Hello,

I would like to second Nemo's request for timely updates. Unless I missed something (which is very possible), I haven't seen any official news since the announcement weeks ago that the in-person event was sold out.

I imagine I am not the only one about to finalize my summer travel based on the current assumption that I can't attend Wikimania (something I am very disappointed about, but I can accept).

If, by some twist of good fortune, some of us currently on the waitlist ended up getting an invitation to attend, learning about it after our other travel arrangements are made would be adding insult to injury.

As Wikimedians, we are all aware of how harmful lack of reliable information can be. Something as simple as "if you haven't heard from us by April 30, you can be certain you won't be able to attend" would go a long way to reduce uncertainty.

Thanks,

On Sat, Apr 18, 2026 at 7:25 PM Federico Leva (Nemo) via Wikimania-l <wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org> wrote:

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
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