ECLUG -Eastern Connecticut Linux User Group- eclug |
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Tuesday, February 04, 2003
Well, okay, since this is here, and I'm in...seems like a good place to blow my own horn. My site, School-Library.net has really turned into a site promoting OSS for schools, now. It still houses a broad spectrum of academic resources, lesson plans, etc., but over the past year the focus has really turned to OSS for schools. I distribute several Linux distros on CD. including some for Macs, OpenOffice.org for doze, 'nix and Mac, some other OSS applicatinos for doze and darwin/OS X. Not only do I sell the darned CDs, fo course, but I encourage teachers, students, administors, et al. to learn as much as possible about OSS and offer my meager assistance whenever possible (which usually consists of pointing them to a listserv or other resource). I get a steady traffic, a lot of e-mail asking questions and the occassional order for a OpOf.org CD (finally sold one for Mac yesterday), etc. I feel good about contributing to the promotion of OSS in schools. The few bucks I have made haven't even paid for my hosting, but I don't really care about the dough. It seems that due to budget cuts, I will be leaving my present school, but I will be leaving with the knowledge that OpenOffice.org is on a lot of machines there now and the administration is very, very aware of the benefits of OSS (I took a knoppix disc in and wOwed them!) and plans to migrate over the next couple of years. I have also loaded up Doze versions of Celestia for some science teachers and a few other things. One local fellow has contacted me about starting a OSS consutling business for schools. I am far from being any kind of expert on OSS at all, but I do know schools. I was thinking more about starting a non-profit to build linux machines out of discarded and donated parts to give to schools or less fortunate students who lack computers. Well, that's enough rambling. I would never do this on the list, as it would be equivalent to spam, IMHO, Unlike your inbox, however, this is read only by choice, so I do not feel as though I am imposing. Hope nobody is offended. The Eclug guru expertise helped make me the OSS user I am today, so Eclug has contributed to the migration of at least one school, and, likely wherever I land next. tony Hmmm..I am wondering if a forum would be more appropriate than a Blog, for the LUG. And, of course, we already have a listserv with archive. I like blogger, though, I have one at: http://mrbaldwin.blogspot.com/ Although I rarely post to it, I am afraid. tony I don't appreciate being spammed with invites to this blog place, nor do I appreciate posts from the eclug list being posted here, or at eclug.tripod.com. You have not discussed this with any other members of the list as far as I'm aware, and you don't even post to the list or attend meetings. Please stop. --Sean Sean, 1. If You tell me what Your list email address is, I will remove You from the invite list and You will never be bothered again by me. You apparently joined this blog to post, and cleverly entered Your email address as "abuse@blogger.com". This user has been removed from the Team list. 2. Only a few sample posts were entered here, to give folks a feel for how it might work. I am very aware that to post someone else's private messages to a list is a violation of Personal Privacy, not to mention rude. I only did a couple, which, if You bothered to take the time to check the dates, and frequency of these examples, You would be able to determine quite easily. So far as I know, none of the examples came from Your messages to the list, but if any of them were, let me know which ones and I will be glad to remove them. 3. I did send out invitations last year when this blog was created. Nobody responded. So much for discussing with other members of the list. 4. I post to the list very infrequently, yes. It is a relatively busy list, and I wish I had the time to follow it more closely. Because it is so busy, I find that managing the email from it a challenge, and I am establishing a separate email account just to absorb the volume. My Yahoo account routinely fills up, and I want to be able to manage. I like the idea of using a blog with commenting. It should be possible for Team members to post to this blog via email. 5. I do attend meetings when I can. I recently moved about an hour away from New London, and it is more difficult to attend than it used to be. Sean, Please send me Your email address as appears on the eclug list so I can remove You from this blog, as You have said You would like to be. This will ensure that any future re-invites will not be directed Your way. I am very sorry You feel the way You do, and assure You that no offense was intended. Now, as to some accusations that have been levelled in a comment to this post by Sean - Here is what it says: Why do you need a hit counter on a page that isn't even sanctioned by the group? Spamming the group's members with unsolicited blog invites is also not the best way to earn new friends in the community, so I would like to give you some advice on that. Stop. It's commendable that you have created this "fan" page for the ECLUG group, however, your participation in the group is very low, and I don't personally recall being asked to opt-in for this blog, repeated meeting spam, or otherwise. Have a wonderful day. 1. No banner revenue from page hits is being collected by me or the eclug. I created this as a "donation" of a potential resource to the group, a source of convenience, should Members choose to use it. But that's a Community decision, and I have not pushed the idea on anyone. It was created last year, and until I reinvited everybody, (as you can plainly see by the contents) it was pretty much uniformly ignored. Tripod provides free webspace - 20 Mb - for homepages. This is one of those. As a condition of such, Tripod places banner ads at the top...not me, not eclug, and not Blogger. 2. The reasons for the hit counter are listed in the blog entry noting it's addition. Why not? Why have a newsfeed? An internet? A civil society? 3. I was unaware that an explicit "sanction" from the group was required, but if it is, by all means, put it to a vote. Lauren has the admin password and privileges to both the blogger and tripod accounts, and can lock me out and take down the site at anytime. I would think that if the Group finds the blog useful, and would like to share some discussion or knowledge with the greater Linux using public, then the Group members would use it and do so. I leave it to each Individual to decide whether or not to share their information, discussion, and knowledge in this way, or restrict it to the privacy of the eclug list. 4. Send me Your email address that is being "spammed" with "unsolicited invites" and I will personally guarantee that You will never get one from me again, as I will remove You from the re-invite list. This list consists of those who were on the eclug list last summer when I created the blog, and who did not respond by joining. It is never sent out automatically, a Team member with admin privileges must explicitly send it out. 5. This is not a "fan" page for the Eastern Connecticut Linux User Group. It's a utility for them, if they want to use it. My email address is dredeyedick_nospam_aT_earthlink.net for any who seek permanent removal from the reinvite list. 6. "Have a wonderful day. " yourself. Everybody else, Thanks for coming. Welcome. Glad You could make it. I hope You find it useful. -Dave Manchester |
