[TriLUG] an increasingly annoying trend at trilug meetings

Benjamin Reed ranger at befunk.com
Tue Jan 15 17:31:24 EST 2002


I wasn't going to bother responding to this, but I have to know...

David R. Matusiak [matusiak at speakeasy.net] wrote:
> somewhere along the line, this became the "Every Geeks Night to Be a Comedian" 
> and since then i have considered the meatspace meetings a complete waste of time.

And somewhere along the line no one complained.

> there have been several meetings where i have had to leave in disgust because 
> the freakin' presenter (hello? the guy/gal on stage) couldn't get a word in 
> edgewise. the night of my actual epiphany was when Sinner and Friend were trying 
> to explain security basics to a HUGE crowd (read: potential new members) and 
> instead, we had to live thru more dumbass comments than i'd expect to hear at a 
> local MS Access Users group.
> 
> i walked out that night because i couldn't stand to see my friend be denied the 
> ability to present something that he had worked very hard on and to sully a 
> rather serious and important topic... all in the name of "socialization."

And when did we hear anything about it?

Many of us went overboard that night making goofy comments, and thinking back
I feel a bit chagrined, but when did we hear from the community "tone it down"?

That was *August*.

Have you been silently stewing since then?  Have you been having a one-man
boycott but not voicing your concern?

This is *our* group.  We.  The local Linux community.  You are part of that.  It
seems that there are at the very least a few people who would like for people to
simmer down.  How is anyone supposed to know if you don't ask?  *No one* would
make jokes if people didn't laugh...

> sheesh. you wanna get "socialized?" turn off the goddamn computer and go take a 
> walk. don't take a good movement in the local area and trash it.
> 
> more to the point -- if you wanna talk / "be heard" that bad, then come up with 
> a topic, gather some valuable info on it, and present it to the group. i would 
> gladly defend your right to be heard. after all, you're the one on stage.

I think you're right, and I'm speaking next month.  =)

I've certainly been guilty of making offhand goofy comments -- I do that
everywhere.  I will be more careful not to just say something that comes to
me during the middle of a presentation.  And I would have said the same thing
and been a little more careful 6 months ago, if someone were to ask.

-- 
Ben Reed a.k.a. Ranger Rick (ranger at befunk.com)
http://defiance.dyndns.org/ / http://radio.scenespot.org/
Frankenstein was the creator -- not the monster.  It's a common
misconception, held by all truly stupid people. -- Kryten



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