This struggle that GTALUG and other LUGs are facing is not limited to LUGs. It is also a challenge with any volunteer-based group. Even faith-based orgs that have a large client base but cannot attract the doers to help outreach etc. Having said that - there are two key challenges and solutions: (1) effective communication; (2) welcoming culture. This is a challenge I see with the linux community. I follow a few on social media. The negative is: there is a core very vocal tech-focussed nerdy group that is condescending and off putting to the broader non-linux community that does not engender linux to them. The message is: if you are not part of the cool crowd then we dont want you. This has to stop. Then there is another group that is extremely helpful and tries to assist whenever they can in solving basic user challenges in a very respectful manner. Here basic is VERY basic such as compatible software. The limiting factor is lack of in-person time as there is only so much you can do via chat etc. Both 1 and 2 go hand-in-hand. Effective comms can range from tech to the politics of FOSS (why it's important to have open source) especially in the age of AI etc. This then opens the door to anyone whose main interest is anything in-between. We need lots of champions to attract diverse members. cheers Sam On Wed, Aug 27, 2025 at 9:44 AM Mark Prosser via Talk <talk@lists.gtalug.org> wrote:
On 2025-08-27 00:10, Evan Leibovitch via Talk wrote:
Unfortunately I find this kind of thread truly, truly depressing.
When most responses are "well, this works for me so screw everyone else", I despair for the future of GTALUG. Somebody please offer a cause for optimism.
- Evan
Not sure what to say, exactly. But I'm fairly new to attending & participating in GTALUG and I find it fine. But I've adapted to many communities and many niches.
I like that GTALUG is:
- about any topic relating to Linux (pretty wide umbrella) - truly community run, no sales pitch or 50+ uninterested job seekers eating pizza
Despite a recent response being "stop worrying about them & focus on us", I do think GTALUG could do a couple things:
Experiment with an app like Zulip. It's thread based but still comes closer to the modern Discord & Slack style expectations. Experiment with a free instance & potentially a self-hosted.
Also, be more public. If a community wants to do their thing and be proud of it, sometimes you attract more people by showing them how much fun you're having. That means posting content on pixelfed, mastodon, or wherever content from the meetups.
Also, I recently told a colleague I met at the Ubuntu meetup about this group. He was unaware it existed. To make matters worse, he went online and the website still said it's in person, where it was clear on the mailing list that it's online only. That to me says that the community is about just as walled off in the mailing list as Discord or Zulip.
The last thing I'll say is that sometimes there's success in shutting down. For example, I participate heavily in the Network Automation Forum. Their mission is to host conferences & a community to drive Network Automation from ~20% to ~80% + . Once they do that, they intend to shut down as it's their sole mission. To which, communities can break off into their niches, which the 20% already enjoys today (large enterprise, isp/csp, hyperscalars, etc.) If you consider that, is it fair to say that LUGs did what they were supposed to do... and many folks got nerd sniped to make Linux what it is today.
Warm regards,
-- Mark Prosser // E: mark@zealnetworks.ca // W: https://zealnetworks.ca ------------------------------------ Description: GTALUG Talk Unsubscribe via Talk-unsubscribe@lists.gtalug.org Start a new thread: talk@lists.gtalug.org This message archived at https://lists.gtalug.org/archives/list/talk@lists.gtalug.org/message/KYU6IY4...