Merge pull request #36 from martin-a-brown/master

more updates to User-Group-HOWTO (from Rick Moen)

LDP/howto/linuxdoc/User-Group-HOWTO.sgml

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 
 <title>Linux User Group HOWTO
 <author><url name="Rick Moen" url="mailto:%20rick@linuxmafia.com%20"></author>
-<date>v1.8.5, 2016-02-25
+<date>v1.8.6, 2016-02-25
 
 <abstract>
 The Linux User Group HOWTO is a guide to founding, maintaining, and
@@ -251,7 +251,7 @@ on to other interests.</item>
 away available talent and energy, and making LUGs less noticeable.</item>
         <item>GNU/Linux becoming so much easier to install
 and use that focus has shifted to more-specialised topics better served
-by more-specialised technical communities (DevOps, Bioinformatics,
+by more-specialised technical communities (DevOps, bioinformatics,
 cloud computing, embedded computing, and many others).</item>
         <item>LUG leaders poorly managing a generational transition, 
 leaving nobody ready to take over as they bow out.</item>
@@ -278,7 +278,7 @@ better for a LUG to do less, or have its functions occur less often,
 than risk people wearing out and leaving.</item>
         <item>Remember that if people aren't having fun, they won't 
 continue for long.  E.g., if your group becomes less technical and 
-more social, don't fret.  It's probbly a healthy thing.</item>
+more social, don't fret.  It's probably a healthy thing.</item>
 	<item>Carefully guard your significant assets, such as domain
 ownership, difficult-to-acquire meeting venues, and the names of key
 corporate contacts, and keep them away from problematic people sometimes
@@ -755,7 +755,7 @@ available in few other places. For example:
 
 	<item>Which local ISP is Linux-friendly?</item> 
 	<item>Are there any local hardware vendors building Linux PCs?</item>
-	<item>Does anyone sell Linux CDs locally?</item>
+	<item>Does anyone sell Linux DVDs/CDs locally?</item>
 
 </itemize>
 
@@ -993,7 +993,7 @@ What do LUGs do at these meetings?
 <sect1>Online resources
 <p>
 The commercial rise of the Internet coincided roughly with that of
-GNU/Linux; the latter owes something to the former. The 'Net has always been
+GNU/Linux; the latter owes something to the former. The Net has always been
 important to development. LUGs are no different: Most have Web
 pages, if not whole Web sites. In fact, I'm not sure how else to find a
 LUG, but to check the Web.  
@@ -1140,7 +1140,7 @@ One of the long-time ones remains active:
 	<item>Post flyers, messages, or handbills wherever computer users are in your area.</item>
 	<item>Secure dedicated leadership.</item>
 	<item>Follow Linus Torvalds's <it>benevolent dictator</it> model of leadership.</item>
-	<item>Take the big decisions to the members for a vote.</item>
+	<item>Take the big decisions to the members for a vote.  (Note:  This HOWTO's second maintainer feels volunteers who do needed LUG work deserve significantly greater consideration for their views than do other members.)</item>
 	<item>Start a mailing list devoted to technical support and ask the "gurus" to participate on it.</item>
 	<item>Schedule a mixture of advanced and basic, formal and informal, presentations.</item>
 	<item>Support the software development efforts of your members.</item>
@@ -1150,8 +1150,8 @@ One of the long-time ones remains active:
 	<item>Meet in conjunction with swap meets, computer shows, or other community events where computer users -- i.e., potential GNU/Linux users -- are likely to gather.</item>
 	<item>Elect formal leadership for the LUG as soon as practical: Some helpful officers might include President, Treasurer, Secretary, Meeting Host (general announcements, speaker introductions, opening and closing remarks, etc.), Publicity Coordinator (handles Usenet and e-mail postings, local publicity), and Program Coordinator (organises and schedules speakers at LUG meetings).</item>
 	<item>Provide ways for members and others to give feedback about the direction, goals, and strategies of the LUG.</item>
-	<item>Support GNU/Linux and free software / open source development efforts by donating Web space, a mailing list, or an ftp site.</item>
-	<item>Establish an ftp/Web site for relevant software.</item>
+	<item>Support GNU/Linux and free software / open source development efforts by donating Web/ftp space, or a mailing list.</item>
+	<item>Establish a Web/ftp site for relevant software.</item>
 	<item>Archive everything the LUG does for the Web site.</item>
 	<item>Solicit "door prizes" from GNU/Linux vendors, VARs, etc. to give away at meetings.</item>
 	<item>Give credit where due.</item>
@@ -1185,8 +1185,8 @@ It avoids claims for tax on group income.
 people.  (You're not doing skydiving, after all.)  Also, even
 incorporated technical groups seldom carry liability insurance, and that
 insurance is typically so narrow in coverage that almost nothing a LUG
-does would be covered, a corporate liability shield is little use for
-such needs either (limiting only the group's potential losses to the
+does would be covered.  A corporate liability shield is little use for
+such needs, either (limiting only the group's potential losses to the
 equity stake of the owners, but conferring no immunity to anyone for 
 deeds that person carries out).  Fundraising isn't needed for a group whose
 activities needn't involve significant expenses.  (Dead-tree newsletters
@@ -1299,7 +1299,7 @@ relevant to your LUG.
 Common Misconceptions Debunked:
 
