[wplug] Looking for support

Christopher DeMarco demarco at maya.com
Fri Jan 16 16:20:23 EST 2009


On Fri, Jan 16, 2009 at 03:39:28PM -0500, Jonathan Billings wrote:

> At any rate, you'll find that some long-time WPLUG members are
> somewhat nervous when one refer to WPLUG as a support organization
> for businesses.  It's a Linux Users Group, and it's members
> volunteer their support for other members.  Many of WPLUG's members

I was going to stay out of this, but since you brought it up:

I've been both a small-businessperson and a support provider to small
businesses, and it's *entirely inappropriate* to rely on "community
support" for a running business.  Yes, it's great to know that you can
jump on a listserv for help with Samba, but when the fit hits the shan
you need to be able to pick up the phone and know that you can pay to
have it fixed quickly & correctly.

I know that the person who brought it up was saying something positive
about the community, but it's important to make the distinction: SMBs
may benefit [indirectly] from a broad-n-deep community (for hiring
etc.)  but business systems need business relationships.

Think of it this way: if I volunteer to DJ at your wedding reception,
would you count on me not flaking out because I wanted to go fishing
that day instead?  Wouldn't you rather pay somebody $$$ to guarantee
that they'll be on-time and prepared?  


> are IT support staff in some way, and get paid to do what they're
> giving away for free for WPLUG.

And we'll all drop out of helping WPLUGgers on IRC as soon as work
stuff breaks; never the other way around.

</rant>


All that being said: getting a list of local service providers
actually *enhances* WPLUG's value to amateur/SMB users.  We shouldn't
be restricting ourselves to helping newbies fsck, but also helping
folks find quality Linux-savvy service providers in the area.  To the
degree that you can find relatively up-to-date ratings of local ISPs
in the archives, this is a success; having a directory of local
consulting/service firms on the website would be even better.

I'll make my referrals on a different message so as to make life
easier for those who want to ignore my vitriol X-o


-- 
Christopher DeMarco <demarco at maya.com>
IT Director
MAYA Group
+1-412-708-9660



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