Australian MUG Problems
Australian MUG Problems
- Subject: Australian MUG Problems
- From: Greg Sharp <email@hidden>
- Date: Sun, 30 May 2004 17:18:43 +1000
Hi all
First let me introduce myself as I have only just joined this list. My name
is Greg Sharp and a couple of weeks ago I set up a new site in Australia to
try and promote Australian Mac User Groups (a cut down Australian version of
the MUGCenter site). I used Apple's User Group Locator to get the contact
details for all the Australian groups. The problem is the response has been
a bit disappointing so I have followed up on finding out why. What I found
is that the information on Apple's site is totally out of date. I actually
found one of the listed groups was wound up over 10 years ago. Here is a
breakdown of the problems I found.
In Queensland there were 6 groups listed, however 3 no longer exist, 1 won't
respond to emails so I'm not sure if it is still viable and 2 others were
still in existence however their contact details were wrong. I have gotten
their new details and have put this information on my new site at
http://australian.macusersgroup.org which both have joined and I shall be
letting Tess Collins at Apple Australia know about these changes plus other
mistakes I have found on Monday.
In Tasmania of the 2 groups listed 1 appears to be dead and the other has
the wrong details on Apple's site and the email address published on their
site gets no response.
In Western Australia of 2 groups listed 1 appears dead and the other I am
awaiting a response from having found again Apple's details were wrong and
the group has no contact email address on their site. I had to email the
President directly and subscribe to their list server in an attempt to get
contact details. While their list is active the President has failed to
respond.
Northern Territory has no groups.
South Australia has 3 groups listed. 1 is actually a Final Cut Pro User
Group which again didn't respond and whose link shown on Apple's site
actually points to a 3rd party's site and their group only rates a 1
paragraph mention on that site. Nothing is mentioned about Apple or Macs at
least not any I could find. The other 2 again failed to respond. Again all 3
had the wrong info on Apple's site.
Victoria has 4 groups listed of which 1 was dead, another had all the wrong
details on Apple's site and failed to respond to emails and their site has
no email contact address on it along with no live links. The other 2 are in
a different ballpark as these are the 2 biggest and most professional groups
in Australia. IMUG is a great site and I hope they respond to my emails
unfortunately I'm still waiting. The last group AUSOM is probably everything
you could want in a Mac User Group and they have joined my site (though it
would be nice if they would contact me so as I can do a story on them as
they have not actually logged on yet since joining).
Finally in New South Wales where I live there are 7 groups listed of which 3
appear dead. 2 have shown an interest but neither have signed up however 1
has sent a few new members referred from their site. The other 2 have failed
to respond and what is saddest is I belong to one of them and occupied a
number of positions on their committee over the years. This groups
membership is constantly falling and I find it hard to believe they have not
contacted me and become a part of my efforts to promote Australian Mac User
Groups. The other group is a Yahoo Group site that rejects emais if you
aren't a member of Yahoo Groups and again even after joining this group to
get in contact with them there has been no response to my emails and not
even a response stating I can join the group so it appears this is a private
group not accepting new members.
One other group that has come on board is an online only group who are not
listed by Apple but they have hundreds of active members and deserve to be
recognised.
My adventures in setting up my new site/group Australian Mac Users Group at
http://australian.macusersgroup.org has exposed major problems with the way
things are going down under and all I want to do is try and turn things
around any way possible. This is why I am asking if anyone on this list has
any ideas on what can be done. I contacted the Oceania Apple Regional
Liaison over a month ago and he said he'd think about what the powers that
be would think of my attempts to create a site promoting Apple User Groups
in Australia but since then I have had no response though I suppose he has
been very busy organizing a film festival being put on by his group in New
Zealand. The funny thing was after contacting him I went to the MUGCenter
site and found he had stated there was a real need for someone in Australia
to do this very thing in his February Report.
I actually had this idea originally a year ago when I was on the committee
of the club I currently belong to but unfortunately the current Apple
Regional Liaison's predecessor was an ex member of the same committee and
hadn't had his name removed from the committee's mailing list when he quit
mid term so when I posted privately to the committee a suggestion I contact
other user groups to try and work together in promoting themselves and
sharing resources he contacted me and stated he would take legal action if I
tried to contact these groups directly rather than go through him as it was
his job to work with the various groups not mine.
It's now been over a year later and out of frustration I have taken the
initiative of going it alone. I don't want to upset people and as my group
is only about 2 weeks old it doesn't yet have enough members to be
officially recognised yet (21 new members in 2 weeks) but I feel something
has to be done as soon as possible or else many other groups are also going
to disappear. If any one knows someone at Apple Australia that would be
prepared to work with me I would be over the moon. Other problems also exist
such as when I was Marketing Manager of my local Mac User Group and I
approached my local reseller (the largest Apple Reseller in Australia) to
see if they would let us leave application forms for our group in their shop
I was told it was against company policy to do anything to assist Mac User
Groups (though one member of this group in another suburb did allow us to do
this). Finally even Apple let us down. When I approached them to allow us to
leave these applications at the 2003 Australian Mac Expo I was initially
told this was a great idea and was passed on to their marketing department
where I was then asked if I was prepared to man a stall which I agreed to.
The next day I was contacted by Apple and told upper management had made a
decision that we were not allowed to have a stall or leave our membership
applications. When I see the co operation and support offered for US groups
and compare it to what Australian groups get it becomes clear why User
Groups are dying here. As I stated earlier iMUG and AUSOM are the only
groups getting ahead and it no small coincidence that both of these get
massive support from Apple Victoria. I'd like to know if all my efforts have
been a lost cause or is there some way to get Apple involved with all the
Australian Mac User Groups?
I'm sorry my first post is so long and probably quite controversial but if
other groups are going to get anywhere close to where AUSOM is today in the
future then these issues should be addressed. If discussions of this type
are looked upon as unsuitable for this list please excuse me and direct any
email to me at email@hidden
Thanks
Greg Sharp
Founder
Australian Mac Users Group (AUSMUG)
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