I have analyzed all the Python user groups | Tom Wojcik

I have analyzed all the Python user groups May 21, 2023 pythonpug PUG = Python User Group Recently, a coworker approached me and asked if I’d be interested in going to Krakow, a city located 90km (56miles) away from my place, to attend a local Python meetup. While it does sound like fun, I’d prefer to attend a similar event that’s closer to home. I recalled that PySilesia used to be organized in Katowice, the city where I reside, but it appears to have been inactive for the past few years. I began searching on Google and discovered that the official Python website has a section dedicated to listing local user groups (https://wiki.python.org/moin/LocalUserGroups). While I understand that this list may not be exhaustive, it provides a great starting point. It’s worth noting that some recently established Python user groups may not be included yet. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any active PUGs in my city. Out of curiosity, I decided to explore PUGs from other countries. To my surprise, I encountered a graveyard of inactive websites. Many of the domains were either dead or returned 404 errors. Some claimed to be country-wide user groups, which didn’t quite align with the term ‘LocalUserGroups’ as the URL suggests. Others redirected to personal blogs, company websites, news sites, or even casinos. After painstakingly opening all 324 links that I had scraped from the site, I discovered that only 59 of them were still active. 59 / 324 = 18.2% meetups were alive The ones that are still alive, are urlname0https://www.meetup.com/Cape-Town-Python-Users-Group-CTPUG/Cape Town Python Users Group1https://www.meetup.com/python-ghana/Python Ghana2http://www.pymug.compymug3http://www.meetup.com/BangPypers/BangPypers Meetup Group4http://www.meetup.com/Hyderabad-Python-Meetup-Group/Hyderabad Python Meetup Group5https://www.meetup.com/kovaipyKovaiPy (Kovai/Coimbatore Python User Group)6http://www.meetup.com/Python-IDMeetup.com7http://tehpug.irWeb Site8http://www.meetup.com/PythonNepal/DN: Python Users Group Nepal Meetups9http://www.meetup.com/pythonhug/PyHUG Meetups10http://www.meetup.com/Taipei-py/Taipei.py Meetups11http://www.meetup.com/Tainan-py-Python-Tainan-User-Group/Tainan.py Meetups12http://www.meetup.com/ThaiPy-Bangkok-Python-Meetup/ThaiPy - Bangkong Python Meetup Group13http://www.meetup.com/Brisbane-Python-User-Group/Brisbane14https://www.meetup.com/dev_nq/DevNQ - North Queensland Software Development Community15http://www.meetup.com/Perth-Django-Users-Group/Perth Django Users Group16https://www.meetup.com/PyGRAZ/events/291837521/pyGraz17https://www.meetup.com/pyworkingpython.cz18http://www.meetup.com/Python-Users-Berlin-PUB/PUB19https://www.meetup.com/Leipzig-Python-User-Group/Leipzig Python User Group20https://www.meetup.com/Python-Meeting-Dusseldorf/Python Meeting Düsseldorf21http://www.meetup.com/Python-User-Group-Freiburg/Python User Group Freiburg22https://www.meetup.com/pythonireland/Python Ireland23http://www.meetup.com/python-lv/Python User Group Latvia24https://www.meetup.com/pykonikPykonik25https://www.meetup.com/PyWaw-Python-Warsaw-User-Group/PyWaw26https://www.meetup.com/pyporto/Python Porto27http://www.moscowpython.ru/MoscowPython28http://www.meetup.com/Python-Sevilla/Python Sevilla29http://www.meetup.com/Python-Valencia-Meetup/Python Valencia30https://www.meetup.com/grupy-sanca/grupy-sanca31https://www.meetup.com/pythonbaq/Website32http://www.meetup.com/Phoenix-Python-Meetup-Group/DesertPy Meetup33https://www.meetup.com/PHXGeo/http://phxgeo.org34https://www.meetup.com/baypiggies/BayPiggies35http://www.meetup.com/san-diego-python-users-groupSan Diego Python Users Group36http://www.meetup.com/Orange-County-CA-Python-User-Group/OCPUG37http://www.meetup.com/iepython/IEPUG38http://www.meetup.com/fresnopython/Fresno.py39https://www.meetup.com/python-atlanta/PyAtl40https://www.meetup.com/_ChiPy_/ChiPy - The Chicago Python Users Group41http://www.meetup.com/derbypyDerbyPy42http://www.meetup.com/derbypyDerbyPy43http://www.meetup.com/python-frederick/Python Frederick44https://www.meetup.com/grpython/GRPUG45http://meetup.com/STL-PythonSTL Python46https://www.meetup.com/nycpython/NYC Python47http://www.meetup.com/Central-Ohio-Python-Users-GroupCentral Ohio Python User Group48http://www.meetup.com/phillypug/The Philadelphia Python Users Group (PhillyPUG)49http://www.meetup.com/Chattanooga-Python-User-Group/Chattanooga, TN50https://www.meetup.com/memphis-technology-user-groups/MEMpy51http://www.meetup.com/SLCPython/Salt Lake City52http://www.meetup.com/PythonAtThePoint/Draper, Sandy53http://www.meetup.com/757-Python-Users-Group/757 Python User Group54http://www.meetup.com/PyRVA-Meetup/PyRVA55https://www.meetup.com/PyRVAUserGroup/PyRVA.org56http://www.meetup.com/DCPython/DC Python57http://www.meetup.com/Spokane-Python-Meetup/Python Spokane58http://www.meetup.com/PythonTriCities-Meetup/Python Tri-Cities As you can observe, the majority of these groups utilize meetup.com as their platform for organizing and coordinating events. While this choice offers easier discoverability, it presents a significant barrier for hobbyist PUGs. Not only do they have to find speakers, arrange a venue, and engage in basic promotion, but now they are also expected to bear the financial burden? That’s certainly discouraging. I’m delighted to introduce you to pythonuser.group. This platform is designed exclusively for the requirements of local Python user groups, and it’s completely free to use. The best part is that even if you decide to discontinue you local PUG, your data will remain intact. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me via email at pug [at] tomwojcik.com. The data was fetched with from bs4 import BeautifulSoup URL = "https://wiki.python.org/moin/LocalUserGroups" response = requests.get(URL) soup = BeautifulSoup(response.content, "html.parser") pug_tags = soup.find_all('a', {'class': 'http'}) d = [ {'url': tag.attrs['href'], 'name': tag.text, 'is_alive': False} for tag in pug_tags ] df = pd.DataFrame(d) df.to_csv('data.csv', index=False) database = "data.sqlite" conn = sqlite3.connect(database) df.to_sql(name='data', con=conn) conn.close() and is available at https://tomwojcik.com/pug_data.csv