Thanks HP. Ravi, I hope you didn't take my comment personally.<div><br></div><div>I saw the organizers make request after request for people to join in on Meta and the mailing list here. They even setup another mailing list here publicly and tried to be as open as possible.</div>
<div><br></div><div>I've seen them do nothing but discuss and work on the conference everyday for the past 1-2 months. </div><div><br></div><div>The grant itself, was on Meta for over a month (<a href="http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:WM_IN/WikiConference_India_2011">http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:WM_IN/WikiConference_India_2011</a>) maybe longer if you consider the drafts in user-space, in addition to the announcements here. Any wikipedian should not complain about any aspect of the grant not being discussed, there was ample room to do so, on Meta.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Again, I don't mean any of this personally. This is my opinion as a community member.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Theo</div><div><br></div><div><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Aug 24, 2011 at 8:51 PM, Hari Prasad Nadig <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:hpnadig@gmail.com">hpnadig@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">Theo,<br><br>Although I may not agree with Ravi or Ashwin completely, I feel that open-minded discussion about this doesn't hurt. The grant and its details are public, and Ravi has expressed his opinion on it.<br>
<br>Ravi is a longtime Wikipedian on Tamil Wikipedia, and one of the authors of this: <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/BadriSeshadriAnIntroductiontoTamilWikipediabyRavisankar_KizhakkuMottaimaadi" target="_blank">http://www.archive.org/details/BadriSeshadriAnIntroductiontoTamilWikipediabyRavisankar_KizhakkuMottaimaadi</a><br>
<br>(Personally, I don't think his mail intended to denigrate anyone's work. I've known him as a really committed Wikipedian - he's done some amazing work in Tamil Nadu)<br><br>Ashwin does have a point though when he says that it is quite a task getting sponsorship for event of this scale. Event organizers hunting for sponsors almost an year before the event isn't uncommon.<br>
<br>Cheers,<div><div></div><div class="h5"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Aug 24, 2011 at 8:10 PM, Theo10011 <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:de10011@gmail.com" target="_blank">de10011@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
lol +1 to Ashwin.<div><br></div><div>Ravishankar, I dont know who you are but please dont denigrate the work of my friends and fellow community members with statements like those.</div><div><br></div><div>No one stopped you from getting or anyone else involved, you still can. Go get us the in-kind donation please. You have our blessing.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Theo</div><div><div></div><div><div><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Aug 24, 2011 at 8:06 PM, Ashwin Baindur <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:ashwin.baindur@gmail.com" target="_blank">ashwin.baindur@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">Ravi, Thank God someone feels like this. Be our guest, please prove us wrong by getting us a great big sponsorship. We really welcome help in this field. I'm sure if you are succesful, and we have enough funds, we could reduce the grant or use it elsewhere than for the Wiki Conference.<br>
<br clear="all">Warm regards,<br><font color="#888888"><br>Ashwin Baindur</font><br><div><div><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Aug 24, 2011 at 8:01 PM, Ravishankar <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:ravidreams@gmail.com" target="_blank">ravidreams@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
Hi,<br><br>I am not so glad to see the huge grant for Wikiconference and the way it is spent. <br><br>With all due respect for the organising community and volunteers, more effort should have gone in getting donation in kind ( example: venues ) / commercial sponsors. That is how most of the events of this scale are run. <br>
<br>This is huge money if directly invested in resources for any Wikipedia project will give great meassurable results. <br><br>Ravi<br></blockquote></div></div></div></blockquote></div></div></div></div></blockquote></div>
<br><br clear="all"><br></div></div><font color="#888888">-- <br>Hari Prasad Nadig <br><a href="http://hpnadig.net" target="_blank">http://hpnadig.net</a> <br><a href="http://twitter.com/hpnadig" target="_blank">http://twitter.com/hpnadig</a><br>
<a href="http://flickr.com/hpnadig" target="_blank">http://flickr.com/hpnadig</a> <br>
<br>
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