A Tale of Two Groups
Did you know that ChicagoRuby.org is actually the second Chicago-area Ruby group with roots at Meetup.com? Yes, it could be confusing. But if you use Ruby, you’re smart enough to grok this :-)
Chirb – The Beginning
In 2005, John W. Long, Ryan Platte, and several other Rubyists started a Ruby interest group at Meetup.com. As the group grew in size, member Peter K. Chan wrote an RSVP app in Rails, and they left Meetup to form Chirb.
As far as Meetup was concerned, Chirb had joined a witness protection program. New identity, new address… the works. They were nowhere to be found. Or so Meetup thought.
A New Group Starts
Some months later, Ruby enthusiast Steve Rummel went looking around Chicago for a Ruby group to join. Steve searched high & low through Meetup, Google, and other resources. Finding none, he started our group through Meetup.com.
Name Change & Growth: ChicagoRuby.org
When time constraints forced Steve to step down as organizer in August 2007, three new organizers stepped up to keep things running: Wil Chung, Victor Hong, and Raymond T. Hightower. At that point we chose a new name (ChicagoRuby.org) and we launched the ChicagoRuby.org web site while maintaining the Meetup relationship for RSVPs.
So now we have two groups: Chirb and ChicagoRuby.org.
Advantages in Confusion
Here’s why it’s great to have two groups.
- Variation in time. If one group meets on an inconvenient date, you can go to the other group.
- Variation in space. If one group is too far away, you can go to the other group.
No Travel Restrictions
Even better: There are no “rules” that say you can only work with one group. Some members cross-pollinate between Chirb and ChicagoRuby.org. The result: Both groups grow stronger and learn more!
The Future
If ChicagoRuby.org ever decides to leave Meetup, this could happen again. And we’ll have a third group and a fourth group and… More confusion and more opportunities to learn. What an exciting time to study Ruby!
