TLUG's value to community ???

[John Macdonald]

On Sun, Jul 10, 2005 at 04:55:34PM -0400, Christopher Browne wrote:
> On 7/10/05, John Macdonald <john-Z7w/En0MP3xWk0Htik3J/w at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> > But this whole discussion is about the fact that TLUG has
> > not issued a charter to GTALUG to manage this group and is
> > asking to be conviced that there is value in your so doing.
> > TLUG has been getting along just fine without being managed.
> 
> Sure, it has.
> 
> TLUG *is* Drew Sullivan, more than anything else that you can formally look at.
> 
> Who owns the web server?  Drew.
> Who owns the mail server?  Drew.
> Who controls the (rather complex) configuration of the mail server?  Drew.
> 
> I can't see convincing arguments that point at any other nexus.

OK, let me see if I understand what you are syaing here.

    One person has provided all of the useful services for
    a valuable and thriving group.  Since this is just one
    person, he is an autocrat.  So it is imperative to create
    a different organization under the control of a few of the
    members of the original group to take over control of the
    entire group.

I don't agree.  A volunteer group is always run on the backs of
a very small number of people, often one person.  The issue is
not whether one person as the power to carry out autocratic
actions, but whether the actions they carry out generally
provide useful value for the member with none of the actions
being unacceptable.  I haven't heard of any complaints about the
actions taken by Drew.  The only objectionable action I heard of
is the idea of shutting down the tlug mailing list and requiring
people to acknowledge the new cabal to join a replacement.

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