Re:Is it real, or is it AstroTurf? (Score 1)

My original title had been "Stupid M$ Tricks: .NET Astroturf campaign"

Blurb copy aside, this is exactly my concern.

Looking at the Toronto DNUG site, you see a picture gallery (deliberately sloppily coded, IMHO) of people sitting in rows of chairs, watching powerpoint presentations by people with PR-smiles on their faces. The images convey a marketing atmosphere in the meeting(s).

Also, consider that the listed founders are companies, not individuals. That means that the companies are paying someone to spend company time thinking about and building the UG. It isn't a hobby or interest anymore, it has become a job someone does. Now, add to that the fact that all the founding companies are M$ partners (or trainers). Starting to see the money stream here?

Another item: giveaways. Sure, LUGS often hand out mugs, CDs, and the like in raffles or to everyone who passes the door. But, these items don't have a store sticker price of up to four full integers. That's a lot of candy to wave around beconing people to "just turn up".

Banner Ads. Why would a UG need them? I use Linux, so I went looking for a LUG. I use M$ products, and in my early days I got around with casual user groups (BBS clubs mostly) to learn them. Generally, people have an interest or are already using a product when they are looking for UGs. Using banner ads is an effort to raise awareness of their existance to those who have not desired to seek them out.

The money stream, the marketing of the UG's existance, and my own observations (lack of open floor questions, incapacity to answer questions that were presented) attending some M$ functions recently make a strong arguement (to me) of DNUG being astroturf.

Why is this important? It is inappropriate to equate DNUGs with LUGs, and I believe this is going to happen. We need to be ready for it, to educate the boardroom when decision time comes. I believe what is happening here is deceptive.

I will be attending the next DNUG. If they are going to be useful, great, but I fear it will be a rerun of a past PR presentation complete with handouts of .NET Visual Studio.