[Baypiggies] Big changes to the BayPIGgies Meetups

[Martin Falatic]

First, and wholeheartedly, a big thank you to Glen, Peggy, David and the
others for their fine work keeping things running - I had no idea how much
things had changed at the end of last year and I don't blame any of them
for the present circumstances.

I have the email from this list about a year and a half ago where Glen
mentioned cross-promoting BayPIGgies meetups. It's clear that after that
the SV Python meetups basically stopped in favor the ones through
BayPIGgies (which all worked quite well as the two meetup groups were
basically synonymous at that point).

This recent change happened under the radar, and I'm surprised nobody has
questioned it til now - that worries me as it may mean reputational damage
has already been done. I haven't seen much traffic in regard to this other
than the change of organizer (at the start of the holidays) and the sudden
annual fee requirement (either $20/year or $5/month depending on which
email you read). I just figured that was a hiccup in a routine transition
but clearly it's much more, between that, the new backronym, and the fee
tacked on to each meetup (starting with the next one). It's not *about*
the fees, it's about the fact that someone is fleecing the (remaining)
members of the meetup group for fees small and large while tarnishing the
BayPIGgies name in the process.

 - Marty


On Wed, January 13, 2016, Tony Cappellini also wrote:
BTW, The efforts and contributions of David, Glen Jarvis and Peggy, to
Baypiggies have made the biggest and best changes to the group that I've
seen since I've been in Baypiggies.

On Wed, January 13, 2016 08:07, Tony Cappellini wrote:
>>> Is the Meetup group not related to http://www.baypiggies.net/ and
>>> this
> mailing list now? Meetup.com is its own entity. However, Glen Jarvis
> started using it as a way to promote the Baypiggies meetings by attracting
> a larger audience. Cross-posting the Baypiggies meetings on Meetup.com
> worked quite well too, as the turnouts have been bigger.
>
> David and I have repeatedly asked for help organizing the Baypiggies
> meetings, but none offered to help. I had stepped down as a co-organizer
> over a year ago. David and Peggy started helping. That was working pretty
> well for a while, until Peggy left LinkedIn. David too has other
> responsibilities, so the Baypiggies meetings at LinkedIn have stopped as
> of the end of 2015. I think we still have a contact at Linkedin, but
> without a handful of volunteers to find presenters and organize the
> meetings it will not continue. Several people should be involved in this,
> so that they can cover for each other during absences.
>
> I took this role on for many years, but really would have wanted others
> to chip in and help.
>
> If people want Baypiggies to continue, they need to step in and
> contribute. I believe the Baypiggies meetings can still continue
> independently on the unscrupulous actives that recently started on the
> Meetup group by Suresh,
> as long as we have a handful of volunteers.
>
> It's just that simple, and always has been.
>
>
>
>
>
> On Tue, Jan 12, 2016 at 6:10 PM, Martin Falatic <martin at falatic.com>
> wrote:
>
>
>> So I recently got an email saying I needed to pay $20 to stay in the
>> BayPIGgies Meetup group. Figuring it's been good so far and not knowing
>> things had significantly changed I paid it. Now I see that every
>> upcoming Meetup has a fee attached to it as well (and they're no longer
>> at LinkedIn and they're on odd days of the week - e.g., Saturday).
>>
>> And since when did the acronym change? Is the Meetup group not related
>> to http://www.baypiggies.net/ and this mailing list now?
>>
>>
>> What's going on?
>>
>>
>> - Marty
>>
>>
>>
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>