Yes. Still in Berlin for a workshop on the 13th and then speaking on the 15th. Plenty of people coming to the workshop.

Still doing Öredev in November.

And Marcel Fahle was on BEAM Radio. Love that guy.

Just me, the host and Francesco

I don't know if Allen Wyma reads this newsletter but just in case he is and feels mortified. No worries. I had a good time. And I'll use it to make a completely unrelated point :D

I was invited to speak at the Hong Kong Elixir meetup and because of the practicalities of hosting things like this, sometimes information doesn't get out the way it needs to and people don't realize and remember and get reminded that they should show up.

So it was me, Allen and Francesco Cesarini, the famous Intern of Erlang.  The rain was heavy in the Hong Kong streets outside our .. Google Meet. We shot the breeze for a bit assuming people would show up. We decided to reschedule my presentation and was about to hang up. Then some people got the late pings and showed up. We had some good chatting about Nerves and I did an ad-hoc workshop but still put the presentation off into late October. This was all fine if a little bit awkward for Allen which I tried not to make worse. I know what it is like to juggle many things. Am constantly in those shoes.

It is easy to assume I would be disappointed about not getting an audience. About not getting good numbers. I'm certainly someone who checks attendance numbers, views and engagement graphs. Bit of a sucker for the dopamine. But if we had a small crew I was actually thrilled to do something custom for them. Something interactive if possible.

I think a lot of people assume vanity on the part of the visible people in the community. I am vain but that's not the point. I want Elixir to reach more people. I want Nerves to win more hearts and minds. The numbers are about reach and progress. And frankly the conversation I had with Allen and Francesco before people showed up was quite valuable. Any time I interact with other people putting effort into the ecosystem I find it quite valuable and usually learn something or open some opportunity.

There are DM groups, various constellations around every project and everyone who publishes things. Conversations happen outside of the public eye all over the community and ecosystem. Even more at conferences and there perhaps more openly. About how we can work adoption. Where are we weakest? What are the strengths we should play to?

ElixirConf US had weak attendance this year from what I hear. Enough to concern people. That has a lot of complicated reasons behind it. I think the fact that Florida is a politically polarizing hot-bed is the primary one. That they are locked into several years, to my understanding, of ruinous contracts over there is very unfortunate. I think things could have been communicated more transparently. I think it would have still had a chilling effect. There might not have been a winning play. I know there is a bunch of other stuff on Jim Freeze's plate that are unrelated to running a conference and I understand that he might have different priorities. If you thought ElixirConf US and Florida was a simple dumb move, it is a way more complicated thing that I think started with a dumb move.

I don't care how ElixirConf US in particular fares. Some will, some won't. I care deeply that Elixir has a strong continued conference presence in the US. I don't think the Code BEAM events will pick that up because they mix in Erlang and that changes the vibe a fair bit. Good conferences but not quite so cohesive. And I'm not concerned that the community is falling off. ElixirConf EU has had better numbers every year.

So this  becomes a topic for us that are deeply invested and either run projects or do teaching, outreach or build businesses on top of the ecosystem. Is there a problem? What can we do to improve things? Where are efforts best spent? I see very little ego and a lot of genuine accountability. Many of these people are looked upon as leaders and leadership is a lot about responsibility and helping with direction. Lots of asking yourself hard questions. No one member of the community can entirely move Elixir adoption.

Finding common ideas and setting compatible direction is valuable. I can't tell Ash what to do. But I know Zach cares a lot and is willing to work hard and collaborate. I can't unilaterally set a direction for Nerves but it Frank and Jon are very much game to make things happen. I will admit that I don't talk to the Phoenix team much, I have mostly spoken to Chris McCord and I prefer not to bother him very often. And when needed I know José is very available to support community efforts.

And there are people you've never heard of. Company owners that will throw money at open source development. Low-key open source devs that will make magical development happen without saying a word about it publicly. And there are people who mostly talk, show, share and publish.

I've been very glad to see the mix of leadership and collaboration around Elixir and the more I'm active the more of it I see and hear. I am certainly outside of more groups than I'm inside of. That is the way of things. There are many overlapping circles that make up the community and knowing that people talk to each other to find the way forward, coalesce on ideas and get cool shit done is very satisfying.

I'm not sad or embarassed if no-one comes to a meetup. The meetup is not there for me. I am there for the meetup. When I do what I do right it is an act of service. In service of the community, in service of the ecosystem. That's what I see from most of the active people in the community. They take their power seriously. Whether that's status, skill, knowledge or a way with words. They apply it in service of how they believe the community can flourish. And they take on the responsibility.

Some may argue that all the discussion should happen in public. I think changes to the language, major framework changes, are generally fair game for discussion and most of the creators will engage and work through that often painful public work. And ideally a lot of the work should happen in public or public-enough places so that new people can become engaged. The discussions on adoption and direction do also come up in public and many engage in them. Collaboration also has to happen between people though, 1 on 1 or 1 to few. There are many dysfunctions that show up in the replies on public platforms that are a detriment to having a transparent exchange about real concerns. Often a function of the medium more than the people. You might not want to show your weakness in public, admit a mistake or apologize for that time your were terse. That's the stuff that makes this all work. Publicly and privately it moves.

Anyway, I went to a meetup and had to reschedule and was glad to realize I wasn't sad and my ego was not hurt. Because the best people I see do work in the community keep their ego in check. And I hope I can be like them in that.

You can reach me on the Fediverse where I'm @lawik@fosstodon.org or by responding to this email to lars@underjord.io.

Thank you for reading. I appreciate it.