I was going over the group list (“Brethren of the Republic”) on pr-if.org/.
Boston, New York, SF/Bay Area, and Oxford/London are meeting regularly. Chicago has a post from 2012, that’s not too far back. 
Vancouver is a Facebook link (facebook.com/home.php?sk=gro … 24536&ap=1) and I can’t read it. Does that page still exist, and if so, is it still meeting?
The Seattle site (if.seattle.wa.us/) has been down for a while. Group still meeting? Is there a better URL?
The Seattle group isn’t meeting – the Google group has been quiet too (groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/seattle-if ). The group was somewhat quiet, and then a few of the main organizers/members got busy or left town.
(I didn’t even know the website was down ;p)
The Vancouver FB group still exists, but it could hardly be described as “active”. I don’t know if it ever conducted any meets.
How about if the Vancouver and Seattle people meet in the middle in Bellingham? It would be nice if we could get something going for Linuxfest Northwest.
That sounds like fun, I’ve heard a lot about that conference. It sounds like the proposed sessions are getting posted soon but there’s always room for self-organized stuff?
A nice idea, but I wouldn’t want to be the one explaining what IF is to the customs official. (Actually, during one ill-advised 2 am crossing, myself and a van full of friends were separated and interrogated – basically, because 2 am at customs is boring – and were called upon to explain a Sailor Moon RPG in the back of the vehicle. Well… where do I start, really?)
Well, the Seattle group faded to a large extent because a) nobody really wanted to step up and take on the organiser role, and b) it was tricky finding locations that were convenient for everyone. And as far as b) goes, Bellingham is a little over three hours from downtown Seattle by public transit. I’d absolutely do a six-hour round trip for the right one-off event, but there’s no way in hell it’d work for a regular meetup.
You just reminded me of this:
nickm.com/post/2013/01/a-commodo … -security/
I don’t understand, though. Customs had you explain software?
So what I’m gonna do, I’m gonna leave the links up but change the Seattle one to refer to the Google Group URL. If someone browses through, it’ll be clear that the group hasn’t had any activity for a while, but they can propose a meeting if the want.
Er, it was a pen and paper tabletop RPG. See, if I can’t explain it to you, how could I make a customs officer understand?!
Ah, pen and paper. Ok!
There was one meetup I led a long time ago, and then it kind of died.
It didn’t die, it skipped town! You’re still a bustling industry, you’re just situated in the wrong place now 8)