[Penguicon-Concom] Re: [penguicon-general] Bylaws Committee officially fo...

[Rob Landley]

On Friday 04 August 2006 11:40 pm, Francinehibiscus at aol.com wrote:
> Once again, you miss the point of what Rob and I are saying.  I  officially 
> give up, and am no longer going to swim against the tide.  I am  sticking to
> my corner of the con.

Which is the classic response of first wavers (hobbyists) facing third wave 
requirements (bureaucracy).  Walk away.

This is how Atlanta Linux Showcase died.  They recruited Usenix to help out 
with year 3, thinking they were bringing in old-school Unix guys and a source 
of funding.  What they got was a 25 year old bureaucracy that wanted to "help 
out" by organizing things, and (as Peter Salus said) "the camel's nose under 
the tent flap".  Faced with bureaucratic requiremnets to continue doing what 
they'd been doing, the people who had run ALS before just walked away, 
because it was no fun anymore.

I spoke to the professional convention organizer who ran the last year of ALS 
(the one in California).  She didn't like volunteers, because they're not 
professional and (in her words) "more trouble than they're worth".  That was 
only the third ALS Usenix had been involved in, and all the hobbyists were 
already gone.

Rob
-- 
Never bet against the cheap plastic solution.