[boulder.pm] activity on this list

[Walter Pienciak]

This list is pretty quiet -- damn quiet -- as lists go.  I 
made a deliberate decision when I started it: stay in the
background and let it evolve into something the group wanted,
rather than trying to control or direct it.

But I'm wondering if that was a good strategy.  And if this group
is in danger of dying for lack of something.  If so, I'd like to
find out what that something is.

Feedback time.  Stop lurking, put your fingers on the keyboards,
and tell us why you're here, what you hoped the list/group would
be, and what needs to happen to get it there.  Please. 

I'll go first.

I was hoping for a group that existed not just on a mailing list,
but that got together once in a while -- eat and drink, talk, whatever.
At work we have a tech mailing list where we ask questions, forward
URLs or interesting technical things we've found or learned, joke
around, abuse each other good-naturedly.  We also get together for
lunch once a month or so, or to make a bookstore run, and it all
flows together pretty naturally.  (This last sentence is more
historical:  since I'm now a full-time telecommuter for them, New
Jersey is too far to go to have lunch.)

I knew that Denver had a Perl Mongers group, but for me that's
too far away.  I have a wife and three daughters, and between work
and my kid shuttle service, my free time is worth a lot.  Besides,
I'm not big on drinking and driving, and, well, Denver just wasn't
piquing my interest.

So I was looking for a way to hang out once in a while with some
folks who do what I do.  A mix of list activity and actual getting
together.  Maybe get away sometimes from the usual "let's have beer"
geek stereotype and go do something outside or something.

I haven't gone ahead and scheduled another meeting, but I didn't
get many responses when I asked about preferred times/date.  Would
it be easier if I just scheduled it rather than trying for some kind
of consensus to develop?

And what about those meetings?  Do you want formal "Tuturial on something"
style meetings, or a place to hang out and brag, or a mix, or . . .
what?  How often?

We have 48 people on the list, each of whom was interested enough to
sign up.  What do you want?

Walter

__
Walter Pienciak
Manager of Electronic Information, IEEE Standards Activities

w.pienciak at ieee.org    http://standards.ieee.org/people/w.pienciak/
                       http://walter.dsl.frii.net/
+1 303 494 3756        P.O. Box 3780, Boulder, CO  80307-3780

IEEE -- Networking the World