TLUG vs. GTALUG

Wed Dec 7 23:16:59 UTC 2005

Paid membership gets you the following:
1) That warm fazzy feeling knowing you are helping offset cost of running this group.
2) voting previliges at the Annual general meeting where board members are voted in.
3) Ability to be on the board and provide input to what GTALUG should be doing.

Paid membership is totally voluntary. I doubt 10% of this list is a paid member. There are certain things that is within the mandate of GTALUG to run free of charge. This list and the monthly meetings fall into that group. So far all the other things that we have done have not required large amounts of money and the executive has normally paid for things as out of pocket expenses.

The real problem with clarifying the services is we the excutive are unsure of what else to offer. We recently arranged a deal with an ISP for highspeed internet for members and one or two people took the ISP up on the offer. We are looking at trying to find package deals for members but there doesn't seem to be any interest in such things among this group.

Also of the 1000 or so people on the list less than 10% find there way to the real life meetings. To most people this is an email list they are on with no intention of becoming any more involved in the community. That is okay with everyone. For the few that want to get involved more please do. It isn't a requirement to be a member to volunteer to help out. 

Ultimately this club are the people that are in it. Literally for the last seven years it was Drew's, Jan's, Herb's and my vision. That vision had to be small because there was no resources to make it big.

Bill

On Wed, Dec 07, 2005 at 06:58:05PM -0400, Tony Abou-Assaleh wrote:
> Thanks Bill. This really clears up a lot of the confusion that I had. But
> at least one more remains, and that is the difference between paid and
> non-paid members. There are obviously numerous non-paid members on this
> list, and some paid ones. What are the differences, if any, between the
> two? My guess is that paid membership is optional and may be viewed as a
> non-charitable donation to help the continuations of Toronto LUGs.
> 
> I feel from the recent discussions that some members of this list would be
> interested in a wide range of services (some of which you mentioned below
> such as advices, contacts, etc.). What is lacking, I feel, is a
> clarification of what these services are, and the processes by which one
> may receive them.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> TAA
> 
> -----------------------------------------------------
> Tony Abou-Assaleh
> Lecturer, Computer Science Department
> Brock University, St. Catharines, ON, Canada, L2S 3A1
> Office: MC J215
> Tel:    +1(905)688-5550 ext. 5243
> Fax:    +1(905)688-3255
> Email:  taa-HInyCGIudOg at public.gmane.org
> WWW:    http://www.cosc.brocku.ca/~taa/
> ----------------------[THE END]----------------------
> 
> On Wed, 7 Dec 2005 billt-lxSQFCZeNF4 at public.gmane.org wrote:
> 
> > I'm probably the only one qualified to answer this so let me try.
> >
> > 1) GTALUG as an organization was incorporated in 2003 to carry on the management of the Toronto Linux Users Group (TLUG), to foster eductaion in linux, and promote linux and open source. The reason it isn't TLUG Inc. is because Toledo Linux Users Group officially owns the TLUG Inc. name in North America.
> >
> > 2) TLUG is the organization that existed prior to formal incorporation and is generally used to denote the meeting that happens at UofT once a month and this mailing list.
> >
> > 3) NewTlug is a second meeting orginally started to cater to new users, but has since become the User group for the suburbs. It is run by Herb Ricter who is also a member of the executive.
> >
> > 4) WestLug is third meeting started recently to cater to people that live in Mississauga. It is held at a bar (I don't know which one) near Dundas and Dixie I believe. William Park is one of the organizers, but he has mentioned other names that organize it as well.
> >
> > 5) Although not involved with GTALUG there is also a MeetUp group http://linux.meetup.com/22/ run by Dave Carlson a person that is on this list.
> >
> > There are several other linux groups that have come and gone in this city in the last decade or so, including Scarborough LUG and Etobicoke LUG.
> >
