From: Francis Hwang Date: 2005-04-13T08:40:14+09:00 Subject: Re: [Rails] NYC Meetup? Hey all, ( First off, if you don't know, the Ruby-NYC group can be found at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ruby-nyc/ . ) I guess the general policy when it comes to topicality in Ruby-NYC is that we want to talk about whatever Rubyists are interested in, in sensible proportions so as not to bore anybody too much. I don't mind if the group ends up having particular obsessions. Last year, a lot of our meetings kept drifting back to Topic Maps, del.icio.us, and the philosophy of classifications (I am looking at you, Rob). Rails is a perfectly good obsession, too. That said, I don't think I'd want to devote a set portion of each meeting to *any* topic in particular, whether that's Rails or Topic Maps or electoral politics (we talk that sometimes, too). But here are a few ways in which the Ruby-NYC group might be of interest specifically for Railsers: - I am always looking for people to do quick, informal presentations on a subject they have some experience with, and you don't have to be an expert to give a presentation. If Rails fans want to do presentations about Rails in general or specific aspects of it, I am very open to that. - Meetings tend to be about 1/3 informal presentation and 2/3 chatting about whatever, so if you come with 3 other Rails fans then you'll probably end up talking about Rails quite a bit if that's what you want. I'm also interested in some good cross-pollination; I think everybody has a lot they can learn from everyone else. But I wouldn't want Ruby-NYC to be heavily focused on any particular application or library or framework. So, I guess the answer is, if Rails users would find that interesting, then you should come. If you want to be exclusively focused on Rails, then I certainly won't be offended if you decide to have a Rails-only group. Also, please don't call us pre-Rails Rubyists "elders". It makes us self-conscious of our hairlines. Francis Hwang http://fhwang.net/ On Apr 12, 2005, at 6:14 PM, Matt Pelletier wrote: > (i just joined the ruby-talk list and am forwarding this post since > it's predecessor went here as well) > > Pat, > > I fully agree about learning from the 'elders', and that cooperation > and > cross-talk should be encouraged from the start. I don't think > fragmenting interests is too much of a concern at this point, though, > as > anyone coding for RoR is likely to be pretty interested in Ruby as a > language anyway. I certainly am. In fact I plan to encourage anyone > coming to the RoR to go to the NYC.rb as well. Depending on the size of > the interest (I have 4 ppl so far), maybe we'll ask the NYC.rb leader > (Francis I know you're on ruby-talk) to set aside some time for each > meeting just to focus on RoR. > > My rationale for wanting to start a Rails-specific group is that the > ruby-nyc group is for the language, and those members have interests > that don't necessarily deal directly with the web. While they would > probably be interested to hear new members talk about Rails (and they > were when I did so), I wouldn't want to alienate them by hogging the > discussion about the Web. > > Since this is going to the Ruby-talk list... any Ruby folks there > interested in a NYC meetup? > > Matt > > pat eyler wrote: >> On Apr 12, 2005 3:40 PM, Matt Pelletier >> wrote: >>> Hi Pat (and Paul, from earlier reply), >>> >>> Actually I did go to last month's Ruby Group (If you guys are >>> watching I >>> was the newbie). It was quite helpful, and I even came out with a >>> free >>> 'Learn Ruby in 21 days' (thanks Francis), but my impression was that >>> it >>> was more oriented toward the language itself than to Rails, esp. as >>> it's >>> been around longer than Rails has existed. We talked about Rails a >>> bit, >>> but I don't want to inadvertantly steer those meetings into >>> discussions >>> just about Rails. So I will continue to attend them, but if there is >>> enough interest in NYC I'd like to start one that focuses on Rails >>> itself. There are plenty of developers here and I'd wager the >>> interest >>> is only going to grow. >> Actually I'm no where near NYC, so I didn't see you at the last >> meeting. ;^) >> I am concerned though that by starting Rails specific groups, we >> fragment a community that is still fairly young. I think having a >> RoR group is a great idea, but I'd rather see it run in cooperation >> with an NYC.rb (or whatever). I >> think the new Rails folks can learn a lot from experienced Rubyists, >> and the >> 'old timers' can certainly get a boost from the new folks that RoR >> will bring >> in. >> just my $0.02 >>> Matt >>> > > >