Re: [Debconf-team] reading thru the meeting logs...
Moray Allan <moray@sermisy.org> writes:
> On 2012-10-25 01:39, Gunnar Wolf wrote:
>> Right. Emergency mode rarely makes us take the best
>> decisions. However, in order to get the number closer in line with
>> the
>> forseen numbers, we can assume no travel sponsorship will be
>> paid. That will mean we have to budget for IIRC CHF30K less - And
>> ~15%
>> of our current budget is no small feat.
>
> Just so that the other side of the argument is made:
>
> Travel sponsorship is important to make DebConf as useful as possible
> an event for Debian. Allocating only 10-15% of the budget might allow
> us to bring a lot of useful people who couldn't otherwise attend.
I want to emphasis a bit what Moray wrote above. If travel sponsorship
is eliminated because other things are too expensive, that results in a
Debconf where only people who can afford to go can go. It raises the
economic minimum bar to a level where we cut people off from attending
and that results in a completely different Debconf than we have ever had
before. This shouldn't be something that is just waved away so
trivially.
If this is the plan, to change Debconf so that a certain set of people
are not going to be able to attend, then this kind of radical change
should be discussed a little bit wider than just on the team
list... because people *will* be quite upset to find out about this
decision when it is too late to have any input on it.
I have heard people complain in years past that the average cost of
Debconf continues to rise and the expectations continue to pile up, and
that this is unsustainable. We've managed to make it work, by hook or
crook, and the skin of our pants (sorry for the idiomatica here, but I
hope you get my meaning) but that has only been because we have had the
unexpected windfalls of having entire governments support us. We would
be foolish to think that we will continue to get government support
everywhere, while simultaneously increasing the overall cost of
Debconf.
I appreciate the attempts to solve this monetary problem by coming up
with different creative solutions, such as eliminating food, or adding
attendance fees... but I haven't yet seen an honest and candid
discussion (or thread) about the more obvious solution to the monetary
problem[0]: namely, rather than finding creative ways to offload the
additional expenses onto individuals attending debconf, instead reduce
the overall cost of Debconf.
micah
0. if I were to continue with idioms, I would call this the elephant in
the room
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