Huh, somehow this turned into a collection of SAQs (“Seldom-Asked Questions”) when I wasn’t looking. It still describes all the important-but-boring stuff that it needs to, so it’ll do.
Just where do you meet?
Courtesy of one of our members, we now get together in southeastern Kirkland. Navigate by your preferred means to 6418 125th Ave NE, Kirkland, WA 98033, where you should find Corvair Lane on the left of the cul-de-sac at the south end of 125th Ave NE. We will be meeting in the building just to the left within the fenced yard.
If driving, park off street on paved and gravel surfaces within the fence. No parking in the cul-de-sac. On-street parking permitted North of the cul-de-sac.
Via public transit, the nearest bus stops (served by Metro Transit route 245, Kirkland/Factoria) are a brisk 1/3-mile walk away, on NE 70th St and 124th Ave NE.
Do the meetings happen on an actual schedule?
We hold a regular meeting on the FOURTH Saturday (NOT the LAST one!) of each month, although admittedly some December meetings do get preëmpted by the Christmas holidays. Rarely, we have added, rescheduled, or even cancelled meetings in order to do things like hold joint meetings with other local retrocomputing groups, enjoy local points of interest such as the telephone museum, and/or attend a significant event of near-universal interest among our membership, such as the annual Vintage Computer Festival Pacific Northwest.
The SRCS does old computers! Can I (donate/sell/unload) mine?
Short answer: No, but if one of us personally is interested, they can work something out with you.
Long answer: The SRCS has no formal structure, nor any meaningful definition of membership. From a legal perspective, it probably doesn’t actually exist. As such, it can’t own or otherwise interact with anything, at all — tangible or otherwise. Any action, decision, or arrangement nominally involving the Society can, ultimately, only attach to some private individual.
The computers may be old, but the SRCS isn’t! Why?
Once arrived locally in 2007, our founder discovered that — apart from a very few moribund Commodore user groups, each somehow still limping along after 20 years but none of which lasted much past that — there were no retrocomputing groups at all in the Puget Sound area.
After several months of dealing with the nearest active meetings being at the end of a very, very long drive south to the Vancouver/Portland area, that instigating member gave up and started one locally from scratch.
The first meeting was held on the 25th of June, 2011, in the cluttered shell that was soon to become the Living Computer Museum. Somehow, we’re still going!
How do I contact someone about all of this?
Inquiries about most aspects of the SRCS may best be e-mailed to our administrator at (searetcompsoc@gmail.com). Currently, that administrator is Gordon “gsteemso” Steemson; but the Society’s email address is still not a personal account, even when you can predict whom it might reach. For the sake of future administrators, non-SRCS-related correspondence will be deleted.
OK, so how do I contact everyone else associated with all of this?
That would be the SRCS mailing list. Sadly, it’s hosted by Google Groups, but despite appearances it really is a simple email list. You don’t need a Google account, nor must you have any contact with their web interface.
The list’s sign-up address is (seattle-retrocomp+subscribe@googlegroups.com). Messages to it trigger an automated reply, asking you to confirm the subscription request. No matter what it may look like, replying to that email is all you need to do.
Once that’s all finished with, the posting address is merely (seattle-retrocomp@googlegroups.com).
There is also quite an active Facebook group, but since you have to join Facebook to use it, a lot of folks won’t see much benefit there.
“Retrocomputing” doesn’t contain a hyphen. Can’t you people spell?
We do know that, but unfortunately, the initialism “SRS” was already in use locally by the venerable Seattle Robotics Society (no relation).
It could be argued that using hyphens in a neologism is more authentically Retro anyway, at least for a certain value thereof.