Re: [bahaskell] Digest for bahaskell@googlegroups.com - 6 Messages in 3 Topics

[Abram]

Hi, I'm a new member of this email group, and have only attended one meeting so far (moved down to SF 3 months ago). I would like to make it a habit to attend meetings.

However, this email list definitely has way too much volume for me, and I don't see an obvious official calendar. I hope I'm not being rude, but I'd rather not participate in planning who's talking, scheduling details, figuring out where to hold it, etc... I just want to show up :).

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[Greg Weber]

moving to meetup.com might help out on that front and also give the group more visibility

[Max Cantor]

+1 on meetup.com

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[Dan Krol]

As long as there's a link from here or something. I feel like meetup.com may not be the obvious place for newcomers to look for a tech group. Then again that may be my regional bias coming from Chicago.

[Max Cantor]

coming from chicago, does that mean you'd prefer groupon?

</burn>

[Dan Krol]

Yeah, I could totally go for a group discount on a Haskell meetup!

[Steve Severance]

Actually we have a meetup. It just does not appear to be updated.

http://www.meetup.com/The-SF-Haskell-Meetup/

[Benedict Gaster]

I have to say it would be really helpful to have a calendar. For now can someone provide the time and place for next months meeting.

Thanks,

Ben

[Arthur Chan]

We only have a meetup once a month though, and it's always the third Wednesday. If you had to have a calendar in order to have an informal meetup, it would kind of kill the whole idea of just getting it together a few days before.

best,

Arthur

[Bob Ippolito]

If the location ever changes, knowing the date isn't sufficient to attend the meeting. Is that kind of detail about the meeting regularly published somewhere other than the mailing list?

-bob

[Arthur Chan]

that's a good point Bob. is there a concept of a shared google calendar?

-arthur

[Dan Krol]

Yeah you can create a calendar and designate others who can edit it.

[Zaki Manian]

We could create a Google Plus/Facebook page for Bahaskell and then create Facebook/G+ event where we invite everyone who has Liked/Circled the page.

This would a be essentially a free way to recreate the core Meetups.com functionality.

[Ian Zimmerman]

Arthur> that's a good point Bob. is there a concept of a shared google
Arthur> calendar?

There probably is, but please do not rely on it. I have only just
reduced my dependence on google and I don't want to be forced back into
it.

I don't see what is wrong with keeping the meetup.com page up to date.
If nobody has the time or energy to do that why would google calendar
work better?

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[Zaki Manian]

The primary issue with Meetup is that it costs $19 -$12 a month to maintain a group.

If you use a wide range Meetup services like their payment mechanism, it is great value. But it seems like a poor value when Facebook and Google provide free Events.

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[Bob Ippolito]

On Mon, Sep 24, 2012 at 12:11 PM, Ian Zimmerman <i...@buug.org> wrote:

Arthur> that's a good point Bob. is there a concept of a shared google
Arthur> calendar?

There probably is, but please do not rely on it.  I have only just
reduced my dependence on google and I don't want to be forced back into
it.

I don't see what is wrong with keeping the meetup.com page up to date.
If nobody has the time or energy to do that why would google calendar
work better?

I like the idea of just using a calendar, because there's always some minority that refuses to use (or infrequently uses) social networks. I believe if it's a public Google Calendar the iCalendar feed URL can be subscribed to pretty easily regardless of what the person prefers (e.g. Google Calendar, iCal, Outlook, etc.). Unless you were administering the calendar, you wouldn't have to use Google Calendar beyond the machine readable URL that they would publish. There are other options for publishing an iCalendar feed too.

I find using meetup.com to be a hassle, although I'd be willing to use it for this.

-bob

 

[Arthur Chan]

Well I can sympathize with both Ian and the meetup-dislikers.

It's kind of irritating that all of these social networks (and now Google too) try their damned hardest to corral you into "their" pen of data. Meetup just seems less offensive because they've ostensibly built a model that is organizer-focused, and does not appear to see your data to advertisers. With Meetup, "we" (i.e. the members) are the products, and the organizers are the "buyers."

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[Archontophoenix Quar]

I'd vote for meetup.com, since I use it a lot, and have a hard time
noticing meetings that aren't on it.

I'd assume the cost is not really an issue if the group already exists.

A

On Mon, Sep 24, 2012 at 12:16 PM, Bob Ippolito <b...@redivi.com> wrote:
>
>

[Ivan Tarasov]

Thank you everyone for your input!

