Delirium wrote:
If I think of the top 20
people I've interacted with on the English Wikipedia and wouldn't mind
meeting with in person, they're on three different continents, and even
the ones in North America range from Los Angeles to Montreal. So I tend
to treat local meetups as just a social opportunity only marginally
connected with what I "really" do on the wikis.
*nod*
And there's nothing wrong with getting together and hanging out. :)
But to my mind, the non-social aspect for local meetups is the
opportunity to organize further offline activity, which is something we
haven't really taken up yet here.
* Organizing people to promote Wiki*edia stuff at local events
* Working directly with schools etc who make use of Wiki*edia projects
* Getting Wiki*edians involved in less directly related stuff like
recycling old computers for schools
etc
That sort of local action doesn't require having 'everybody who's
anybody' on English Wikipedia around; it would just require having some
dedicated people interested in pitching in.
Of course, if nobody cares about this sort of thing, it's tough to
organize. :)
-- brion