[PLUG] [PDXLUG July 01, 2003 Meeting Announcement]

Dan Haskell danh at fork.com
Tue Jul 1 09:57:02 UTC 2003


On Mon, 30 Jun 2003, Robby Russell wrote:

> Why? Feel free to join the list and bring up that suggestion...but I doubt
> that it'll hold much ground.
> 
> We changed our meetings to be the first tuesday of the month after our
> first meeting which conflicted with PLUGs. It was a group vote to do so,
> out of courtesy of those who are involved in both groups.

That's exactly what I'm asking for here - courtesy for those involved in
both groups. As for the "why" go back and read the posting you're
responding to.

> We've been in existance for about 6 months now, have about 100
> subscribers, several sponsors, print material, our own bootable distro, a
> large media library, our highly active irc channel, etc, etc...
> 
> Why doesn't PLUG change it's name?

Hmmmm. Because PLUG has had that name for close to ten years? You guys
split off because you wanted to differentiate yourselves from PLUG - and
then chose the same name, a very similar domain name, and the same meeting
time. You're failing to differentiate.

> Are you implying that the average person who looks up Portland Linux User
> Group shouldn't see our name towards the top of the list as well?
> 
> If Linux has taught me/us one thing about our world...it's choice. Give
> people a choice.

So give them a clear choice - don't muddy the waters.

> We're not trying to take away PLUG subscribers...and this isn't a
> competition. Is it wrong to have more than 1 group in town? Is it wrong to
> have more than 3 in town? Who cares.

If you read my posting, you'll see I never complained about your choice to
start your own group. You're free to have your own group and run it the
way you please. My only complaint is with the confusion you have created
by using our old name, picking a similar domain name, etc. When you do
that sort of thing, you start impacting the function of *our* group. We
have worked hard to establish a sort of name-brand-familiarity, which you
are diluting.

[snip]
> Can I suggest that you change your linux/Unix group to :
> The REAL Portland Linux/Unix Group
[snip]

Once again, we have had the name for close to ten years. If you want to
offer people choice, give them choice - not confusion. If you want to
differentiate yourselves from PLUG - do so. The current situation benefits
no one.

The whole thing is starting to sound like it's straight out of a
Monty Python movie: "Portland Linux/Unix Group? Cawk! We're the Portland
Linux User's Group!"

Dan






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