Outreach sounds appealing, but do the people actually exist to be outreached to? Although I’m one of the rare over-40s who is part of (for lack of a better term) Toronto’s Web 2.0 community, most of my agemates are settled into managerial roles at medium to large corporations. I may have been headed down that road myself until the smallish firm I worked for was acquired by a huge one and I developed an allergy to the bureaucracy and politics and Dilbert-ish-ness. So I only like working for small companies, but I’m unusual that way. Also, I only like working on new things, rather than squeezing another dollar out of an old product, but that too seems unusual in my demographic. (In Toronto, that is – as David Janes mentions, things are different in the Bay Area. You mention Brad Templeton – well, he moved there long ago.)

Whatever the reasons for this situation, I’m dubious that one would find many “elder statesmen” who would have more than a casual interest in this community. But I hope I’m wrong.