Re: [Debconf-team] Issue with Marks attendance
Dear DIVA members,
As Alexander has already answered to you, even though we would also
really like to have Mark Shuttleworth here, that's something clearly
beyond our control - Mark is not part of Debian, and requesting us to
come to DebConf would be similar to requesting Emir Kusturica to film
our work sessions: There is nothing we can do to achieve it if he does
not want to.
We understand the importance the government sees in having a formal
session with Shuttleworth, but please bear in mind we didn't promise
or offer he would be here. It would also be a great pleasure for us to
host him; usually, his address in Debian is important and enjoys a
very good attendance, but we cannot do anything beyond the request you
already saw.
Now, given the reality (that he says he cannot come and there's
nothing we can do about it), I can just hope this not become a
childish game again. We thought our communication problems were
basically over, and were very happy to have a constructive meeting
yesterday (which I could not attend, as I was still on the way). We
need to be able to work with you as a team. If we go back to fighting
about issues we cannot control, and this affects the attendees'
experience, it would surely end up in -as you put it- DIVA being seen
as an incompetent partner and a liar.
Despite problems such as the cancelling of the shuttles from Zagreb or
Shuttleworth's cancellation, we surely still have the opportunity of
making this confernce a great success. Please trust our
experience. Debian has run a DebConf for eleven years already, and the
chairs of the conference (Moray Allan, Holger Levsen and myself) have
been part of the organizer team for at least the past five
years. Please, lets cooperate, lets deal with unforseen issues as they
arise - and lets not boycott each other's work.
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