(NOT!) BAD perceptual emphasis on ...

[Michael Paoli]

> From: GoOSSBears <acohen36 at linuxwaves.com>
> Subject: Re: Bay Area Debian (BAD) meeting 2012-05-09 Oakland  
> (rather near UDS) (Michael Paoli)
> Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2012 20:38:08 -0700

> With the Bay Area Debian group's perceptual emphasis on Ubuntu -- as

<soapbox>
It's a Debian group, not a Debian/Ubuntu or Ubuntu group.
So there may happen to be some overlap, maybe even some synergy, ... so
what, Ubuntu is a "large" / "major" distribution, and it's based upon
Debian.  And, as you also point out, there certainly are many other
distributions based upon Debian.  As matter of fact, there are more
Linux distributions based upon Debian than upon any other distribution,
so not surprising that one or more of them may be relatively "large",
"major", and/or popular/common, and that there might even be some
synergy(/ies) there.  And, while there certainly may be some overlap,
there are certainly a whole lot of us, that much prefer Debian :-)
If/when there happen to be major Linux / Open Source / etc. events
happening in the Bay Area that happen to fall on date, and around
typical timeframe for a BAD meeting - and sometimes also not-so-major
events/meetings (e.g. LinuxWorld, OpenSource World, UDS, Alameda County
Linux Journal Meetup, BAYLISA Monitoring SIG), I (and/or others) might
schedule/place BAD meeting such that they happen to be conveniently
close, as there commonly are at least some moderate or more number of
folks interested in attending both.  That doesn't change BAD meetings
into Ubuntu or Debian/Ubuntu or whatever meetings ... not that any
particular topics are "off-limits" at BAD meetings, but the discussions
are typically rather to quite informal - and I think generally/typically
involve a lot more discussion of/about Debian than non-Debian
distributions / operating systems.
And, if, e.g., we look at the March - May BAD meetings this year, we see
(and one might know / be a bit more familiar if one actually attends
these meetings)
March - was quite Debian-centric - it was the OS under discussion, with
negligible exception (some mentions of historic and other
considerations/factors) ... whole lot 'o detail related to that meeting
can be found here:
http://wiki.balug.org/wiki/doku.php?id=system:vicki_debian_lenny_to_squeeze
... and on that document I find Debian "outweighing" Ubuntu in mentions
at a 58:1 ratio.
... and that wiki page is on a Debian VM (qemu-kvm) atop a Debian host.
April - was definitely a BAD meeting - there was also, close in time and
geography, a preceding "Ubuntu Hour", but quite different events,
separate times, and places, and separate (but somewhat overlapping) set
of attendees to both (in fact, there were some at the "Ubuntu Hour", but
not the BAD meeting, and vice versa, and also some that went to both -
fairly typical - again, distinct events).
May - it's a BAD meeting - it's "far enough away" that it's unlikely any
UDS folks will be at the BAD meeting *unless* they happen to also be
interested in attending a BAD meeting (and "close enough" so attending
both is quite feasible).  And I quite specifically stated/worded things
in the ANNOUNCEMENT, so the dinner bit is the BAD meeting.  The
keysigning isn't the BAD meeting or, in any "official" way, part of the
BAD meeting - but folks are quite welcome to the keysigning if they want
to (also) do that (and at least thus far, the keysigning isn't any kind
of official UDS event either, at least as far as I know).

And, "of course" (shotgun rules!), if one doesn't like when/where/how
BAD meetings are called, well, call one of your own!  :-)
(notwithstanding the mandatory bits, e.g. 2nd W, and "Bay Area"
location).
</soapbox>

March: http://bad.debian.net/list/2012-March/003485.html
April: http://bad.debian.net/list/2012-April/003489.html
May:   http://bad.debian.net/list/2012-April/003491.html
        :%s/keysinging/keysigning/g
        http://bad.debian.net/list/2012-April/003492.html
http://bad.debian.net/shotgun_rules.txt

> evidenced by the contents of just this snipper alone -- I'm wondering
> why a more accurately revised name shouldn't be the Bay Area
> UBUNTU/Debian group, i.e., BAUD??
>
> IIRC,
> 1) There ARE popular forms of Debian rather than solely Ubuntu, e.g.,
> the parent distro Debian GNU/Linux and its various forms (Stable,
> Testing, Experimental), Crunchbang Linux, Bodhi Linux, Linux Mint,
> ... etcetera.

And if/when Crunchbang Linux, Bodhi Linux, or Linux Mint, etc. has a
major (or perhaps even not-so-major) event in the Bay Area on the 2nd
Wednesday of the month where such is feasible for BAD meeting to also
be close and (mostly) non-conflicting, again, I and/or others might
call BAD meeting to facilitate interested folks being able to feasibly
attend both.

> 2) The Ubuntu California team DOES host its occasional 2nd Wednesday
> of the month Ubuntu hour for Ubuntu aficionados.

> 4) The very same day of the above-proposed "Debian" meeting, on May
It's not merely "proposed" - per shotgun rules it *is*, notwithstanding
any exceptions allowable per shotgun rules (e.g. venue burns down and
relocates to another nearby restaurant, with appropriate redirection per
shotgun rules).
> 9th, the Ubuntu California team is planning its OWN Ubuntu-related
> event for UDS'ers (see
> http://loco.ubuntu.com/events/ubuntu-california/1619/detail/ ).
Yup, so what?  UDS "officially" runs until 6p that evening.
Nothing prevents UDS and/or Ubuntu California loco folks from planning
stuff after 6pm that may and/or may not at all involve BAD.
> Again, the point I'm making is that there seems to be an emphasis on
> the _UBUNTU_ form of Debian within announcements such as this May 9th
It's not a form, it's a derivative.
> BA"D" meeting, and therefore the name of this group (I propose BAUD
> here) might do well to more accurately portray this emphasis.
Perhaps some might think/believe/presume there's some kind of "emphasis
on Ubuntu", but I don't see it or consider it to be such.  I think it's
mostly much more a matter of occasionally and/or perhaps even
semi-regularly, placing BAD meetings where they might be convenient to
possibly (semi-)related events/meetings when they in fact happen to
match up to BAD meeting dates and (Bay Area) location.

Again, if you don't like the way BAD meetings have been done - shotgun
rules - call your own!  :-)  Don't just gripe about it.  ;->