Wikipedia talk:Meetup/LA/2

Locations list as template?

It seems repetitious for each meetup page to list the potential venues. Should the list be made into some kind of template that is transcluded into each meetup page? I know there are some debates on Transclusion costs and benefits, but this seems like one of those cases where it would pay off. Metaeducation 02:04, 28 July 2005 (UTC)

• Ok, I tried this just for the heck of it in keeping with the whole be bold rhetoric. My goal in ripping into the content of the pages and reforming them after the fact is to try and see what the wiki methodology can do for evolving the document from a tentative meeting plan into a finalized archive of what happened at the meetup and what was discussed. This could be taken to a radical extreme...for instance, by leaving the meetup article itself as a stub and having the entire conversation leading up to the meeting carried out on the Talk Page...ultimately being chopped into a permanent record. I think that a single page should ultimately reflect what transpired at the meeting itself...kind of a replacement for any kind of "minutes", along with the necessary photos/etc. Elements (like who said they were going to come but ultimately didn't) are useful to know, but it seems to me that these things should begin to fall off into the history books. Thoughts? Metaeducation 02:54, 28 July 2005 (UTC)

I think it was an excellent move to template-ize the locations listing. As for attendence, $%^$ happens, and I'm don't think it's important to track who did not manage to make it to a meetup. Personally, I'm in favor of keeping the meeting flow very casual, but this not does exclude the option of inviting people, of course (especially experts in a particular aspect of Wiki) to give a talk. - Eric 03:45, 28 July 2005 (UTC)

Agenda

I think the Wiki meetup could benefit from a directed agenda, with users giving talks and then having an optional "post-meeting" social gathering...maybe at a bar nearby. So people who want to talk about divergent non-wiki issues could get together afterwards. Having a chance to be freeform and social would be preserved, while letting the meeting itself hit the major points. Personally I'd want to go to both, but I think it would help to have structure. Metaeducation 02:04, 28 July 2005 (UTC)

I'd love to have someone volunteer to give a talk, but until that happens (perhaps if the L.A. meetup grows in size), I think the social gathering is going to remain the main focus. Wikipedia is an interesting experiment in anarcho-democratic consensus, and trying to apply that system to organizing meetups is not always easy. - Eric 03:45, 28 July 2005 (UTC)

Yeah, but maybe something could be structured...like going around the circle and letting each person sort of throw out an article they've made edits to or a topic...give everyone a chance. Not so much asking people to give a lecture, just making sure everyone has time to discuss something of relevance to them. Metaeducation 04:15, 28 July 2005 (UTC)

Inviting Wikipedians

Okay, in an effort to make inviting people as painless as possible, I've created a template:

{{Meetup/LA/Invite}}

All ya need to do is paste that on a user's Talk page (or on an L.A.-related article's Talk page, perhaps?), and they'll see this:

[[File:|right|100px]] Dear fellow Wikipedian, {{{invitetext}}} I hope to see you there! [[User:|]] ([[User talk:|talk]]) - via ~~~~ Join our Facebook group, follow our Twitter account, and like our Facebook page!! To opt out of future mailings about LA meetups, please remove your name from this list.

This should also make it very easy to disseminate news updates to interested parties, and to see who has already been invited, as it also automatically adds them to the category Wikipedians invited to the LA Meetup|Wikipedians invited to the LA Meetup. Feel free to add the template to the bottom of your User page and/or User talk page so people visiting your page or leaving you a message will see it. - Eric 22:01, 28 July 2005 (UTC)

Try a new day?

Since there are several people who have expressed the likelihood of not attending the next meetup, I am wondering if having the meetup on a weekday might be part of the problem, although summer months, in general, probably help to reduce participation. Any feedback? BlankVerse ∅ 07:15, 31 July 2005 (UTC)

LA Wiki?

I'm wondering if there is a wiki for Los Angeles. If not, maybe some of us participating in these meet-ups, etc. could start one. I hate that there seems to be very little community feeling in LA, and perhaps we can help this. Also, have we considered gathering for online chats?

I think I'm going to go ahead and create an LA wiki. If one already exists and is developed, I'll disband it. Theshibboleth 11:46, 18 August 2005 (UTC)

• One already exists at Wikicities. --avnative 08:23, August 26, 2005 (UTC)

Jimbo Wales to Attend San Diego Meetup on October 18 2005

Sorry if no one here cares about this - but we hope you'll be interested! Hello, Jimbo Wales will be in San Diego to attend OOPSLA and has agreed to come by and visit with the San Diego wikipedians. If you are interested, you will find more info on my talk page. Johntex\^talk 00:54, 13 October 2005 (UTC)