In terms of available jobs, it is a bit frustrating. I know the Dealer Flow guys are currently looking for new talent - they're doing some cool stuff w/ Erlang (ejabberd, primarily I believe) and Ruby/Rails. There's a place in town called Sagebit (sagebit.com), which is smaller and does a mix of their own products + consultancy work. I don't know if they're looking, but they're good people to meet regardless. (Ruby/Rails/Merb, btw.) I know there's also some startup stuff going on down in Bloomington, which is (of course, entirely by my own opinion) a bit more likely of a town to make good computer sci. contacts in the greater world, what with your proximity to IUB. I only say that to guess, however.
Additionally, there's a Python meetup group in town, a bit smaller than the Ruby group. They've been regularly meeting at Broadripple Brewpub, and are primarily pushed by Six Feet Up, a company that's pretty active in the Zope/Plone/Python world. SFU is mostly consultant based, not really a startup, but they're good people to meet if you're more into that sorta thing.
AFA an HN meetup in Indy, I'd give a +1 to that.
The entrepreneurial community has been growing in the last few years and I believe the local angel investors and VC's are open to ideas revolving around the internet and technology. I have been to a few events put on by the Indiana Economic Development Corporation and both had contests for the best startup pitch/idea. Both were run by small startups (a website and a database technology company).
Indy isn't for everyone. I say go where you have to to get what you want.
I know at least 2-3 people which might come to either/both depending on timing/schedules.
Anyone have a good idea for organizing this? Not to re-invent the 'meetup.com' wheel, but perhaps we could create a mini "HN Fans Meetup" web app, that would benefit not only people in Indy but also any other state that isnt CA or MA..
Edit: I live near Broad Ripple, so pretty much anywhere that isnt Greenwood or Westfield is game. Even then, I'll probably come. :)
Brian
Perhaps we should have an Indy HN meetup sometime. In what part of Indy are you (you being anyone in Indy reading this) located?
If you like Ruby, there is a monthly Ruby group meeting at the downtown library (which is pretty awesome, in my opinion). Search meetup.com for Ruby and Indianapolis.
Complaining is useless. Maybe we can improve the city's startup scene ourselves, huh? Who else is going to do it?
Edit: To clarify: the library is awesome. I've only been to last month's Ruby meeting, so far. I get the feeling many of these sorts of groups are in their infancy. The Ruby group is sponsored by DealerFlow (http://dealerflow.com/), which is a startup of sorts. The Indianapolis Star (newspaper) employs some Ruby hackers (Indy.com is currently Rails, for now). I work at a data center (ChaCha is a customer) writing our custom intranet apps using Ruby/Rails. There are bright spots in Indy, you just have to dig.