Would it be possible to find a way to contact users by area? I recently posted about wanting to start a users group in my area and received little or no response. Perhaps something could be organized that would assist people like myself in organizing users groups. If we really want linux to grow then we need some human contact between users, and ultimately the general public.

I can see that this would be a good idea. Except.... many members do not put their location in their profiles and so can not be searched. Also, many use 'broader' details (for example, I state mine is SE UK, which is a largish area - though not compared to Texas! ). This would also make it hard to search for people.

Additionally, I personally don't really want LQ to focus maillings on me - that isn't (and feel free to correct me, jeremy) what LQ is about. Add to this people who only join for one question and then disappear, you could end up with a number of disgruntled users.

I can't see this happening. But then again, IANJ*





*I Am Not Jeremy (with apologies to PJ on www.groklaw.net)

And you have to think about those who put things like "/dev/null" or "Out of this World" for their location..

You're probably right about a search not working. My actual goal is to find people in my area with interest in linux. Perhaps a users groups forum with "sticky" posts for each group that gets started so that users can easily find other users in their area.

You can always search the net even for a local LUG in your area. And if they don't know about LQ.org here, spread the word..

There are NO local groups. I HAVE searched. There's a group in my area but they focus on Netware & M$. I have spoken to them and they don't do linux. I know I can't be alone in this, there's probably people all over in just my situation. This forum worked great with the basics, I've been running slackware for a year and can handle just about any problem on my own. Users groups fill a completely different need than forums For instance you can't run an "installfest" through a forum, you have to have physical contact with people if you're going to put linux on their boxes. If linux is EVER going to move forward towards general acceptance users groups is something that HAS to happen.

Insipired by this thread, I just searched for a LUG in my city, found it and registered. They actually have some pretty cool stuff happening (panel discussions, talks by industry pros and the like). There's also a fairly large organization of Linux professionals.

BTW, I always found it kinda frustrating that most members don't specify their location, and that many don't even specify their distro. I don't see why it would be a problem for people to give it out. I'm an English language freak, and, as such, have almost zero tolerance for poorly written posts (especially when they are long). When I see something like Netherlands or China in the location field, I'm much more tolerant.

Hey thanks, it's been a while since I've "inspired" anyone.