> > Lastly there are organizations in other cities that GTALUG has contact with, Hamilton LUG, Kitchener/Waterloo LUG, Newmarket LUG, and Barrie LUG.
> >
> > History
> > =======
> >
> > The incorporation started in 2000. At the time I was one of the people managing the club but was not involved with the incorporation. I became involved after about a dozen meetings of the incorporation committee. The incorporation was spearheaded by Clive Apps, Jan Carlson, and George (????). Many of the people complaining about it now were part of that orginal group.
> >
> > The Incorporation committee argued back and forth for several years and in 2002 we put in all the paperwork for incopration. A year later we had to resubmit the same paperwork because the lawyer we were using was less than competent.
> >
> > The incorporation was finally completed in June 2003 and myself, Edward Chin, and Don Rambajan became its first directors. The next year two more directors were added, Drew Sullivan and Gordon Chillcott pretty much by acclamation.
> >
> > September of this year we had our first election where, Edward, Don and I stepped down and Chris Browne, Seneca Cunningham, and William Park were elected.
> >
> > Presently the members of the board and several other people, myself included make up the excutive that helps organize the TLUG meetings downtown, the NewTlug meetings at Seneca and IBM, and the WestLug meeting in Mississauga, although these tend to be done by people that are on the board rather than a group effort. We also on many occasions make contacts with people in other LUGs, people in industry, and people in government on behalf of the club to foster outreach programs, provide advice, or do joint projects.
> >
> > Please remember that the people that ran TLUG before and after the incorporation haven't changed substantially. GTALUG is the formal organization.
> >
> > Generally the only major difference between the old organization and the new one is a fee of $20 a year collected for membership. The main complaint is asking what is the money to be used for. Presently the money is used for very little and is kept in a bank.
> >
> > Bill
> >
> > On Wed, Dec 07, 2005 at 05:37:38PM -0400, Tony Abou-Assaleh wrote:
> > > I am completely confused now about the differences and the similarities
> > > between TLUG and GTALUG. I only joined the community this Sept, coming
> > > from nSLUG (Nova Scotia).
> > >
> > > I somewhat see now that GTALUG is more of an official organization, while
> > > TLUG is plain vanilla LUG. However, the web site seem to suggest that the
> > > two are one and the same. I wouldn't have known that there was a
> > > difference if it wasn't for the the recent discussion on this list.
> > >
> > > Could someone with a better understanding of this issue update the wiki
> > > with a clarification? While I find the history behind TLUG/GTALUG
> > > interesting and useful, I think what is even more important for the
> > > current and prospective members is to understand the current state
> > > of these bodies (regardless of whether it is what it should be, just what
> > > is actually is). Thanks!
> > >
> > > TAA
> > >
> > > -----------------------------------------------------
> > > Tony Abou-Assaleh
> > > Lecturer, Computer Science Department
> > > Brock University, St. Catharines, ON, Canada, L2S 3A1
> > > Office: MC J215
> > > Tel:    +1(905)688-5550 ext. 5243
> > > Fax:    +1(905)688-3255
> > > Email:  taa-HInyCGIudOg at public.gmane.org
> > > WWW:    http://www.cosc.brocku.ca/~taa/
> > > ----------------------[THE END]----------------------
> > > --
> > > The Toronto Linux Users Group.      Meetings: http://tlug.ss.org
> > > TLUG requests: Linux topics, No HTML, wrap text below 80 columns
> > > How to UNSUBSCRIBE: http://tlug.ss.org/subscribe.shtml
> > --
> > The Toronto Linux Users Group.      Meetings: http://tlug.ss.org
> > TLUG requests: Linux topics, No HTML, wrap text below 80 columns
> > How to UNSUBSCRIBE: http://tlug.ss.org/subscribe.shtml
> >
> --
> The Toronto Linux Users Group.      Meetings: http://tlug.ss.org
> TLUG requests: Linux topics, No HTML, wrap text below 80 columns
> How to UNSUBSCRIBE: http://tlug.ss.org/subscribe.shtml
--
The Toronto Linux Users Group.      Meetings: http://tlug.ss.org
TLUG requests: Linux topics, No HTML, wrap text below 80 columns
How to UNSUBSCRIBE: http://tlug.ss.org/subscribe.shtml