Hi<br><br>I'm also a new TeX(live) user. After some back and forth I got my question answered, but I really don't like the mailinglist-system. While this is may good for occasional and though questions from advanced users, it's totally the wrong way to go for newbies. What I really miss is a central forum and a central wiki.<br>
<br>I really don't care about regional meetings and stuff, but I would, as soon as my skills are better, share my knowledge in a forum and/or wiki. Somehow this whole TeX-community is like an exclusive/closed scientific-nerd club (don't take it too hard guys) ;)<br>
<br>Just my 2 cent.<br><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Jan 30, 2008 7:59 PM, <<a href="mailto:bruce@auswildlife.com">bruce@auswildlife.com</a>> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
Hi Karl,<br><br>I am a new subscriber as of about three months ago and also new to TeX. I<br>was overwhelmed with just the basics and so I decided to join with the<br>idea that it might make things easier. So, from my most immediate point of<br>
view, I wasn't interested in the finer aspects of the system, I just<br>wanted to master the basics so that I could get this first document done.<br>I posted two questions to the group and the first response was ..."OMG,<br>
does he know what he is doing?' (of course the answer is no! I thought<br>that would have been obvious). The second question got no responses at<br>all. So in fact the value of membership to the group has been zero so far.<br>
<br>I think that there might be quite a few people like me out there and so<br>perhaps it would be good if many of the senior/advanced members were to<br>bear this im mind and make the effort to help basic users (telling someone<br>
to refer to a manual is not really providing any help and such a response<br>is not worth posting - is it??!!!). I am sure that some long-term members<br>altready help as much as they can, but I thought it may be worth just<br>
mentioning this.<br><br>cheers, Bruce<br><div><div></div><div class="Wj3C7c"><br><br><br><br>> I read somewhere on the tug website that there has been a steady<br>> decline in membership. Why is this ?<br>><br>
> I don't know where you read it (if you can find it again, let me know),<br>> but it is not true any more. TUG gained about 75 members in 2007 over<br>> 2006, and 2006 and 2005 were essentially steady (difference of 10<br>
> members out of ~1500).<br>><br>> TUG did lose members each year between 2001-2005, which I attribute to a<br>> combination of many people getting on the Internet (hence no need to get<br>> the CD's) and TUGboat falling (way) behind schedule.<br>
><br>> Could it be that non-members find they don't really need it ?<br>><br>> It is undoubtedly true that the vast majority of TeX users have no need<br>> to join TUG. It's not like you have to join TUG to get the software :).<br>
><br>> Many people join TUG because they care about TeX and friends and want to<br>> support it, not because they have a desperate need for TUGboat or the<br>> other benefits.<br>><br>> I have joined only recently.<br>
><br>> Thanks for your support :).<br>><br>> Best,<br>> Karl<br>> _______________________________________________<br>> TeX FAQ: <a href="http://www.tex.ac.uk/faq" target="_blank">http://www.tex.ac.uk/faq</a><br>
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