meeting this month?

[Evan Prodromou]

>>>>> "BP" == Ben Pfaff <blp@cs.stanford.edu> writes:

    BP> Are we going to have a meeting this month?  We didn't have one
    BP> last month AFAIK.  Who wants to open the bidding for time and
    BP> location?

OK, so, it's apparent that everyone has forgotten the shotgun rules
for B.A.D. meetings. I will now repost them, as a reminder to everyone
as to how the meetings work:

SHOTGUN RULES OF B.A.D. MEETINGS

RULE 1: Each month, the B.A.D. meeting will be on the 2nd Wednesday of
     the month.

RULE 2: Determination for the location for the B.A.D. meeting is like
     calling shotgun for the front passenger car seat. Whoever calls
     the location first, wins, and that's where B.A.D. is going to be,
     period. In case of close calls, "first" is determined by date
     received by the list server machine, and ties go to the runner.

RULE 3: A meeting announcement must be posted by email to the
     B.A.D. list, with the word "ANNOUNCEMENT" in the Subject
     header. It must define a time, a location (with address and/or
     directions by car and public transportation), and use the
     declarative voice ("We are going to..." not "Would you guys like
     to go to...?"). It should not be sent before the previous month's
     meeting has happened (or should have happened).

RULE 4: If you make the announcement, you have to go, you have to be
     on time and preferably early, and you have to make a little sign
     that says "Debian" or "B.A.D." so people know where they're
     supposed to sit. It would be nice if you organized an OpenPGP
     key-signing, but you don't have to.

RULE 5: The preferred region for the event will rotate each month to
     one of three areas: the South Bay, the East Bay, and San
     Francisco.  Rotation starts with the South Bay in March of 2002
     and goes from there, in order.

     As a courtesy, no announcement in an area outside the preferred
     region should be posted before the 1st Wednesday of the month. If
     no announcement in the preferred region is posted by the 1st
     Wednesday, all bets are off and any announcement will work.

RULE 6: If no one makes an announcement, the meeting will not
     happen. If nobody cares enough to take responsibility and make an
     announcement, and everyone minces around with do-you-think's and
     what-about-this's, we are weak and cowardly and do not deserve
     the title of Free Men and Women, much less a lovely meeting
     together. 
 
RULE 7: Nobody is making you go to B.A.D. meetings. Your dialysis
     machine is not at the B.A.D. meeting. You are not a robot of the
     future who will be stuck in our dimension forever if you don't
     attend the B.A.D. meeting.

     If, for some reason, you cannot make it to the B.A.D. meeting, or
     you don't like where it's being held, or Chinese food gives you
     an upset tummy, then Don't Go, and M-x diary a reminder to
     yourself to take some initiative and make the next month's
     announcement.

That's it. 7 simple rules. The Date Rule, the Shotgun Rule, the Email
Rule, the Organizer Rule, the Courtesy Rule, the Have a Spine Rule,
and the Take Your Lumps Rule.

Now, as another reminder, here's the non-binding part. 

* Good locations for a B.A.D. meeting will have:

     * Food
     * Cheap food
     * Good food
     * Alcoholic beverages
     * Non-alcoholic beverages
     * Access for minors and people under 21
     * Separate checks
     * Seats for 10-30 people
     * Room to push tables together, or pull them apart
     * Forgiveness for people coming and leaving at will
     * Something for vegetarians to eat
     * Something for carnivores to eat
     * Enough quiet that we can talk
     * Enough loudness that we're not a big distraction
     * Enough light that we can see the network diagrams we're drawing
       on the backs of napkins
     * Access by public transportation
     * Access by car
     * Nearby parking
     * Easy directions

  Obviously, there's no requirement that every location have all these
  things, and most locations won't. And you are the sole determiner of
  where everyone goes: you can call the meeting for a XXX movie
  theater or your own home or a cardboard box under the freeway. But
  it'd be nice to meet these goals.

* Restaurants and cafes that have been historically supportive of Free
  Software and Free Software groups deserve our business and dollars.

* A good time is late enough that people can get off work and drive or
  ride from their region to the region the meeting is in, and not so
  late that the place is going to close, or people have to go home for
  sleep. Think 7-8PM.

* If you think you know a good place to go, announce it. If you don't,
  shut up. When people post do-you-think's and what-about-this's, it
  clouds the waters and everyone gets confused. So don't do that.

* If for some reason you are far outside the preferred regions of the
  rotation, you should think about starting an offshoot group and
  having separate meetings.

* A good meeting attendee will bring money for their share of food and
  drink if they can. If they can't, they will keep their grubby mitts
  off the food and drink. They will also be prepared to participate in
  an OpenPGP key-signing party, bringing their key signature and some
  ID. If they share from common food or drink (such as pizzas or fries
  or pitchers of beer), they will get up and get another pizza or
  basket of fries or pitcher or whatever when the current one runs out.
  They will chip in for what they ate, and pay for what they ordered,
  and remember the tip, and round up rather than down.

* A sample announcement email would look like this:

  ---8<---
  From: Evan Prodromou <evan@debian.org>
  To: bad@bad.debian.net
  Subject: ANNOUNCEMENT: B.A.D. Meeting For April 2002
  Date: 24 Mar 2002 08:31:11 -0800

  The B.A.D. meeting for this month will be held at Munster's Pizza
  Parlor on April 10th, 2002 at 1313 Mockingbird Lane in Berkeley at
  7:30PM.

  Munster's is at the corner of Mockingbird and Yourtown Street on the
  Number 17 AC Transit line. It is a 2 block walk from the Northside
  BART station.

  I will be organizing a key-signing. If you want to participate,
  please send me your OpenPGP public key by noon on April 10th.

  See you there,

  ~ESP
  ---8<---

  Note that this message projects authority, it has all important
  information, and it does not use a question mark anywhere in the
  message or subject line.

* There is no shame in announcing the meeting for someplace that
  B.A.D. has already been before. Heck: if it was good enough before,
  it's probably good enough now.

* If you make an announcement, it's entirely possible that NO ONE will
  come, and you will be left lonely and afraid, standing naked in the
  rain while all of the people you have ever had secret crushes on
  point at you and laugh and laugh and fire ants crawl on your legs
  and chomp your skin.

  If you are prepared for this, any other outcome will be icing on the
  cake.

  If you are not prepared for this, and you send a vituperative and
  bitter email to the B.A.D. list on the Thursday After, you will come
  off like a fool, and you will have capped your disastrous event with
  a bitter and ugly conclusion. This is not smart, so don't do that.

There we go! All the info needed, and more. Good luck, folks.

~ESP

-- 
Evan Prodromou
evan@debian.org