Re: [Debconf-team] Information gathered for travel sponsorship

[Holger Levsen <holger@layer-acht.org>]

On Montag, 3. September 2012, Lucas Nussbaum wrote:
> I also think that this goes too far.
> 
> I think that the sponsorship committee should:
> 1) verify that the funding asked for is adequate (given the expected
>    travel costs from the originating country)
> 2) rank demands based on *benefit of attendance for Debian*.
>    If you quantify, for each applicant, the added value of the
>    attendance for Debian (not in $ or €, but in a "virtual currency"),
>    it becomes a simple problem (maximize benefit for Debian) with a
>    simple solution: order applicants using the "benefit/cost" ratio,
>    sponsor as many as possible => maximize the total added value of
>    Debconf for Debian.
> 
> I don't think that the "economical effort" should be part of the
> ranking. First, it's very hard to quantify, because you need to consider
> at least: income, general cost of living, family & other recurring
> expenses, does attending debconf result in a loss of income (case if
> working freelance), in a loss of vacations (if attending debconf during
> vacations), or is the applicant attending debconf as part of your work,
> etc.
> Second, I think that it's irrelevant: I don't see why we should care
> about how hard it would be for the requester to attend if we don't
> sponsor him. Also, it turns the process into asking "OK, that requester
> says s/he won't attend if we don't sponsor him 200€.  But maybe s/he
> will attend anyway? Let's see how much s/he earns."

+1

(and I agree with the two not quoted suggestions as well.)