Re: [Debconf-team] Fixing the Debconf Delagation
On 28/09/15 12:54, martin f krafft wrote:
> also sprach Martín Ferrari <tincho@debian.org> [2015-09-28 10:49 +0200]:
>> It has been used, in situations where we felt that important parts
>> of DebConf were at risk: budgetary decisions, sponsors
>> relationships, volunteers motivation, and even some basic tenets
>> of the conference were at stake. Every time this happened, it was
>> because somebody from the local team acted on their own,
>> overstepping other people's responsibilities, and without prior
>> consultation.
>
> I contest this. At no time was anything about DebConf15 at risk. The
> important stuff was all arranged before the current chairs even got
> appointed or teams were formed.
Long-term relationships with sponsors were at risk when you authorised
unilaterally an in-kind donation for a service that nobody had even
mentioned before the conference started.
Debconf goals were at risk when you wanted to allocate less money for
sponsored food and accommodation in exchange for more fancy perks.
Volunters participation and motivation was at risk when you overrode the
already ongoing efforts to coordinate childcare, without even sending
them an email to the people involved.
A big part of the spirit of DebConf was at stake, with the possibility
of alienating the Debian community, when you set up a for-pay workshop
during DebCamp in the same venue, created a webpage for it, and only
then decided it was a good idea to tell the team. Not that you sought
agreement on this being good for DebConf, you just asked if it was OK to
link the page from the main debconf website.
Actually, we did not need to override decisions for these items. For
some it was too late already (sponsorship already accepted, confusion
and demotivation in childcare already added), for the others it was
enough to speak up and spell out the problems with the approach you were
taking.
In any case, it is interesting how you say that because the main things
for dc15 were arranged, there was no risk. The chairs care for much more
than one DC cycle, we care about the next 1, 2, 5 debconfs, and for the
volunteers making it happen.
--
Martín Ferrari (Tincho)
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