To 2600 or not to 2600.....

[Brandon Tice]

All,

I'm not sure how many people are on this list that currently attend or have attended the 901 2600 group meetings, but I'd like to pitch something to see what everyone thinks about it.  Basically, since Greg and I met back in 2002-2003 or so in efforts to re-spawn the group, attendance has fluctuated but never more than a small handful of people regularly attend.  And while I enjoy the company of the few (and I emphasize few) of you that I see at the meetings, I really had more in mind when pairing up with Greg to kick this off again.

I can't speak for Greg, but I envisioned a larger group of like-minded technology enthusiasts that enjoyed learning how things worked and how to modify said things to make them better.  I believe we have that, I just thought there would be a larger group 7+ years later.  We have seen many people stop in to see what we are all about, but many of those people never returned more than once, if at all.  I would attribute that partly to the lack of structure/content, and also to the low attendance.  However, as we've pointed out in the past, if all of the stragglers that stopped in here and there were to all come back at once, we'd have quite a sizeable group.

I have been told by random people that there is a certain stigma that comes along with the 2600 name.  People assume that its a bunch of maladjusted adolescents conspiring to h4ck t3h p14n3t, commit crimes, or otherwise hang around spreading lameness.  This is obviously not the case with our group, and I believe that there are many more people out there who would enjoy and benefit from a group such as ours, as we would benefit from them.

I personally don't care what this little group is labeled as.  I've seen remarks on hacker-esque forums that speak out against Emmanuel Goldstein and the idea of his organization.  I don't give a crap about him myself nor the magazine.  I honestly haven't even bought it or read it in quite some time.  

So I guess the point of my little rant is to ask for ideas or to fish for interest in doing something to revitalize this group.  I have noticed a big increase in the number of Defcon chapters, or "DC" groups.  They seem to be catching on quite a bit.  Do we think we'd get a better response from such a label?  I just think there is a better way to market this type of group.

The GOLUM guys only focus on Linux and they had something like 35 attendees at their first meeting in years.  Of course, they have structure and that is appealing to a lot of people.  The Memphis Makers guys also seem to have a good thing going.  Does anyone have any ideas for us?  Or is this type of group destined for ~5 person meetings?

--
-Brandon

[Brad W.]

Just roll them into one. I think 2600/Defcon meets would go hand in hand. 

[Joe Ferguson]

A lot of Hackerspaces that Midsouth Makers is trying to model itself after say that if you don't have a space then try to meet as often as you can, so you can keep the buzz going about the group and people don't miss a lot of they miss a meeting. If someone misses a 2600 meeting they won't have another chance to meet for another 4 weeks or more sometimes. I've been to just about every 2600 meeting since March or April, and it's definitely a varying number that show. Maybe the 2600 group should try to meet weekly every week or every two weeks just to try to keep the interest going in the group? I'd definitely like to see more involvement with the group since the few of you I've been able to meet and talk to have been really great.

--
- Joe Ferguson
http://www.midsouthmakers.org

On Tue, Aug 31, 2010 at 4:41 PM, Brandon Tice <brand...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Brandon Tice]

Oh I agree.  The idea is to keep the core group and common mindesets, just find a new way to market it to the masses in efforts to increase interest and attendance.

--
-Brandon

[James Ruffer]

I would attend or be more part of the group, if the group did something.  I like most of you and if I wanted to hang out I would just pick up the phone and ask you out for a beer.  If there were something we were doing on a monthly basis then I would make more of an effort to come.  Right not it just seams like a get together of geeks to do nothing...lets pick a project like figure out how to hack Jasons Deli CC system.

Thank you for your time.

C|EH
1.312.238.8571  Mobile

On Tue, Aug 31, 2010 at 4:41 PM, Brandon Tice <brand...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Dan Hess]

I've been coming to the meetings since I heard about 2600 (which was only just this March), but I must say that it has at times been rather disappointing.  I think in large it is due to the reasoning that James and Joe have pointed out.  It is so few and far between and there is nothing going on.

Even though I'm primarily involved with the Makers and founding that, I would love to come to 2600 and see more happening.  Structured, unstructured, I don't know if that is vital for people to actually do things, but I do know that if you have structure you can know that things are happening and get them moving.  What does the Nashville 2600 and Huntsville 2600 do?  I know both are reasonably well involved with their local hackerspaces but that's really all I know about them.

I guess mostly what I'm getting at is that the other cities I've seen that are successful have structure enough that people are planning and doing things.  If no one is willing to herd some cats then nothing constructive on a visible scale is going to be apparent.  It's my personal vote that Memphis not sit on the sidelines and watch other cities around us improve, develop, and get the things we also want.

Thanks,
Daniel

- Copying one is plagiarism, copying many is research.

[Joseph Bielli]

Personally I have enjoyed coming out (on and off) over the past year and a half, but as Brandon mentioned, the lack of content/general technology interest/show and tell has been pretty tiresome.  I've tried to bring a few crappy things to the table now and then and Greg constantly has a nifty flow of gadgets and such, but the meetings generally seem to be about a couple people sitting around drinking coffee who just happen to be interested in or talking about relatively basic computer stuff, cool websites or whatever, which is kind of common for those of us who already work in IT fields.  Things would probably be more interesting if alot more people showed up as some have suggested.  I know i'm guilty of poor attendance, so I'm not the answer :)

This is the kind of time I would much rather spend drinking beer with all of you or riding go-karts, or both. 

