>      From what I have gathered, Linux has become extremely easy to use,
>     to the point that a lot of people that used to post on the list and
>     come to the meetings feels like they don't need the help anymore.
>
>     I always try and impress on them that if they got something out of
>     PLUG that they should try and put something back in, in the form of
>     helping other people or to give presentations, or just contributing
>     to a project.  Alas, we don't see a lot of that.  PLUG tends to be
>     an "add a penny take a penny" bowl where people tend to just take
>     pennies.
>
>     There are approximately 500 unique email addresses subscribed to the
>     PLUG-Discuss mailing list, but you would never know it.  There are
>     really only 10 or so people that ever contribute on the list.  The
>     people on the list aren't really showing up to PLUG meetings either,
>     and I know there are a handful of regulars that do show up that
>     aren't even subscribed to the mailing list.  The number of people
>     that contribute to the meetings regularly could most like be counted
>     on one hand.
>
>     Linux has come an amazing distance in a fairly short amount of time,
>     but it seems that there is a glass ceiling that we have hit where
>     people are comfortable enough with the status quo and don't want to
>     contribute like they used to... if they would, I can't help but to
>     think that we would have made a much bigger dent in the desktop area.
>
>     I would love to see the good old days come back so we could have
>     some serious problems with finding enough space to hold a meeting.
>       It would make it a whole lot easer to get some big names in to
>     give talks... thats for sure.
>
>     Brian Cluff
>     (Sorry, feeling a little "ranty" just now :)
>
>     On 05/01/2013 11:54 AM, keith smith wrote:
>
>         Hi,
>
>         I belong to a number of tech mailing lists such as PLUG and
>         AZPHP.  The
>         AZPHP list has gone almost completely dark.  It has been that
>         way for
>         maybe 3 years??
>
>         I'm wondering if the social networking websites might be drawing
>         down
>         membership and activity.
>
>         Any thoughts?
>
>         ------------------------
>         Keith Smith
>
>
>
>         ------------------------------__---------------------
>         PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss at lists.phxlinux.__org
>         <mailto:PLUG-discuss at lists.phxlinux.org>
>         To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
>         http://lists.phxlinux.org/__mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
>         <http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss>
>
>     ------------------------------__---------------------
>     PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss at lists.phxlinux.__org
>     <mailto:PLUG-discuss at lists.phxlinux.org>
>     To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
>     http://lists.phxlinux.org/__mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
>     <http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss>
>
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------
> PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss at lists.phxlinux.org
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
> http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
>