Commission to Reform WPLUG

The Commission to Reform WPLUG (CRW) is an informal group created to draft proposals that fix long-standing problems in WPLUG. It was created on December 9, 2012.

Purpose

WPLUG is struggling to compete against other technology groups. CRW's purpose is to expedite the reform process so that WPLUG can become competitive again as soon as possible:

• Update the bylaws
• Chart a new direction for WPLUG
• Explore ways to make WPLUG less formal/political
• Bring WPLUG's resources up to par with current technological standards

Operation

CRW has no membership requirements. If you decide to join, add your name to the membership list on this page.

Each month, CRW gathers its best ideas into a "reform package" that is formally proposed during the following month's WPLUG general user meeting. Ideas can be proposed or voted on at any time, but it is recommended to propose ideas outside of meetings and vote on them during the meetings so that people have time to think before they vote.

If an idea is approved by a majority of CRW members, it will be added to the current reform package.

Since CRW is not an official WPLUG organization, it doesn't receive official funding and is not governed by the WPLUG bylaws. Members are encouraged to apply the same "free and flexible" mindset to their deliberations: check your preconceptions at the door, be open-minded, and support the best ideas to reform WPLUG. Everyone who wants to present ideas will have an equal opportunity to do so.

Members

• Justin Smith
• Terry Golightly
• Pat Barron
• Vance Kochenderfer
• Joseph Prostko

Meeting Logs

Saturday, December 15

Thursday, December 20

Upcoming Meetings

None at this time

Reform Package History

CRW Discussion Archives

CRW Reform Packages

Reform Package 1: Bylaw changes, presented at January 2013 GUM.

Reform Package 2: WPLUG's general direction, to be presented at February 2013 GUM.

Reform Package 2 Ideas

Justin Smith 1/20

I wasn't able to complete the CRW survey in time for January's GUM, but I will have it done by Monday. I'd like to present its results at the February GUM, either as a running tally (we still leave the survey open for a little while longer) or the final totals.

While most of our "general direction" planning will have to wait until we've seen the survey results, there are a few items we can still take action on in the mean time:

• Using a project management tool so that we don't forget about stuff. Pat recommends using | Trello, which is the virtual equivalent of a corkboard with post-it notes. Trello isn't free (as in freedom) software, but it is extremely simple and, I think, effective. It as a very nice Android app.

• Should the Internet Committee be responsible for going through the wiki every so often and archiving old content? If not, how else should we deal with outdated pages? We can't let them continue to accumulate. If someone clicked on the LiveCD link on the main page, for instance, he'd see that it hasn't been updated since 2007. Problems like that make us looks really bad.

Terry proposed seeing if we could use some sort of script to automatically archive content. I still think a "human touch" is necessary; therefore, I think that a script of that sort should simply produce a list of everything that needs reviewed. It's entirely possible that old pages can be refurbished and used again.

• Is there any possible way we could accept online payments for dues? I know it's been brought up before, but this is important enough to merit another look.

• What can we do to persuade more people to join WPLUG as dues-paying members?