From: Francis Hwang <sera@...>
Date: 2004-11-06T05:11:33+09:00
Subject: Re: Local Ruby Groups (was Re: Ruby and civil political discussion? (Re: [OT] US Presidential  Election))


On Nov 5, 2004, at 2:58 PM, James Edward Gray II wrote:

> On Nov 5, 2004, at 1:23 PM, Francis Hwang wrote:
>
>> Yes, and also don't forget to think about starting a local Ruby group 
>> if there isn't already one in your area. I started one in NYC a year 
>> ago. It's quite small (the biggest meeting was 7 people), but 
>> extremely rewarding.
>
> If you don't mind my asking, how did you locate members?  I would love 
> to get a local group going, but I have no idea how to find Ruby 
> programmers nearby.  Any tips you might have would be helpful.

Me, I just set up a page at Yahoo Groups, then I announced it, to 
ruby-talk, and a few other local techie groups I knew about (the local 
XP group, the local Lisp group, etc.)

> Of course, if you have 7 regulars in New York, I'm betting my chances 
> in Oklahoma are mighty slim.

You never know. New York is big but it's not so great of a techie city. 
It's more of the old world. And you're competing for people's time out 
here; everybody I know is super-busy doing work, going to shows, 
readings, openings, etc., etc., etc. The Ruby-NYC mailing list has 
about 20 people; about half of those have been too busy to ever come to 
a meeting. I've never been to Oklahoma, but I'm willing to bet that 
there are less distractions.

F.