[group-organizers] Anyone interested in a Python Users Group?

[John Szakmeister]

On Wed, Nov 26, 2008 at 10:40 AM, Stephen Waterbury
<waterbug at pangalactic.us> wrote:
[snip]
> Good idea!  I'll do that.  (I hadn't been aware of those locations.
> I've been a Pythonista for many years but haven't kept up with
> some of the newer venues. ;)

It's hard to know about them.  I wouldn't have known if I hadn't of
pinged Steve Holden when I was thinking about creating a group.  Well,
I did know about the LocalUsersGroup page, because that's where I
started in trying to research whether there was one in the area. :-)

> I would definitely recommend subscribing to python-announce --
> it's relatively low-volume.  I thought everyone did!  :)
> That's basically why I didn't look for other places to post.  ;)

I hadn't realized that much of this stuff happens there.  I'm
subscribed now. :-)

[snip]
> If you want to have Python group meetings in Columbia, we will
> be drawing a lot of the same people anyway, so my idea was just to
> go ahead and propose whatever meetings you want through any channel
> you want, including the bacon-pig list, and you can lead them.
> I don't consider BACON-PIG meetups to be "mine" or "ours" as opposed
> to "yours" -- they're just people interested in Python.  (I
> *certainly* will be happy to have anyone else lead a BACON-PIG
> meeting!  That's definitely not an ego thing for me. :)  If you want
> to have meetings in Columbia, go ahead propose that, and propose them
> for any date you like -- it doesn't have to be on the schedule we
> came up with on the bacon-pig list, especially if you have new
> people who also prefer the Columbia location.

I may propose that, but I'd like to get a real feel for how far it is.
 I've only been down to Greenbelt a few times, and you're a little
closer to the DC area, which may be a bonus for folks coming from that
direction.  FWIW, I don't consider it mine or yours either.  I'd love
to help anyway I can.  My goal is just to have more of a Python
community around here. :-)

[snip]
> I see that we seem to have a lot of forums that don't inter-communicate
> ... a typical internet-age "problem".  I only see it as a problem in
> that each meeting could have more people if it were more widely
> known among local pythonistas.

More people would be a problem?  Is that because of the hosting
facility?  FWIW, the Howard County Central Library room is huge.  Max
capacity is something like 184 (which would be very uncomfortable!).
Perhaps the library down your way has something available if the
current location gets too cramped.  I can say that you'll have at
least 2 new people at the next meeting... and perhaps 5.

> Please feel free to start a group of your own with its own name, etc.
> if you want to!  Even then you are still welcome to use the bacon-pig
> list either as your group's list or at least for meeting coordination
> discussions, since I'm sure many bacon-pig folks (including myself)
> would be interested in Python meetings in Columbia -- that's why
> we called it the Baltimore, Annapolis, Columbia, and Other Northern
> blah blah blah.  (I see I forgot about the Annapolis part last time. ;)

I'd rather have one larger group than several smaller ones.  You get
more topic diversity, a bigger pool of people to pull from for help,
etc.  Like I said before though, if you need help with anything, let
me know.  I had committed myself to contributing, whether it's through
another group or BACON-PIG doesn't matter to me. :-)

I hope to meet you at the next meeting!

-John