Posted by tomsherlock on July 15, 2010 at 4:28am
I thought that there was an IRC channel for NJ. But I couldn't seem to find it on freenode. And it is not listed here: http://drupal.org/irc/channels. So I created it.
But then it dawned on me that just as there is a specific IRC channel for Drupal NYC: #Drupal-nyc, we should consider having specific IRC channels for each Drupal group in NJ:
#drupal-nnj (for Northern NJ)
#drupal-cnj (for Central NJ)
#drupal-flemingtonThis could be overkill if no one is using the channels. However, it might make sense to have the three channels if for example in #Drupal-nnj we would like to discuss the meeting format and agenda for the NNJ Drupal group. By having a specific channel we could avoid interweaving discussion from central NJ and northern NJ, where such discussion is specific to the channel.
Comments
drupal-nnj is now registered
Hi Tom,
I've registered drupal-nnj @ freenode. Hope I didn't jump the gun.
Lanny
Turns out I did jump the gun
drupal-nj did exist on freenode but it was not registered, thus it did not show up in the channel listings. It was registered this morning probably at the same time that I was registering drupal-nnj. So now that there is a registered drupal-nj channel on freenode, there is no need for a second nj channel, thus I have unregistered drupal-nnj.
Lanny
Registered #drupal-nj
I also reached out to the powers that be to make it an official IRC channel for Drupal. Please join us there and hang with the rest of your NJ community members :)
Robbie
Confused
Alright, guys. You've got me confused. As i mentioned in the initial post, #drupal-nj was not found so i created it. Phunster says it was not registered and robbiethegeek says that he had it made an official IRC channel.
If we are going to stick with #drupal-nj and not create (register?) a drupal-nnj, then I'm not sure that #drupal-nj is the appropriate space to discuss the agenda for NNJ Drupal Group. Would CNJ and Flemington be interested in the minutiae of such a discussion?
also confused
sorry i didn't get to respond to your first post sooner:
I'm confused why there would need to be either a #drupal-nnj, #drupal-cnj, or #drupal-flemington...
- really minutiae: I'd think they'd be -njc -njn -njf.. so its clear they're nj ( and not the China-Journalists group for drupal.. or something :P )
- I would imagine drupalers all over NJ would benefit from discussing things in drupal-nj together... and just splitting off into branch channels when need-be (like, perhaps a drupal-njn ahead of time)
- I didn't even realize until your post that flemington had a group... seems like I should've started a monmouth county group :D
I've been in #drupal-nj and not seen a word all day :(
The reason I created the
The reason I created the channel to begin with was to try to unify the new jersey community not create little factions of mini communities. If there is a time where there are camps and hackfests and playdays it should be done with the NJ community in mind not a single NJ meetup group. There is plenty of distance between to meetup groups to require them in my opinion and after talking with Peter from the central / southern group today he agreed. I think this channel isn't to service only northern nj but all of nj to provide a place to create, share and extend the regional groups. If camps happen at NJIT in the future you would be nuts to not include from the inception the people in the Princeton (central/southern) meetup as organizers, presenters and attendees. All of this is my 2 cents but while I am part of the group I will push to unify / grow rather then fracture / shrink this community.
Robbie
Also getting official status is a big deal in my opinion and now we as a community can be a resource to new people in the NJ area.
My two cents, and as someone
My two cents, and as someone from the Central NJ group, I don't think the number of users in the drupal-nj channel and the amount of traffic it will get (fairly small) requires being split into other groups. I also think it is advantageous to keep everyone together so there is more cross-communication. I don't go to your groups, so I wouldn't probably otherwise talk to you guys. I'm more likely to stay logged into this channel to help out then the main drupal one, which often seems like a vast wilderness.
drupal-nj
I want to second what davidhernandez said. In retrospect having registered and then un-registered the drupal-nnj group, I think that one channel shared by all NJ groups and whoever else wants to join us in the channel will lead to some valuable cross pollination.
Tom - As to the registration piece, an unregistered channel goes away when the creator leaves the channel, so registering the channel with freenode keeps the channel alive with or without the creator's presence.
Let's give the one channel for all of NJ a shot, this is not written in stone, but it it does show good will to all of our fellow Jersey druplers.
