[LispSea] charter

[Brandon J. Van Every]

Justin Grant wrote:
>
> Personally, I don't have any interest in de-clawing Lisp for business 
> consumption by using marketing primarily.
> There is definitely value in marketing but this should come as a 
> result of a 'killer app/s' being written and used (i.e. Rails, Yahoo 
> Store). Marketing should not be the primary effort but a side 
> effect/effort.

I'm sympathetic to that point of view, which I'd call "proof in the 
pudding."  I feel my only recourse in the game industry is to make a 
great game, make it with Chicken Scheme, make lotsa $$$$$$ on it, and 
then tell people what I did.  If I still think it's important or 
profitable to tell people what I did.  Some people, once they achieve 
success, become very quiet about how they got there, lest someone else 
take it from them!

However, to say "should not" is to deny oneself the tools of the 
Consultant.  A solution doesn't have to be "killer" to be a good 
solution.  How often are Java solutions "killer?"  Yet there are many 
Java solutions, because Java is well promoted.

>
> Those who want to learn Lisp could find guidance in the language and 
> practices by attending local meetings. They would also have the option 
> of becoming involved in a community project. The project could speak 
> volumes to business if it was a success.
> Another great side effect would be that usable frameworks could be 
> extracted from such an undertaking which in turn benefit the community 
> at large.

One thing SeaFunc doesn't do, and one reason why I think SeaFunc has a 
stable upwards growth curve.  We don't say to people, "Please do more 
work!"  People have their own jobs and their own projects.  I'm all for 
networking people who want to do projects.  I'm all for offering 
organizational resources that help them coordinate that sort of thing - 
I'll have to add Darcs to my list of interests.  But I would hate to see 
LispSea perceived as "that place where everyone wants to sign you up for 
a project."  It would drive people away.  It's a matter of handling and 
framing rather than substance.  It's a matter of, say, not Chartering 
oneself as "we're here to do all these projects, that's our mission."

A recent Seattle AI group folded because of this thing, as far as I 
know.  They were all about, "Gee, let's have this big community project 
to work on!"  I was like, geez, I don't need more work.

>
> Building a web app for the LispSea community to 'get things done' is a 
> good place to start.
> I'm willing to take this on and/or contribute a considerable amount of 
> time...

Now that's really the gold of a group.  People who say, "Hey, I am doing 
/ will do this.  Who's joining me?"  And even better: people who go off 
and do it anyways when the crickets chirp.

I always feel bad when web infrastructure comes up, because I know it's 
important, but I really have no web skills nor desire to have them.  At 
some point I will work on the slick LispSea 3D demos to assuage my 
guilty conscience.


Cheers,
Brandon Van Every