I'm not sure about purely SLAS discussions held on an open forum, but here's my 2 cents. While I'm not dead-set against public outreach, I feel that the SPOC is outreach enough. We don't need to turn into John Dobson-style "missionaries" and take the telescope to the streetcorner as an organization, a category I feel TITP & Harmon's parking lots fall into. I partly feel this way because in past years, the "off-site" star-party regulars have voiced complaints about being stretched too thin. Has this situation changed? Let those who want to continue those events do it for "extra credit", and not make it a central pillar of a SLAS mission statement. I like to attend at least a few SPOC star parties a year, so that is my preference. The others are mostly glad-handing and a venue for a couple of folks who really like the social aspects of those parking-lot sessions. SPOC is a long-term commitment "set in concrete", literally. TITP and Harmons events MUST be scheduled based on the word of those who commit to being there. On Sun, Jun 15, 2008 at 2:38 AM, Patrick Wiggins <paw@wirelessbeehive.com> wrote:
Speaking of star parties, there was a discussion about TITP vs. SPOC vs. Harmons at tonight's star party and at the "Advanced Training Session" that followed.
If we follow the examples of the past couple of years, SLAS will be needing to come up with next year's public star party schedule in the next few months and it would be a good idea to see how those *who actually attend star parties* feel about where public star parties are held before next year's schedule s set.
Any thoughts here on the subject?