I am in the waitlist for Wikimania. (I pre-registered on April 2nd; I had no idea there was a risk of it being sold out in a day.)
I heard different rumours and speculation on whether Wikimania is "really" sold out or significantly more seats will be freed once people have to pay for the registration.
Can we give some basic information for (aspiring) attendees, such as * how many people are going to be accepted in total (beyond "pre-approved" participants like scholars), * how many were already accepted and have paid for it, * how the waitlist is managed and * when one needs to start worrying about their registration not succeeding?
For example, the registration form said a background check would be conducted but I have no idea how that's possible when I only provided an email address. What if I chose the "wrong" email address? I assumed someone would contact me to confirm if they can't find out whose address it is, but maybe I'm wrong.
Speaking of scholarships, personally I did not apply because I am happy to pay for my own costs and I prefer if scholarships go to first-time attendees, but I probably would have applied had I known it was the only chance to get in. People are probably making decisions right now about their attendance (including booking or not booking accommodation) which may turn out to be wrong later due to a lack of correct information.
Best, Federico