Start a computer club in the place that you live (2023)

In talking about how they manage to keep it so drama / toxicity free with other alums all we can ever really do is speculate. But people being asked to leave seems to be very rare so we've often concluded it must be in the admissions process. Admissions interviews sound like they are very different experiences for different people but I know that in mine at least there were moments where I could have responded with toxic behavior but didn't. At the very least it seems like any pair programming interview gives ample opportunities to accidentally violate those rules so they might be naturally selecting folks who already organically follow those rules rather than having to artificially conform to them. All speculative though who knows.

Anyway to actually answer your question I think that unfortunately asking people to leave is the mechanism by which they enforce those rules after a few attempts to course correct. I believe I heard stories about that happening but didn't witness it personally and it seemed clear that they weren't interested in broadcasting those instances to the larger community.

Overall, not arguing over the minutia of the rules probably is the best way to do this. I liked the way ggerganov just ended the anti-jt PR drama that started on llama.cpp by banning both participants. Sometimes if you just stop things, they go somewhere else and that's life.

Any public school teacher should have some good advice on this one. Clubs have a lot more leeway on solutions!

> The best rule of thumb is, if you’re not sure whether something needs to be said right now, hold off and see what happens. You can always say it later if it turns out there’s no way for the conversation to move forward without your correction.

From the context, it sounds like it's not so much about "don't correct people" as much as it's about "don't uselessly correct someone to showcase your own knowledge and not advance the conversation".

> A well-actually is when you correct someone about something that’s not relevant to the conversation or tangential to what they’re trying to say.

So, as long as the conversation is about the colour of the sky, (or about green things) you can just answer it.

Sort of. We work pretty closely with the nearest makerspace and have a thing where we will split membership fees of people who wish to join both (a common thing if you live half way between the two places).

Unfortunately, there is nothing like this at the national or global level that I am aware of.

Looking forward to it! Speak soon. Just saw your RSVP - I do remember you! Glad to hear you are still working on your project.

Yes, I had a DBS check before and it wasn't an issue. But I wonder how onerous safeguarding policies are. Also I would be wary of being in a room with a pupil without another adult present. Even the slightest accusation, where you are completely innocent, could make your life hell.

I've reached out to a few of the core participants from back in the day, and also the Boulder Linux User's Group organizer, and it's not looking like it's currently active.

However: I'd encourage you, and even help you, with getting one set up again. It's Reeeeal easy. The Boulder one was largely attendees from the Boulder Linux Users Group, and it was on the same day of the week as the BLUG meeting, just the remaining Thursdays of the month. We'd just pick a coffee shop that was open suitably late and had reasonable seating, and then announced it at the BLUG meetings and also on the mailing list. The BLUG mailing list seems to be defunct, but I can probably get someone to announce it at the meeting if you're interested.

I do have an ex attendee that moved to north Longmont and was interested in something in that area, if that's a geography you're interested in.

I would doubt it, I haven't been in over a decade, but let me reach out and see.

The Connections Museum staff might be a starting point.

Tools are political. They're constructed to fulfill people's needs.

"Political" doesn't have to mean 'relating to a political party or election'.

I think computer is political in the way art is inherently political. Even if a piece of art isn’t explicitly about politics (an oil painting of a sunset), it’s still born of the lived experience and thoughts and emotions and politics of the artist.

> Computing is very much not political.

This is obviously false with a tiny bit of consideration.

If your definition of "computing" is narrowly constrained to the abstract mathematical reasoning then sure.

But if we consider a broader scope, then computers, the internet, and how the software we use to interact with them are designed is absolutely a political topic due to how it shapes not just interpersonal interactions, but also the kinds of business models that are possible and, downstream of that, modern society as a whole. Among other issues.

A firearm is a tool.

Do you think firearm ownership and usage is free from politics? Do you think a gun club is free from politics?

> Computing is very much not political. It's a tool. Like any tool, it can be used for various ends, both political and apolitical.

A nuclear warhead is a tool. Like any tool, it can be used for various ends, both political and apolitical.

See how silly that sounds? Some tools have sufficient impact that they transform society, and that is inherently political.

The personal is political, but also, yes I agree that you don't have to weight the politics 100% of the time.

I don't think the author is talking about starting a computer club, they're thinking about a social club. To get people in the door at a social club you need them to think "that'll be people like me."

So "Democrat ladies who lunch and write patches for Mastodon," and "Trump supporters who drink beer and write surveillance software," or "meditation group (Haskell-only)" would work great, much better than "Your coworkers, but you've never met them before."

This has not been a problem in my many years of club meetings. There will always be drama not this though. Never micromanaged behaviour though, but that is a very undefined term.