Re: [Debconf-team] preliminary thoughts on Debian funding for DebConf10
Hi Zack,
Sorry nobody has answered your e-mail and even more sorry I'll attempt
to answer it myself. This is 100% my personal opinions on the subject
and it'll hopefully bring out other people views.
First, from where I stand, the DC9 money were earmarked donations to
the Debian project, so sure, it is Debian money. But it was money the
sponsors put forward to organize DC9. Right after DC9, that would have
been the time to discuss whether all that money was proper to allocate
for the next DebConf or to use within Debian for other uses (a key
question here would be of course what would be preferable from our
sponsors point of view as a way for them to maximize their investment
in Debian). The window of time for that decision (whether to keep the
money as earmarked for DebConf or move it to Debian's general pool)
has already passed and by the time I joined DC10 (around November last
year) it was clear those funds were already earmarked for DC10. As a
little bit of a post-mortem for fundraising, I blame the existence of
the DC9 funds for the lack of interest of other team members in
fundraising during the key months of January to March (even April).
Now, to the point of whether we consider funds in general as DebConf's
vs. Debian's, I think the key issue here is continuity. Sadly, the
time-frame for organizing DebConf doesn't blend itself very well with
the DPL time-frame. If there would have been any doubts about the DC9
monies, we most probably wouldn't be doing DebConf this year. It is
then a great (unpleasant) surprise to receive an e-mail from you
wanting to discuss these topics. This is a (possible) reason why it
makes sense to consider the pools of money as separate as possible...
to reduce "surprises".
Moreover, our finances for DC10 have improved quite a bit (with plenty
of help from you, thanks!) so at this stage all we are asking from
Debian is to help some key contributors make it to the conference. At
this time, I personally do not think that is too much to ask and it is
in line with other investments the project usually makes. (Please note
I changed my mind on the subject after talking with Clint.)
I welcome the idea of having a clear, firm, stated policy about what
to expect with respect to DebConf/Debian funds, but if you want to
have that discussion right now, it gives the impression you are just
using the fact that there are Debian contributors awaiting for travel
funding as a way to have an upper hand in the negotiation table. I beg
you to reconsider because that is not the way to negotiate among
friends. Let's just have a firm meeting on the subject during DebConf
and reach a consensus agreeable to both parties.
Yours truly,
Pablo
PS: and on the subject of whether this DebConf is too expensive, yes,
this DebConf is INSANELY EXPENSIVE, it will be a RIOT! People will
talk about it for the years to come! So don't miss it ;-)
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