Ask HN: Were you in a computer user group, back in their heyday?

#1

Post by ohjeez » Fri, Feb 07, 2020, 10:37 PM UTC

I'm writing an article about The Golden Era of User Groups, and I'd love your input.

This idea came to me when I mentioned user groups to a young person who'd never heard of them. Oh no! It was such a special time of community support! Let's not permit the memories to go away!

So tell me about your experiences!

The basics: When, where, what type of group, how big it was. Your role, if relevant. (e.g. I was president of one group, VP of another, and on an international board of user groups... you might be "just a member" which is fine!)

Your memories: How involved were you, for how long? What drew you to the user group? What made it special?

Mostly I want to hear stories, anecdotes, and nostalgia. So please share! (And let me know if I can quote you, at least by first name.)

Re: Ask HN: Were you in a computer user group, back in their heyday?

#2

Post by reaperducer » Fri, Feb 07, 2020, 11:41 PM UTC

I suggest you put some contact information in your profile so that people can get in touch with you outside of HN. People here use aliases because they enjoy anonymity.

Re: Ask HN: Were you in a computer user group, back in their heyday?

#3

Post by dang » Sat, Feb 08, 2020, 5:07 PM UTC

Please post the article to Hacker News when it's done! Email us at hn@ycombinator.com and we might be able to give you some tips.

Re: Ask HN: Were you in a computer user group, back in their heyday?

#4

Post by pstuart » Sat, Feb 08, 2020, 5:15 PM UTC

BMUG (Berkeley Macintosh Users Group) should be on your radar. I was a passive member but it got me into the computing industry working for a well known Mac networking company at the time.

Re: Ask HN: Were you in a computer user group, back in their heyday?

#5

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Feb 08, 2020, 5:26 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Were you in a computer user group, back in their heyday?

#6

Post by tluyben2 » Sat, Feb 08, 2020, 5:30 PM UTC

I was in two MSX user groups in 1984 and onward in the Netherlands. One was for all kinds of usage and one was for ‘hackers’. I was teaching people at both and learning at the hacker one. It was great fun dragging computers, eprom programmers, boxes with diskettes and sometimes boxes with electronics (like memory chips and soldering irons) to the crappy community house to have a sunday of fun.

Re: Ask HN: Were you in a computer user group, back in their heyday?

#7

Post by rbanffy » Sat, Feb 08, 2020, 5:32 PM UTC

I was in an Apple II user group in Brazil, mid 80's. It was called "Clube dos Applemaníacos".

Re: Ask HN: Were you in a computer user group, back in their heyday?

#8

Post by loudouncodes » Sat, Feb 08, 2020, 5:52 PM UTC

Washington Apple Pi in the mid 80’s. Had no idea that would be thought of as a ‘heyday’. I was in high school and used it mostly as a group of people to get software from...shareware and... otherwise.

There were also some fun bbs games like TradeWars 2000, of which nothing like that exists today. I remember racing home from school to see if there were still colonists left on Earth to take to my planets.

Re: Ask HN: Were you in a computer user group, back in their heyday?

#9

Post by bransonf » Sat, Feb 08, 2020, 6:33 PM UTC

I’m not old enough to have been around in the day of the original user groups, but I’m pretty active on Meetup these days, finding other developers in my city using similar languages and tools.

Curious to know what the contrasts are of the golden days and modern day.

Re: Ask HN: Were you in a computer user group, back in their heyday?

#10

Post by tempsy » Sat, Feb 08, 2020, 6:35 PM UTC

No, but one of the more surprising things I learned this election season was that Beto was in a hacker group.

Didn't strike me as a computer guy but I guess he is/was?