[SGVLUG] New Linux Lug

[Emerson, Tom]

> -----Original Message-----
> Behalf Of David Lawyer

 [...]

> What happened to the Route 66 LUG [...]
> ...  I complained to them about their name since it should have
> included their location. [...]

Geographical location is not a strict requirement of the LUG's name -- consider, for instance, the following:  (found on the "glue" website [http://glue.linuxgazette.com/]  when searching for "california")

 -- Linux System Administrators (LxSA) [http://www.LxSA.org]
 -- Campus Crusade for Linux           [http://www.humboldt.edu/~csc/lug]
 -- The Linux Labs User Group          [http://www.tecwise.com]
 -- Yellow Network Computer Linux Group [http://www.ync.org]
 -- Central Valley Linux Enthusiasts (CVALE) [http://www.cvale.org/]

Sure, that last DOES include a "geographical" reference, but to which "central" valley?

and let's not forget LinuxChix -- turns out they have two chapters (L.A. and San Diego) -- but I know in my case I rarely make that distinction when referring to their group  [same as uuasc, I'd imagine...]

[and before I forget, I see that SCALE is listed, though not technically a "user group" in the sense it is being used for this discussion]

Of course, even if you include the location, you're bound to get one that doesn't look like a location:

 -- Bruce Grey Linux Users Group  [http://www.bglug.ca/]

No, this isn't Bruce's personal user group, but one serving the "Bruce" and "Grey" counties of Ontario, Canada [.ca] -- who'd a thunk it? ;)

> Could it be that a LUG not appropriately named is apt to
> fail? [...]

I don't know -- it would certainly be an easy argument to make that some/many/all of the ones I listed above are defunct or nearly so, but I'd have to go on your word that was the case.  I'd take the slightly stronger argument that "since they are listed on GLUE, they very likely have some activity"  After all, if they were defunct, I'd imagine the GLUE maintainers would get comments about dead groups -OR- the "forum" page associated with a given group would warn folks away (or both)

true enough, including a geographical reference does help -- in fact, searching for "linux" on the GLUE website does reveal 50+ pages of results, and nearly all of them refer to some location or another (well, on the pages I checked -- up to about page 5 before jumping to the end...) so it is safe to say that many folks believe including some reference to your location would be helpful, but it isn't always needed.

It could also work to a group's detriment -- the choice of "location" could imply too big or too little of an area -- would you attend the "linux users of California" group?  How about the "linux users who live down the lane" group?  As it is, our group claims membership to a 40 mile+ strip of land from Pasadena to Pomona (and as I live in La Crescenta, that adds another 5 miles to the western border...)  We certainly wouldn't turn anyone away who came from Burbank or Glendale [which happen to be directly south of where I live...] but given our name, they might think we couldn't/wouldn't serve them all that well...