After one year in France, there's still something I cannot completely understand; I don't know if it is something common in Europe, or a artifact of the French law, or if it is just that French people like to do things so formally all the time...

I was taking a look at the website of the local LUG, and was amazed that they have «association loi de 1901» status, an administration council with 11 members, statute, and written bylaws. Also, to be a part of the association, you need to send a paper form and at least €10.

According to the Wikipedia page , an «association loi de 1901» is just a non-profit organisation, and it has that status even if it is not registered. But it seems that is not mandatory to have any of the hierarchical structure, written rules and the such!

So it seems that any group of more than 10 that gets together to do something go through all this trouble when it is not needed, there should be some explanation for all this...