Re: [Debconf-team] Special sponsorship
On 20/07/11 at 22:10 -0400, Jimmy Kaplowitz wrote:
> Hi Steve,
>
> On Thu, Jul 21, 2011 at 03:18:03AM +0200, Steve Langasek wrote:
> > When is the travel sponsorship process going to be fixed to stop asking
> > about total travel costs vs. sponsored travel costs, and instead focus on
> > what's important: the amount of sponsorship moneys the individual requires
> > in order to be able to attend DebConf?
>
> We already ask about both numbers, as you imply. I do think it's reasonable and
> helpful to know the total cost and at least some assertion about the
> applicant's financial situation (we're not asking for tax documents here). This
> allows herb team members to infer whether the applicant is doing their part to
> pay what they can. In order for our limited travel funds to be used
> optimally, both the applicants and the herb team have roles to play. However,
> if Debian discusses this issue and develops a consensus that it doesn't want to
> know people's total projected travel costs, I don't plan to stand in the way of
> that. Not that I have veto power anyway, of course.
>
> Definitely one fix that should be among next year's changes is replacing the
> "Amount you are unable to pay yourself" wording with something easier for
> people from around the world to read quickly, like "Amount of travel assistance
> needed". But the question, with inferior phrasing, is already asked.
I think that one of the problems is that people have different
understandings of "travel assistance needed". What does "needed" mean?
One could use a loan to pay the debconf trip, so even in this case, the
travel assistance is not really "needed".
For those of us who pay their debconf attendance using their personal
money, attending debconf and paying themselves probably mean that they
will spend less expensive vacations after debconf, not buy a new laptop
or a new car, rent a smaller appartment, etc, etc. In fact, by paying
themselves, they are (virtually) donating money to Debian, that is used
to pay the trip for someone else. Except it's not really recognized as
such.
IMHO, the real question is: "how much would the project need to pay to
have you at debconf?"
Also, I'm surprised that there's no rule about what Debian will
reimburse. We should probably have a set of rules on what is acceptable,
such as "for flights, Debian will not reimburse more than 110% of the
cheapest flight (in economy class) found for your trip on that date."
Has it been considered to use a travel agency to book debconf flights?
Canonical is doing that for UDS, and it's working quite well.
Lucas
Reply to: