[Ubuntu-ch] Would like to become involved in Swiss Ubuntu Group

[Tormod Volden]

On 1/25/07, Arnaud Praplan <calimarno at bluewin.ch> wrote:
> Hi Tormod and thanks for your interest,
>
> Didier wrote already a lot and I would like to clarify some points.
>
> Le jeudi 25 janvier 2007 11:15, Tormod Volden a écrit :
> > 1. Make it more open (mailing list etc). Open the wiki so people can
> > just register and start translating if and when they want. It's in the
> > free software and open-source spirit to be totally transparent and
> > accessible.
>
> We deliberately don't want using mailing list because otherwise, the
> forums would have no reason to be there. And because the original idea
> of Swisslinux.org was to have some forums, we don't want to change this.

OK. Some people prefer this and others prefer that. And having two
channels makes it sometimes difficult to coordinate and avoid
duplication. Enforcing one channel can therefore be wise. But some
issues are better discussed on a mailing list and visa versa! Une
question de goût :)


> We'll discuss the use of a mailing list to discuss about the
> association's projects, but all the question concerning Linux (support)
> have to be on the forums, because this is our aim.

Going off-topic here, but I think a on-line Linux support service
should be non-country, but language specific. For German support,
cooperate with another German-speaking service (often found in
Germany, surprise!) and so on. That's why we are not pushing on-line
*service* in the SwissTeam, but real-life activities and local
support. Political issues are of course often Switzerland-specific,
and then we need to cooperate across our language-borders. I love your
project page btw.


> The wiki and the forum is open (except for the association folder, for
> some evident reasons, but you can edit german pages beginning with de,
> like "de:verein"). You just have to register yourself and this choice
> was made to avoid spamming (this problem was encountered with the
> original website). I don't understand your remark. Can't you register,
> is there a technical problem?
> You just have to click on "S'inscrire" (on the left), accept our rules
> and give a nickname and an email, that's it.


Sorry, I didn't try the first time, I just glanced over it, and ended
up at the pay-your-membership page :) I mistakenly thought it was all
closed.


> As Didier said, on top of that IRC and Jabber rooms are also available.
>
> > 2. The membership fee is a threshold that puts people off, even if
> > it's an symbolical sum. Are you obliged (as a legal association) to
> > demand a fee? (...)
>
> We should change our bylaws (statuts) for this. I think the explanation
> of Didier was pretty good. We choose to have an income. We paid 45 CHF
> for three months hosting. The annual fee is 180 CHF. We are a very young
> association but we would like to realise some projects and this money
> should also help us to start/realise them.
> Nothing "special" is planed for our members for now. It is as you said
> "symbolic" : it is just an encouragement. By paying the member fee you
> say : "I like your projects and want to help you".
> You can also see the fee as a "minimum donation" ;)

Yes, see my previous e-mail for the same interpretation :)

> This fee is not necessary to participate at the forum/wiki. But in the
> real life, we need money and we chose this system. Some decisions have
> to be made and this is the one we made. You can now say it is bad or not
> but it is like that. Changing this would imply a vote during a general
> assembly.
>
> > 3. Is the general assembly tomorrow open for non-members?
> > Are there means to participate remotely (video conference/streaming,
> > IRC)? If yes and yes, I would like to join and present my ideas.
> > Otherwise I hope you can mention this in the meeting.
>
> It is open to everyone, but you can't participate to the decisions.
> However, we offer the possibility to become a member for 2007 just
> before the assembly if you want to become a member and voting rights.
> We've not planed a remote participation, but we should discuss that for
> the next times, as not everyone can travel a lot.
> But it is too short to set up something until tomorrow.
> You can try IRC, but I don't know if someone will report.
>
> > PS. will there be a SwissLinux stand at OpenExpo?
>
> We'll discuss that tomorrow, but it is really a short time! Anyway,
> we'll try to be present at Linuxdays.ch at the "Village des
> associations" in order to meet other opensource involved people in
> Switzerland and to show our association and find collaborations for our
> projects. Doing both would be great, as what we would do for the
> OpenExpo could be used at Linuxdays.ch.

If anyone from SwissLinux will join our stand, that's fine. We have a
lot of overlapping members anyway :) It is our policy to cooperate
with other linux groups. As long as they run Ubuntu on their laptops
;)


> The association was made to insure that the forums will stay online
> (before, just one person was doing all the work and it was just too much
> for him and he wanted to give up). We don't want to replace any other
> Swiss organisation, but we would like to collaborate with other
> associations.

Yes, if a member association makes for more sustainability, it's a good thing.


> I don't know why everybody say that we are splitting the strengths in
> Switzerland... I don't know any others Swiss WebForums about Linux in
> general. We are not "dissidents" and we would enjoy if some SL.org
> people could help the other organisations or collaborate with them. We
> have some contacts with TheAlternative (ETHZ) and GnuGeneration (EPFL),
> for instance.

I haven't heard anyone say that you are splitting strengths. I see
there is a lot of groups evolved from different backgrounds, but we
share many goals, and maybe we can converge more. For example I have
personally a FSF/GNU agenda on longer term, but I see Ubuntu as the
most efficient way right now to get closer to a brand gnu world.

>
> I'm looking forward to hear from you here, on sl.org or in real-life
>
> Best regards
>
> Arnaud


See you,
Tormod