Let me pose a position here. Feel free to shoot it down.
Neither of the groups that do or have run Calstar (SJAA or TAC) have
anything to be ashamed of in the amount of time spent on public outreach.
Whether it is public nights at Shingletown, or monthly Houge parties, both
groups do their part.
For me, Calstar has always been the closest thing we have to a "serious
only, no presentations, no public, no bullshit" star party. I think we
should codify that.
- No advertising except on TAC or SJAA.
- No "casual" area. It's a serious party.
- If you want to stay at a cabin, park way the hell up by the road and walk
in and out.
- If you arrive late, tough. Walk in with your binoculars, camp by the road,
and set up the next morning. You won't make the same mistake twice.
- If we can arrange a gate made of parked cars or something, even better.
- No public welcome. No school groups. No cars of non-astronomer friends.
Because TAC is informal, it's tough to eliminate people from attending. What
we should do is have some pretty intense language on the registration page
stating that this is serious only, you are expected to arrive early and stay
the night, and not even talk about "early departure" or "casual" areas.
This is the party we do for "us", not for anyone else.
-- What TAC's Mailing List Is About http://www.observers.org/Join.shtml Interested in WebCam, DSLR or CCD Imaging? http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TAC-imaging/ To Sub-scribe or Unsub-scribe from TAC http://seds.org/mailman/listinfo/sf-bay-tacReceived on Mon Sep 25 11:08:40 2006