 <itemize>
-    <item><p>Incorporation and tax-exempt status are separate issues.  You don't have to be incorporated to get recognition of tax-exempt status.  You don't have to be tax-exempt to be incorporated.  (Odds are, you honestly won't want either.  You just probably assume you do.)</item>
+    <item><p>Incorporation and tax-exempt status are separate issues.  You don't have to be incorporated to get recognition of tax-exempt status (except it's required for one tax-exempt category, 501(c)(3)).  You don't have to be tax-exempt to be incorporated.  (Odds are, you honestly won't want either.  You just probably assume you do.)</item>
     <item><p>The "liability shield" one can get from incorporating <it>doesn't 
 protect volunteers from legal liability</it>.  All it does is prevent any 
 plaintiffs from suing individual shareholders (LUG members, in this case) 
@@ -1556,7 +1556,7 @@ option, any later version.
 <sect1>New versions
 <p>
 New versions of the Linux User Group HOWTO will be periodically
-uploaded to various GNU/Linux Web and ftp sites, principally <url
+uploaded to various GNU/Linux Web/ftp sites, principally <url
 url="http://linuxmafia.com/lug/" name="http://linuxmafia.com/lug/"> and
 the <url name="Linux Documentation Project"
 url="http://www.tldp.org/">.
@@ -1654,7 +1654,7 @@ to list of supported hardware platforms to stress that this part isn't
 serious documentation, but just intended to illustrate the breadth of
 Linux's reach.  Corrected slightly incorrect statement about licensing of
 Linux-based OSes.  Added new section Avoiding Burnout and Decline.
-Added hackerspaces to list of possible metting venues.  Added Lugslist, which
+Added hackerspaces to list of possible meeting venues.  Added Lugslist, which
 heroically rose in 2015 to explicitly compensate for collapse of the
 much-missed lugww.counter.li.org and GLUE LUG lists.  Removed linux.org
 LUG list, which Michael McLagen's Linux Online, Inc. deleted without notice.
@@ -1664,7 +1664,7 @@ www.linux.ca, which is down for rebuild but is promised to be back Q1
 2016.  Corrected URL for Linux Australia's LUG list.  Removed <it>Linux
 Gazette</it>, folded in 2011.  Removed <it>Linux Focus</it>, dormant
 since 2010.  Updated name and Web site of <it>LINUX for You</it>
-magazine, which has now become <it>OpenSource ForYou</it>.
+magazine, which has now become <it>OpenSource For You</it>.
 Added magazines <it>Full Circle</it>, <it>Linux Voice</it>,
 <it>easyLinux</it>, <it>LinuxUser</it>, and <it>Ubuntu User</it>.
 Clarified where each magazine originates and detail national versions of
@@ -1675,7 +1675,10 @@ died shortly Mitch Kapor left it in 2008.  Added further clarification
 about limited benefits of incorporation and insurance.  Annotated LibrePlanet 
 list as being FSF affiliates only.  Updated claim about how many LUGs 
 exist worldwide.  Updated version of CC BY-SA licence applicable to this 
-HOWTO from 3.0 to 4.0.
+HOWTO from 3.0 to 4.0.  Included nod to realism that, no, the world at large
+is never going to adopt the usage "GNU/Linux", but please indulge me anyway.
+Linked in two appropriate places to separate Meetup.com rant.
+        <Item>1.8.6:  Fixed new typos and punctuation errors, revised antiquated emphasis on ftp, and averted one quibble about tax-exempt status not requiring incorporation (the 501(c)(3) exception).  Politely disagreed with Kendall's implication that everyone deserves an equal say in "big decisions".
 </item>
 
 </itemize>