[tlug] Why I Must Leave TLUG

["Josh Glover" <jmglov@example.com>]

...to its own devices moreso than I currently do.

Last night, I was seriously considering eliding the elliptical phrase,
but come the light of day, I found myself clear-headed and rested, and
thus realised that there was a solution to *my* problem that did not
involve melodrama or finality.

The solution is that I will dial back my involvement in TLUG *a lot*.
I realised that I am, by being so involved, opening myself up to a lot
of stress that I honestly not only could do without, but *must* do
without.

And before you think this is a sob story, let me be clear: I *love*
working on and participating in TLUG. You guys are fantastic, and I
enjoy hanging out with you, learning from you, and yes, even
occasionally arguing with you (if you think I'm too opinionated, take
a page from Biscuit's book and just toss me on the ground at the next
BBQ!). Hard work on TLUG stuff brings rewards; I enjoy what I do and
am proud of the results.

But I cannot handle the extra stress right now when I need to be
focusing on my family first (I have a three month old baby, for those
of you without enough context) and my job second. It is not fair to my
family or to me that I am grumpy after a day of work and then TLUG
issues.

Also, our group is not called JGLUG (the Josh Glover Linux Users
Group), so I want to stop getting in your faces so much. I realised
that on any given day, I probably send between 5 and 15 posts to TLUG.
That is too many. No one wants to hear me talk that much, even when I
think I have interesting things to say.

And I want other people to step up and take on responsibilities for
the LUG. This is a volunteer organisation, and I think fresh blood and
fresh outlooks can do us a world of good. I would love to see TLUG get
the recognition I think we deserve, as a fun bunch of hackers, users,
artists, writers, and yes, even economists! ;-P

So please, if you are reading this post and you have a great idea for
TLUG, bring it up now. And if you are met with overwhelming silence,
just do it anyway. For most of us, silence means that we do not hate
your idea. Ideas that are not hated might just turn out to be good
ones. So ask for help on tlug-admin; someone will surely point you in
the right direction.

Here is a concrete example of what I mean:

http://planet.tlug.jp/

Michael Reinsch is the chap that set this up. Notice that you will not
find him anywhere on the officers page:

http://www.tlug.jp/wiki/Admin:Officers

He's just a chap who liked the Planet blog aggregator idea so much
that he set up one for TLUG and sent us the URI. We thought it was
cool, so someone with the passwords updated the DNS, and lo!
planet.tlug.jp was born. Michael did not ask for anyone's approval, he
just mentioned the idea, a couple of us said "sounds cool", so he set
the whole thing up himself and just told us where to find it.

You can do stuff like that, as well.

Also, according to the wiki I just created, TLUG is "recruiting" for
the new position of "Editor in Chief":

http://www.tlug.jp/wiki/Admin:Officers#Editor_in_Chief_2

I would just like to highlight that while TLUG is a volunteer-run
organisation, you should treat your responsibilities seriously if you
volunteer. If you are not willing to do that, simply don't volunteer
and continue to enjoy TLUG as a "user". :)

If you do volunteer and find that you just don't have the time and/or
motivation, step down from your position and let someone else have a
go.

I realise that by being the default catch-all admin, I am actually
hurting TLUG by discouraging the people who volunteered to do the job
from doing it, or intimidating people who would like to volunteer.

Having said all that, it is now time for two lists.

Things I will continue to do for TLUG:
- My Listmaster duties, as per:
  http://www.tlug.jp/wiki/Admin:Officers#Listmaster_2
- Reserve the meeting rooms at Amazon for tech meetings and ensure
that we have all the necessary equipment
- Drive the process of getting Dave MG's article published on TLUG and
dealing with the possible Slashdotting that may follow. When the Dave
MG article runs its course, I will step aside and let the new Editor
in Chief take over these projects.
- Drive the "When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth" translation project. When
this project is over, I will step aside and let the new Editor in
Chief take over these projects.

Things I will no longer do for TLUG:
- Update meeting pages
- Approve wiki accounts
- Clean up and reorganise parts of the website that are not directly
related to my Listmaster duties
- Ditto for the wiki

I do not want to point any fingers anywhere, so just try the shoe on
to see if it fits: if you currently have a "titled" TLUG job, make
sure that you know your responsibilities and carry them out. I
encourage you to write up a job description and stick it in this wiki:

http://www.tlug.jp/wiki/Admin:Officers#Job_Descriptions

so that everyone is on the same page about who does what.

If you cannot do your job, or simply don't want to, step down and let
someone else have a go.

And I'm off to practise what I preach.

So long (kinda), and thanks for all the fish (and by that I mean...
oh, I dunno),
Josh

PS: See you on the list, just not as often. ;)