LUGs core reason for existence — sharing Linux and systems administration knowledge — is no longer relevant. You can learn mostly everything you need to get to

LUGs core reason for existence — sharing Linux and systems administration knowledge — is no longer relevant. You can learn mostly everything you need to get to journeyman level experience online and in books. Once you want to achieve master level proficiency you join special interest groups and go to conferences. The LUGs I have been to are mostly social groups running off the inertia of old members which were around back when LUGs were relevant, an inertia which is slowing down with the age of the members. I served on the board for a local LUG and there is still some interest from the community but not like back in the day when they could pull 100s of people in a meeting and IBM or Redhat would buy free pizza for everyone in the early 2000s.