Stepping Down

[Jason Green-Lowe]

Hi everyone,

On the rare occasions when people have asked, I've mentioned that I see myself not so much as a leader of San Francisco's Less Wrong community, and more of an 'initializer.' All I was really doing was declaring meetups every so often and pledging to be there, to see if that got the ball rolling. I originally thought that I'd have two other people helping me to get the group started, and I'd hoped that more people might show up and take an interest in hosting or declaring events as time went on.

Well, both of the other would-be organizers have been mostly silent, and nobody else has so much as brainstormed ideas that they might want to get involved in helping to turn into events. Initialization has failed to set off any kind of dramatic chain reaction; a handful of people show up if and when I post, and otherwise the list and the city are silent. I think that San Francisco probably has some potential to host its own Less Wrong chapter with the right leader, but I am not that leader. I need to spend the vast majority of my creative energy on kickstarting my struggling law firm, or I will cease to be part of the San Francisco Less Wrong community by way of being evicted from San Francisco for failure to pay rent.

Thus, I'm stepping down, even from my limited role as an initializer. If you have any questions or want help or advice, please ask, and I will be happy to share. If anyone wants to take over active leadership, I will be happy to play a supporting role. From time to time I will probably invite all of you to join me for surfing or board games. These will not be official LW events, although anyone interested in LW is welcome to come if they shoot me an e-mail first. I will also be inviting other friends from other communities to these same events.

Encouraging words are kind, but words alone are unlikely to sway me -- to want to stay on as a facilitator, I would need concrete help in the form of guaranteed attendance and event planning, and not just moral support.

That's about it! Choose wisely, and be well.

~Jason

[Nisan Stiennon]

Jason

I really appreciate your efforts in getting a San Francisco meetup started.

I'm afraid I don't have the time or resources to organize events in San Francisco. I can only commit to attending meetups most of the time.

Does anyone else have any ideas for the future of lw-sf?

-Nisan

[Ben Gutierrez]

Jason,

I'd also like to thank you for your efforts and initializing the
meetups here in the city. The very best of luck to you with your law
firm.

This is probably as good a time as any to introduce myself. I joined
this list about a month ago, but with a new baby in the house, I have
to justify spending time away from home. I've just been lurking until
now.

Is there anyone else near the downtown area that would be interested
in little lunch meetups during the week? I'd love to meet some other
Less Wrong readers and chat about nothing in particular over pizza or
sandwiches.

Ben

[Andrew Kisielius]

I've also just joined recently, as I'm new to SF. I could make lunch meet-ups downtown this week only; otherwise it's evenings and weekends for me.

Given my newness I'm hesitant to volunteer myself too heavily, but I think I can handle some occasional logistics. Is the regular Tuesday meet-up still a thing?

Cheers,
Andrew