[CLUE-Admin] Thoughts on newsletter

[Jed S. Baer]

On Sat, 22 Mar 2003 19:13:36 -0700
Gus S Calabrese from Fitz <wft at frii.com> wrote:

> I want a history of the meetings and other stuff that happens
> regarding CLUE.  I want it available all the time on the website.
> E-mails apprising me of upcoming events (summaries)
> that point to URLs is the best in my opinion.
...
> Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier said at Ò[CLUE-Admin] Thoughts on newsletterÓ.
> [2003.03.22Sat 16:00]
> 
>  Then, I was thinking about all of the input I've gotten from folks
>  about what they'd like to see in the newsletter. 
>  
>  That would be none. After the last meeting, where I stood up and asked
>  for people to e-mail me comments or critiques or whatever about the
>  newsletter, I received absolutely no input at all. Not one person who
>  was at the meeting took the time to write an e-mail and say "I'd like
>  to see this" or "I like this" or even "It's an fscking waste of time
>  and I'll never read it, but thanks." 
>  
>  That makes me wonder just how useful it is to produce a newsletter when
>  there seems to be no interest. 
>  
>  I was also thinking that it might be more useful to have something
>  slightly more fluid than a newsletter... so I'm proposing something
>  else, a CLUE-blog. 
>  
>  Instead of a once-a-month newsletter that (apparently) no one reads,
>  I'm proposing a weblog that can be continually updated with important
>  information... I'm still willing to "edit" said blog, but I'm just
>  questioning whether the newsletter format is the best way to go. I'm
>  still more than willing to do a newsletter, too, if that's the best way
>  to go... but I'm thinking that maybe it isn't and I'd like to get a
>  little feedback. 

The first question I'd ask is, what is the intent of the newsletter. The
website carries presentation history, book reviews, meeting info, etc.,
and we have mailing lists for announcements, techie stuff, jobs, SIGs
(special interest groups, e.g. CERT), and general discussion. There are
already numerous sources for general Linux news and reviews. The only
thing missing I can see is that maybe sometimes an annoucement gets made
at a meeting, but doesn't get publicized elsewhere, but that's pretty
rare, I think. (I don't believe that a meeting review is really all that
useful.)

Did anything come out of the website survey which could be addressed by a
newsletter? (I see it's still active.)

Only one thing pops into my head: publication of the admin meeting
minutes. Is that something which would be appropriate for clue-announce
anyway?

OK, one other thing: feature articles by CLUEbies who aren't able to do
presentations at the meetings, or which don't make good presentations for
whatever reason. Realistically, how much of that can we expect?

jed
-- 
I wouldn't even think about bribing a rottweiler with a steak that
didn't weigh more than I do. -- Jason Earl