Re: LISA...how good [LA local groups]

[xerox.com">Bruce_Hamilton.LAX1B]

Over the past five years, I've been a member of, and witnessed the decline and
fall of, LA UnixUsers, Sun Users, and X Users groups.  They all experienced the
common phenomenon of a small group of enthusiasts doing good work, then moving
out of the area and/or getting burned out after a couple of years.

Like many people, I'm willing to contribute my attendance plus occasional
mailing list maintenance or envelope stuffing, but I don't have 10 hours/month
to devote to the sort of program and membership development efforts that are
required if you're going to bother.

Part of the problem in LA is geographic dispersion.  Sun Users was always
Pasadena vs. South Bay.  UnixUsers (like SIGCHI (at Rand) and SIGART (at the
library)) ended up in Santa Monica, which is OK. Meeting rooms are a problem;
e.g. Xerox stopped security staffing for the entrance next to the meeting room
after 6 PM.  I guess the Santa Monica (or other?) public library, or various
community centers, are an option.

Orange County Sun Users is still active (see the oc.slug newsgroup) -- they
were even doing an elaborate newsletter in PostScript a while ago.

This discussion probably should move to la.general.  This thread is too big
already...

Cheers,

--Bruce
BHamilton.LAX1BXerox.com
310-333-3538