[Linux-aus] ongoing Electron Workshop spam

[Les Kitchen]

[Andrew Pam slipped in just before I posted this, which is in
part just an expansion on what he's said.]

On Sun, Feb 15, 2026, at 15:44, Andrew Pam via linux-aus wrote:
> On 15/2/26 15:13, Russell Coker wrote:
>> It seems to me that there is a new group created named Linux Victoria which
>> has for years not been involved with the original LUV group or used it's
>> resources.
> As I understand it, the Linux Victoria name was created as an 
> alternative name for LUV.  It is not intended to be a separate organisation.

I'll back Andrew Pam on this.  As I understand it, research by
the current LUV committee indicated that people were deterred
from joining Linux Users of Victoria, or even from participating
in events, because they didn't see themselves as already Linux
users, and so felt LUV wasn't for them.  So the committee have
been experimenting with using "Linux Victoria" as a label that
might appeal more to people interested in Linux who don't (yet)
consider themselves Linux users.  Saying that "Linux Victoria"
is a new organisation separate from LUV is like saying that
Everything Open is a new organisation separate from Linux
Australia.  You can best think of Linux Victoria as a new
project by LUV.

Also, Electron Workshop (EW) is not an unknown entity.  It's
been supporting the FOSS community in Naarm / Melbourne since
around 2012, for more than a decade now.  EW provided the
physical venue for Free Software Melbourne (FSM) meetings, for
Software Freedom Day events (jointly run by FSM and LUV), for a
least one LUV committee meeting and AGM (also for meetings of
the Melbourne chapter of Electronic Frontiers Australia).  Since
2021, when EW closed as a physical co-working space, it's
continued that support by providing gratis computing
infrastructure.  All LUV online meetings since then have been on
EW's Big Blue Button video-meeting instance.  And from, I think,
May last year, mail-outs to luv-announce have, under the control
of the LUV committee, been sent from EW servers — though it
seems few noticed that until recently.  And as Andrew Pam
pointed out, these are communications from the LUV committee to
LUV members about LUV events.

People who have not been much involved in LUV in recent years
may not be aware of all this.

I will say, though, that I think the current LUV committee have
not well communicated these changes to the LUV membership, and
that's been a major cause of recent disquiet.  I'm inclined to
attribute this to inexperience, and can be corrected with
constructive feedback.

Stepping back for a broader view: When LUV was an incorporated
association, we had a strong structure of rules and processes.
They were sometimes burdensome — sometimes ridiculous —, but we
had that structure to work within.  I'm not suggesting that we
return to that, but I note that since LUV disincorporated and
became a sub-committee of LA, that structure has become less
well defined.  We've also had something of a generational
turnover in the active LUV members.  Then came the Covid
pandemic.  I think that the LUV committee is to be commended for
keeping LUV going through those hard times, when many similar
groups succumbed.  And more recently, they've been rebuilding
LUV, getting new (younger) members, initiating new events (like
the Linux AI Nights and the Linux Gippsland Regional Summit),
reviving old events (like the Penguin Picnic, and in-person
meeting).  Sure, some things perhaps should have been done
differently, but the main thing is that they're happening, and
we can refine processes as we go.

I've gone on far more than I intended to.  I feel we should for
now quieten the list as Joel Addison, LA President, suggested,
and leave this matter for now with LA council and LUV committee
to resolve.  My only excuse for posting this now is that there's
been a lot posted I think misunderstanding the situation, which
I feel shouldn't go unanswered.


— Smiles, Les.