It's also a bit of a drive to head out for a 6:00pm meeting that sometimes ends at 7:00pm when everyone leaves to the Makers.  While I do see plenty of opportunities where both groups dovetail interests, this still kind of miffed me because I felt 2600 members were being poached - I know that's not the intention at all, but it really stinks when everyone leaves at 7 (but hey, maybe we're less interesting) :-).  I've been meaning to show up to a Makers meeting on a Friday (other than 2600 Friday) to show support, but I just haven't had a chance to make it out yet.

Who knows, maybe a hackerspace for Memphis could fix alot of this.

Anyway, I hope none of my stuff came across harsh, because thats not the intention.  2600 just really hasn't been all that fun for me to justify heading out there often.  Maybe if we had people rotating stuff to present now and then or I knew there was something to look forward to on a given meeting night I'd be more inclined to take time away from work/wife/study, etc.  I'm guilty as the next guy for not pushing for more meeting content, I know.

I wish I could have gone tonight but I have prior plans :(  Seems like a good time to talk about how to make things more interesting.

Joe

[Ryan Anderson]

I think someone beat us to it... unless that was the joke, in which
case I'm just slow.

[Daniel Hess]

Well I would say about the content of any meeting is what you bring to it, but is the purpose of 2600 (or this group) to only benefit the elite of the technical world or is it to help educate those who have a desire to learn? If people want to bring something to discuss to a gathering then I would assume that is because it is of interest to their level of ability. Why not help them learn more and eventually they will get to the things that are of interest to both sides. I know there are tons of things that you guys talk about that I'm only vaguely familiar with and would be ecstatic to know more.  Just my two cents on it. We experience a lot of the same issue in our judo and karate class. 

As for the 2600 members being poached, there have been those who've wanted to do just that. They wanted to essentially try and take over the 2600 and encompass it into the makers. Granted there are a lot of points where two overlap, but there is also a very distinct difference between them. When the makers first came to the 2600 it was not so much to steal the members as it was to get the help of the 2600 to form something that was of a common interest to both. That being said, we moved to another location partly to preserve the identity of the 2600. And now those of us from the makers that continue to come to the monthly meeting, show because we hope that the 901 2600 will become more. I also think that a large part of the issue is that the meetings are on the same night. I bet if that were not the case that would never have been the feeling of the makers attendance. Also please do not misconstrue this as aggravated defense. I merely wanted to try and help put a few things in perspective.

From the sounds of it though everyone simply wants more of the group, but that's a catch 22. You've got to have people doing things (taking the good with the bad) to have something going on. It's the same situation with the current progress of the hackerspace, we need people to have a space, but no one wants to contribute until we have a space. We all have to decide how badly we want it and do what is necessary to make that happen. 

Daniel

Sent from my iPhone

[Daniel Hess]

Alcohol and projects are always a good thing. As I was told by the 2600 and hackerspace guys in Atlanta, "alcohol binds."

Daniel
Sent from my iPhone

[josh summitt]

I've only been to like three meetings but ill throw in my 2 cents. I
like the idea of a set of projects and then break into smaller groups
to do the research or development and then present the findings or
progress of the groups at the following meetings.

Also putting together some kind of capture the flag stuff like they do
at defcon would be fun to. Its these kind of things that give people
the opportunity to participate or watch and either way your able to
learn new things and feel like your part of something.

The biggest thing IMHO is about building a real community here and
this requires a common goal(s), getting people involved, and some sort
of direction for the future. Every meeting I attended was basically
showing off a toy which, sometimes interesting, did not seem
productive and not a consorted group effort. We should be
collectively trying out innovative ideas, being creative, and testing
things that have not necessarily been done before. I think this will
make it more inspiring to people, help sharpen their skills, and
ultimately get people coming back.

As an initial goal we could even work toward taking the results of a
project and presenting next year at defcon/blackhat/shmoo or something
similar.

Anyway. Haha don't know what anyone else thinks but that's the kind of
thing I'd like to get involved in. :)

Sent from my iPhone

[Josh Burnwatt]

I've discussed it with some of the 2600 guys that I see regularly and
I think a possible reboot would maybe help the group, especially with
the growing trend of DC chapters popping up all over the place. We've
seen quite a few people come and go, and I think the reason why is
that new people will show up, see 4-5 people just sitting around
chilling, and then leave. A lot of the people that may have been put
off by that most likely won't give 901.2600 a chance even if we
restructured it a bit. A "rebranding" along with a little more
structure and a bit of advertising and we could gather quite a
following. I've never had a problem with the current format but since
I've been going I've longed to actually walk away from a meeting
learning something new. I think if a core group of members got
together and started to discuss this we could turn this from a
friendly get together to a forum for the technology enthusiast.

[James Ruffer]

How about a project?  Why not do something that will engage us all?  This way it is not just a once a month thing?

Thank you for your time.

C|EH
1.312.238.8571  Mobile

[Josh Burnwatt]

I suggest that we go over the changes next Friday when all of us can get together. 

[Bass Cadet]

How far we've come

[josh summitt]

wow, this was interesting showing up on my inbox... the last group message was around 2010! 

Thanks
Josh

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