I'm surprised there's already a meetup.com page for our group: I remember someone suggested something like this before, but I wasn't aware someone has actually created it (I also wonder who's paying for it; also, it's improperly named :-) ).

For me as an organizer meetup.com is a fine solution, except that I'd have to pay $12/mo (or more) just to have the announcement emails and a calendar. It's more than it seems to be worth putting into it, especially since we skip meetings from time to time. Also, I really don't want to be passing the burden of paying for the meetup.com (or any similar solution) to those who come to our meetings, the meetings should be free.

If everyone is fine with a public Google Calendar and people can subscribe to it without Google credentials, I'd prefer that as a solution.

Regarding our meetings schedule and location: usually we meet on the third Wednesday of every month at 7pm. We used to have a venue for our meetings that we could use every month, unfortunately that is gone. I'm looking for possible places right now, and some are being offered, but I haven't made any decision yet for our next meeting.

Cheers,
Ivan

[Ian Zimmerman]

Ivan> If everyone is fine with a public Google Calendar and people can
Ivan> subscribe to it without Google credentials, I'd prefer that as a
Ivan> solution.

OK. Please post instructions on how to connect to it when it is up.

[Mark Erdmann]

Hi,

As the creator of the meetup.com group, I believe I can shed some light on this!

I originally created it when I couldn't find a Haskell meetup group on meetup.com. At the time I didn't know that BAHUG existed. When I learned about BAHUG at the first "SF Haskell Meetup", I switched to just reposting the announcement emails from Ivan. I haven't been very consistent, unfortunately. The current settings of the meetup group allow anyone to create a new meetup, though, so everyone please feel free to do that if I've forgotten to post Ivan's email! :-) It does cost some money to keep the meetup.com page active, but I'm happy to pay for that out of my own pocket. My hope is just that when people like me search for a Haskell group on meetup.com, having this page will make it easier for them to discover BAHUG.

-Mark

[Ivan Tarasov]

I created a calendar on Google (XML, ICS, HTML), and I have ensured that it works without any google acount by curling the xml/ics. Now the hard part is to remember to update it at the same time I send out the announcements.

Ivan

[Greg Weber]

Since we have someone willing to pay for the meetup group (thanks Mark!) now it would be nice to reconsider using it.

I use google calendar a little bit. I don't know how to add this calendar to it.

On meetup I get an e-mail announcing each meetup. If I RSVP for the meetup then a few days before a meetup I get an e-mail reminding me about it.

[Ian Zimmerman]

Greg> Since we have someone willing to pay for the meetup group (thanks
Greg> Mark!) now it would be nice to reconsider using it.

Greg> I use google calendar a little bit. I don't know how to add this
Greg> calendar to it. On meetup I get an e-mail announcing each
Greg> meetup. If I RSVP for the meetup then a few days before a meetup I
Greg> get an e-mail reminding me about it.

Mark wrote that anyone can create a new meetup, so I guess it is up to
us to keep it current.

[Bob Ippolito]

It's pretty straightforward, just click the HTML link and use the "+ Google Calendar" button in the bottom-right. To add it from the iCalendar link you go to "Other calendars" and then "Add by URL" and paste the ICS URL in.

The calendar is not going to directly help with RSVP or reminders, but you should be able to set you own reminders with your google calendar.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/bahaskell/-/K3XpcQJWbkwJ.

[Ivan Tarasov]

Greg,

I don't mind someone having the meetup.com group and posting the announcements there as well (although I'd prefer it to be properly named), however I don't want to rely on it, nor do I want to be managing the announcements at yet another place. Also, as I mentioned, I don't like the idea of someone paying for the service that we mostly won't be using, since it's covered by other services, and since our meetings are that sparse; Mark may be fine paying for it now, but it is his voluntary decision, and I don't want to put any pressure on him, so that he continues doing so.

As was already mentioned, it's easy to add this calendar to your Google Calendar if you use it (just follow the HTML link), or some other calendar software/service by using the ICS/XML.

Cheers,
Ivan

On Tue, Sep 25, 2012 at 6:49 AM, Greg Weber <gr...@gregweber.info> wrote:

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/bahaskell/-/K3XpcQJWbkwJ.

[Mark Erdmann]

Hi Everyone,

What Ivan said sounds reasonable to me. I've updated the meetup.com group name to "Bay Area Haskell Users Group" to lessen the confusion, and I've also updated the description to explain that it's simply a meetup.com mirror for BAHUG which rebroadcasts meetup announcements made on the mailing list. I've also included links in the description to the Google Calendar and the Google Group.

-Mark