Lanny
our own channel :)
thanks for getting this going Tom :)
I'd love to take the credit
I'd love to take the credit for #drupal-nj, jzacsh. ;) However, just like the NNJ Drupal Group, #drupal-nj was set up by robbiethegeek. He's someone we could refer to as a sumari.
Nevertheless, your underlying sentiments are understood and appreciated. :)
NNJ Agenda on #drupal-nj?
robbiethegeek has explained that #drupal-nj was created to unify the NJ community and that it would be a place to discuss such matters as a DrupalCampNJ at NJIT. He also explained that #drupal-nj is not meant to service Northern NJ only.
davidhernandez says that the expected small number of users on #drupal-nj would not warrant creating more local channels.
I too see the value in having a statewide channel to allow the disparate groups and individuals to be able to cross pollinate with various ideas, techniques, etc and to create a community. I also agree that the currently low numbers do not warrant having multiple local channels.
I agree with robbiethegeek that it does not make sense to organize a camp in a local channel such as *#drupal-nnj (the asterisk means that the channel doesn't really exist) and that discussion around a camp at NJIT should not be limited to the Northern NJ Drupal group, but rather should include all NJ Drupal groups and individuals. I also agree that #drupal-nj does not exist only to service NNJ.
This brings me back to my second questions: is #drupal-nj the appropriate channel to discuss the NNJ agenda? davidhernandez's comment would lead me to believe it is. robbiethegeek's comments would lead me to believe it isn't. Care to clarify, robbie?
Perhaps at this juncture it is not an issue since the traffic is very low?
Perhaps a few more members from NNJ and CNJ (including Peter) could chime in on this one question?
CNJ Opinion
There is clearly a lot of discussion on all of the matter on groups.drupal.org. IRC is nice for people that are glued to their machines all day, but some of us are not. I happily get all the discussions for all NJ here. IRC will fragment that and further subdivision will only make it less assessable.
Is there really that much traffic to need a NJ IRC considering all the other specialized IRC channels that already exist?
I like hearing whats going on in the other sub-regions because I am within a longer but reachable travel distance from NNJ and Flemington so keeping it centralized at groups.drupal works best for me.
"The best way to predict the future is to invent it." - Alan Kay
Discussions will be posted
Discussions will be posted here for official events, and polls and things like that. #drupal-nj gives people a place to treat as their online living room with other Drupalers and have access to people that they have met or can meet within the state. It allows people to network above and beyond the regional meetups, collaborate and get and give assistance. By having #Drupalcon (official Drupal IRC bot) in the channel, all the Drupal related IRC functionality is now available to the community (for more information about that look at http://www.disobey.com/bot & the project http://dgo.to/bot ).
Robbie
#drupal-nj is...
A place where anything Drupal or NJ community related should and can be discussed it is not a place for decisions to be made, because as pointed out it is a smaller subset of the community at large. Just jump in and let it organically grow and see what you think.
Robbie :)
a vote for "less is more"
Ironically, one of my tasks at my still-new job is sorting through the dozens of listservs that were created (before my arrival) on the organization's web host. Every single one of them was created because somebody thought it was a good idea, but many have been abandoned, and some were never used at all -- and I'll be darned if I'm going to waste my time migrating them to a new host. So consider me a vote for "less is more."
Nina
Nina Nicholson
Director of Communications & Technology
The Episcopal Diocese of Newark
nnicholson@dioceseofnewark.org
http://dioceseofnewark.org
IRC Yes Please 1 Channel + links
A central location would be helpful to those of us who will be dragging other new-Bees to Drupal. In my opinion those with my background would want to have a central location to start at and then within that location have links to
-nnj
-cnj
-flemington, etc.
i.e.
Welcome to NJ community (main registered), and greetings to NNJ, Central NJ, Flemington, etc. - which would be links/http to which ever is closes to my geographical location. This would allow staying updated with the NJ community (NJ) and my local (Nothern NJ).
BTW the dragging is because no one will think (believe) Drupal is ALL really, free.
Until #drupal-nj has too many
Until #drupal-nj has too many people or conversations to be accessible to the casual user, I strongly oppose registering any additional channels.
I doubt there will ever be such a need.
Re: Until #drupal-nj has too many
Agreed!