Subject:
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Re: some "mild" discrepancies in roll call....
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.org
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Date:
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Wed, 11 Jul 2001 13:33:37 GMT
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Viewed:
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811 times
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In lugnet.org.ca.rtltoronto, Frank Filz writes:
> Calum Tsang wrote:
> > Lugnet has really changed the game. We've gone from random posts to full
> > blown community, international, and it's largely due to Todd's excellent and
> > tireless work. But what I will miss was the crosspollenation of ideas-and
> > by this, I don't mean crossposting, which I can't stand. I NEVER read other
> > groups beyond the Canadian ones, it's just too large-yet back in rtl I'd
> > read about Castle and Pirates just because it was all lumped together. Yet
> > you couldn't do rtlToronto without Lugnet and classification. Oh well.
>
> I think we'll start seeing cross polination in the loc and org groups.
> The good thing about the volume these days is that probably 905% of
> North American AFOLs are within a 4 hour drive of enough people to at
> least occaisionally have a fest (and in populated areas, there may be
> several clubs within that radius or just a bit farther [D.C. for me is a
> little more than 4hrs]). I expect that in the next year or two we'll see
> a West Coast Brickfest emerge and a Canadian one would do well also.
Wow 905% now thats a lot!!! ;-).
Seriously this is good speculation Frank although I think there are probably
still a few pockets in North America where organizations have yet to be formed
like the Denver Colorado, Phoenix Arizona, Calgary Alberta, and Chicago areas.
I think there has been talk from time to time in Chicago but I don't think it
has really developed into much yet. Then there are the lesser populated parts
of North America which may take quite a while to develop, if they ever do.
Larger population areas seem to do real well for the most part. Of course the
key ingrediant is getting one or two people to get things started, thats the
hardest part. I know for NELUG we really had to work hard to get things going
initially but now after 2 years the group has a self-supporting life of its
own. Just about anyone can call a meeting with a week or two lead time and
expect 10-20 people minimum.
One disadvantage to the size of NA is that even things like Brickfest tend to
have a regional flavor, all be it a much larger region. I think a West Coast
Brickfest would be great for those folk and a properly located Canadian Fest
would work as well. I doubt we will have a truely "National Convention" for
some time just because of the cost of travel.
>
> Europe and Australia are doing well also, and probably most everyone in
> western Europe is also within a 4ish hour drive of a club.
Maybe, maybe not, I think Germany, Italy, Netherlands, and the UK are doing
great but I think places like France, Spain, and Ireland have a ways to go.
>
> I think we'll also start to more see less formal smaller weekend events,
> where someone hooks up with a Library, large home, or other facility,
> with folks offering spare bedrooms to out of town guests. We're already
> seeing some of this with train shows and a few other events.
This would be cool but I think we will mostly see this with people in more
isolated locations that don't have a large group to work with. As more groups
are formed the need for traveling to meet other LEGO fans will diminish to an
extent.
I do see more Joint LUG/LTC events though. I could see NELUG and GardenSLUG
hooking up for something or WAMALUG, RichLUG, and NCLUG doing a joint event.
>
> It will be interesting to see how big we get, I think we've got a lot of
> growing to do yet. We are just in the past few years really establishing
> the legitimacy of the hobby and the more exposure we get, the more folks
> who've got a set or two on the mantle that they just couldn't bear to
> give away when they grew up, or who've ended up buying a set at the same
> time they bought one for their kids.
Exposure is the key but, exposure is also hard work. Exposure takes a lot more
than Trains shows too. Train shows are great but you are dealing with a
limited demographic. We need to branch out into other public venues as well
and start getting some higher profile press before we get to the level of
legitimacy of some other more high profile hobbies.
One benifit we have is that we seem to be a fairly tech savy bunch which helps
in terms of the internet. I think once we get some good press in print we will
probably explode in popularity. I have to think there is a large untapped
population out there that just isn't tech savy enough to find us on the
internet. I think finding those people will help our hobby to gain both
legitimacy and popularity.
I think we are on the brink of something big. By that I mean I think that in 4
or 5 years we will look back on this point in time and think about how small
we were and how we were all the pioneers in getting this hobby to the point it
will be. While we have made a lot of progress this is still just the
beginning. I think many of you will be supprised at how much bigger we will be
in 5 years time.
Put that in your time capsule...
Eric Kingsley
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | [[[[The future dynamic of AFOL]]]]
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| (...) Big…really, I see it too! But ‘how big’? Are we to become like the masses of Trekies one day? To become a completely socially accepted hobby? Instead of the dynamic niche that we are today. I say ‘dynamic’ cause I believe we as a group have a (...) (23 years ago, 11-Jul-01, to lugnet.org, lugnet.general)
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