I supose to a newbie of today's growing society of the "I don't want to read, tell me" generation, the reams of linux docs is very daunting. There is also the problem of not knowing where to start. A online LUG is nice for these people because it is almost like school. I like precalc, but if I had not been told about it (in school) I would not have started. So: I guess a lug is a nice idea, but it is already all here, just not spoonfed to newbs.

Does LQ have an IRC channel for people to hang out live?

anyway. some thoughts
titanium_geek

We don't have an IRC channel for LQ. The reasons are that it would be hard to moderate (we'd need 24/7 moderating) and that any good information would be lost in the ether rather than preserved for posterity as at LQ. My 2 cents is that IRC channels also tend to be clique-y and dominated by a small minority, I think that would take away from any good it could do - at least that's my take on the channels I have visited.

As I seem to post here when most of the other people are not here, I know that as an international community, live hangout times are not feasible.
Maybe these users could set up a chat for linux site, but of course this would take a lot of time and effort.
The idea of live linux lessons are cool, but perhaps this is what linux answers and the wiki are for.
It's a cool idea, guys, but just too much for LQ to handle (in my opinion, at the moment. The forums are big enough)

titanium_geek

How about this: a gigantic international LUG that exists as part of or as an offshoot of LQ. IRC channel is a great idea, but I've been in a Linux help one before and it took a while before my problem finally got solved (in the end someone had a one on one chat with me separate from the IRC channel or related to the IRC channel in some way to help me, not sure how it worked really). The IRC channel I visited was #linuxhelp at chatjunkies.org. Maybe this LUG should hold monthly or weekly or biweekly meetings in a chat room (a moderated one though for sure). I'd be willing to moderate as long as it's on Monday or Wednesday or Friday or better still just those three days since that's when I don't work (my other job has been quite slow lately so I'd be free from about 12:30 PM or 1 PM to 12 AM (I stay up really late to watch anime on G4TechTV so I'd be very available)). A mailing list sounds good too, but again it should be moderated and I could help if it were set up the same as the chat room idea as far as date and time goes that I'd be available (so others would be needed for sure to help moderate if it were a mailing list).

Some kind of regular meeting or online show is something I have been tossing around for a while now. I'm currently working out some of the details, but am open to ideas.

--jeremy

You could have monthly meetings, with a teacher/leader/speaker/guru/expert
of the month start talking about a topic, say howto set up cron, (what is it, howto, and some useful/cool stuff to do with it)
and then get asked questions by the users. Like an interactive interview, really. Sort of like debates/discussions they have elsewhere.

Now, on the question of timezone. I think that the board should just pick a time, and go with it.

Also: the forum is like a roman market place, anyone came come at any time and say something. The chat/lug thing should be more like a classroom, only open at certain times. There would also have to be sophisticated modding going on.

keep brainstorming!

titanium_geek

Additionally, I think it would be useful to post the chat logs (if that's what it is) on the Linux Tutorials pages. That way, we can all get the benefit.

Hello,

I think the idea of having a general chat in one place with at one time, with no specific topic would be a very bad idea. There over 100,000 users here at LQ and of the active member I am sure is a high number as well this would result in very disorganized discussion and would drift way off topic I am sure. This would have to be something within LQ but separate? Make sense? I mean there would have to be sign ups for the chat then the number would still be high. Ideally this would be split. Distro chats broken down by topic of interest broken down by zones (time) and broken any other way people could think of to keep the users on the chat servers to a minimum so they could be useful chats where everyone could have a questions answered. People would be able to subscribe to one maybe two chats and read the transcripts of the board from the other chats of interest. With the time zones there could be chats going 24/7 but only certain people would be able to log into the chats.

I am confusing myself!
BUMP
LOL

Hmmm, anti-microsoft, your solution sounds like ..... LQ as it is now.

I think maybe a lottery would work. (you'd have to sign up)
So: you get picked, then you get to login to the chat and listen to the guru of the month on the proposed subject, and then ask questions.
This would make it a exclusive thing to get to participate live, and then the timezone wouldn't matter. Even if it was two in the morning, or you had to fake a sick day :), the exlusivity of only 50 live users would make it important to log on. (Time zone of the guru would be cool)

A new thread would be started on the first of the month, run for 10 days, and people would post there if they wanted to be in the lottery. Then there would be an email despatched to the lucky 50 or so users.

And yeah, a transcript of the chat would be a good idea.
and lurking, watching the chat live would also be good.

I think it could work, but of course it would need a lot of work.

titanium_geek

Ideas sure bounce around a bit sometimes eh ;) The idea of a 'guru' giving tips on some of the lesser used/known applications is already realized in the LinuxAnswers section of this site, IMHO. Of course it would indeed be nice to have a recognized 'guru' give us their insight on an application in some extra capacity Jeremy may be able to facilitate. For example, have the maintainers of grep give us some pointers/tips on using this common everyday application more efficiently, continue posting it in the LA section, but note it with a * or something to bold it out to show it's from the officially recognized author (or whatever).

Cool

Yeah. I agree, MasterC.
However, the idea of something being live and getting help from the real experts has a special aura to it.
LQ already is a good question answerer, but it's not really live. I think this makes it impersonal to some people, those who grew up prefering phone calls to letters.
Anyway, I'm sure something cool will happen.

titanium_geek

Hmmm. A lottery? Sounds like a interesting concept, but don't think it would work (for fair sake). Lets say we have 100,000 users at LQ (I know we have more), And lets say 75,000 are active users, then lets say of the 75,000 users, 40,000 are interested in live chat. What kind of odds does this leave me or anyone else? I still believe in the idea of split/split/split and let the chats roll. Seperate lugs by country, distro then by timezone then by state the by area of intrest and I believe you would have pretty organized chat. This does not have to be live could be turn based chat or even hosted as part of the forum, but not started as questions but started as topics, teachings. There could be seperate mods put in for these porposes.

My 2 cents!

If you make it turn based/forum based, it is no longer worth it. And yes, there are teachings... it's called linux answers. And interviews. Perhaps
the guys at LQ should get an interview from an expert - say the people who wrote samba... and get a tutorial. However, interviews are hard to get and take time.
If you take away the liveness, then it is not worth it.
Why do we need the real experts to answer if not only for peace of mind? I know I have had expert answers from "non experts" in the past.
And lessons are cool, but if it is not live, RTM!

I would appreciate tutorial/interviews, but I understand that this is hard and timeconsuming for jeremy. Also: the forums arn't restricted to question asking.

titanium_geek
PS TWGS (take with a grain of salt)

I understand your point. And I agree with why should it have to be an "expert". This whole idea I came up with was for a LUG online. Yes there may be places to make a statement here at LQ but I don't believe it to "feel the same". Live is great when it comes to real time questions being answered about a given topic makes walk thoughts and such much easier as problems arise they could be handled the same.

AS far as RTM, I have no problem reading as I am sure most people don't but, I could read and take a whole day doing so (as I have done) But the solution I was looking for could of been summed up in let's say 10 words. I could come to LQ and ask the question but more times then not RTM is the answer. I am more interested in a group of people from my area of like mind to have a place to share knowledge. There are specific issues with different areas that could be talked about with people from the same area and resolved within there LUG. This is alot, and I know that might be hard to implement , but I also believe the results would be much worth it.

My 2 cents!