Hi,
Background: For almost 25 years I've been involved in the operation of
https://lug.org.uk/ which provides details of, and hosting for, LUGs in
the UK. My company still hosts all of lug.org.uk's infrastructure.
On Tue, Aug 26, 2025 at 06:24:56PM -0400, Karen Lewellen wrote:
Having a discussion on the board of the lug in my area.
someone feels lugs are largely failing.
Do you find this to be true?
I'm only familiar with LUGs in the UK, but broadly yes, though I would
not characterise it as "failing" but more "of waning interest to the
general population.
Most LUGs that we set up through the late 20th century to early 2010s
only had mailing lists as their communications method, and stuck with
that. They have all, without any exception, seen a dramatic fall-off of
interaction.
We received very few requests for new LUG setups since 2010.
Of course, there is no reason why LUGs in UK *had* to have any
assistance from us, and some did not. Due to my interest in UK LUGs
however, I made an effort to stay informed about the progress of all
UK-based LUGs that I became aware of (e.g. by subscribing to their
mailing lists). They have almost all gone silent by now.
You only asked about success stories so I guess I don't have much else
to add.
I am aware of a few LUGs in other regions, like Silicon Valley LUG, that
still have regular in-person meetings that are reasonably well-attended
and streamed for those not present. I'm not aware of any UK LUG that got
to be that popular.
The last LUG meeting I went to (exactly two weeks ago) ended up being 6
of us in a pub beer garden. I didn't get my laptop out at any point. It
was pleasant, but I wouldn't characterise it as anything more than an
evening at the pub. I had to travel 90 minutes to get to that one so I
probably won't do so again any time soon.
What is your locality?
Thanks,
Andy
--
https://bitfolk.com/ -- No-nonsense VPS hosting