Alan,

    while I appreciate your post, and anyone who is making a sincere
effort to build community in Phoenix... be warned.  There are some
small groups who periodically spawn off new 'communities' every month
or so.  Look closely and you see the same few people with reused
marketing recipes.  Lots of blog and not too much community I'm
afraid.  Their efforts amount to some simple branding and putting up a
blog.  While these things are not really particularily offensive to
me, they do somewhat detract from interest in the real needs of the
community here.  Some of these people are just outright idiotic and
cannot deal with existing structure and refuse to accept the history
of efforts in the past.  They lack any articulation of their goals and
purpose.  Often times they have trouble organizing even small groups
of 2 or 3.  Dont forget we've had a tech incubator here.  Lets not
smack down sincere criticism in favor of giddy blind optimism,
remember you can't improve without criticism.  I would take these
people much more seriously if they addressed the efforts of the past
and perhaps suggested how they are going to improve on them, or
perhaps indicate what has changed that will make them a success.
Maybe seeking real political support would gain some legitimacy.

    on the positive side, I think Phoenix will attract a lot of
technology business due to its relative low cost and no doubt you will
start to see community infrastructure grow.  We are seeing some real
urban development happening in Phx metro which has me very excited.  I
think when the macroeconomic problems are sorted out we will see
downtown Phx bloom.  Im hoping that the average Arizonan gets involved
in the political process and make sure that the corruption stays out
of city and state politics.  Coming from NY, Im recognizing a lot of
positive development trends in Phx metro.

  -jmz

On Fri, Jul 31, 2009 at 9:07 AM, Alan Dayley<alandd@consultpros.com> wrote:
> Hey everyone.  I wanted to point out some events and information I
> have come to be involved with that many of you will probably also
> enjoy.  I also would love to see more Linux/FS/OSS people
> participating in these things.
>
> http://www.phxsug.org - Phoenix Scrum User Group website
>
> http://gangplankhq.com - A co-working space and group of tech
> companies that sponsor lots of events.  Great place to meet other
> developers.  Channel 3 had a segment about Gangplank on the news
> Wednesday night.  It gives a good flavor of what the place is about:
> http://gangplankhq.com/2009/07/collaboration-over-competition-w-3tv/
>
> http://azgroups.com - a calendar of geek group meetings and events
>
> http://eventification.com - another calendar of geek/tech/entrepreneur
> events under construction by a friend of mine
>
> http://meetupstogoto.com - A list of valley groups, meetings and
> meetups.  Something there for anyone!
>
> http://readphoenix.com - A list of many, many blogs written by people
> who live here in the Phoenix valley.
>
> I know I'm missing others, like the Java User Group, etc.  You'll find
> some of them in the above lists.  Please highlight ones you like or
> share new ones with the group.
>
> The Phoenix tech social scene is exploding!  And that is a great thing!
>
> Alan
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