See my previous email. Let me spell this out, since you're obviously too ignorant or
too stupid to read what you're commenting on: you are commenting on a suggestion from
one person. It hasn't got anywhere, except to a bunch of nosey do-gooders on a public
mailing list who apparently not sufficiently fulfilled by building an encyclopaedia that
they have to meddle in others' affairs. And we have kept it internal - it was not the
bid committee who brought it to this list. Kindly get your facts straight before posting
here again.
Nobody is seriously talking about spending £40k on the bid. As far as I can tell, the
number was plucked out of thin air. I've just come from a two-hour meeting with the
bid committee, where the idea of spending ~£17k on the bid was discussed. Even that's
not a formal proposal - it's something that's being investigated, along with other
options, and will have to undergo extensive discussion before we even get to the stage of
asking the WMUK board to approve it, and which faces considerable opposition (including,
to some extent, from me) even at this stage.
Harry Mitchell
http://enwp.org/User:HJ
Phone: 024 7698 0977
Skype: harry_j_mitchell
________________________________
From: Sven <svenmanguard(a)gmail.com>
To: HJ Mitchell <hjmitchell(a)ymail.com>om>; Wikimania general list (opensubscription)
<wikimania-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
Cc: Wikimania general list (open subscription) <wikimania-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
Sent: Sunday, 26 August 2012, 16:12
Subject: Re: [Wikimania-l] UK budget plan for 2014 Wikimania bid
All of those qualifiers are nice, but the fact that it made it onto a draft at all is the
issue. This was something that never should have made it that far. Lots of things get
killed off in committee and never make it on paper. I'd be one thing if this was a
transcript of the minutes, and it mentioned that it was brought up and promptly shelved.
It's another thing entirely to have it get as far as a working document.
Wikipedia discussion boards regularly shoot down dangerous and stupid ideas before they
make it very far. That's a good thing, it means that the project's defensive
filters are working.
The idea of spending 40K or even 10K on a bid is a dangerous and stupid idea, and my
respect for WMUK took a hit because you all let it get way too far. Kill it now.
Oh, and if you're pissed that people from other chapters are tearing WMUK a new one
over this (i.e. meddling in your chapter's affairs), that should a) be an indication
of how awful the idea being discussed is, and b) has a lot to do with that this discussion
is taking place on Wikimania-l, a list subscribed to by large swaths of the movement,
including those outside the UK. Don't want criticism? Keep it internal.
Sven
On Aug 26, 2012, at 8:37 AM, HJ Mitchell <hjmitchell(a)ymail.com> wrote:
Right, let me be quite blunt. This thread is not "undiplomatic", it's an
attempt to meddle in the affairs of other chapters, which do not concern you. how would
you have liked it if I was trashing the Haifa or DC bids before they were even anything as
formal as bids?
As to "my opinion of WMUK has been tainted", let me again be very blunt. You
have clearly not read the documents linked, or not understood what you were looking at.
You are looking at suggestions. We are exploring a variety of options, none of which have
been discussed or approved. Now, as WSC says, last year's bid failed partly because
of insufficient support from the chapter, so this year, there is a *suggestion* in a
*draft* budget to *earmark* *up to* £40k for the bid. That doesn't mean that £40k
*will* be allocated, nor that, if it is allocated, the whole £40k will be spent. In fact,
I think it's very unlikely we will find anything to spend that kind of money on in
just the bidding stage, but that's why it's called a *draft*. You can't
criticise the chapter for offering financial support when it was criticised last year for
not providing financial support.
Now kindly keep your noses out of other people's business.
(I should probably point out that I'm not speaking on behalf of WMUK)
Thank you,
Harry Mitchell
http://enwp.org/User:HJ
Phone: 024 7698 0977
Skype: harry_j_mitchell
________________________________
From: WereSpielChequers <werespielchequers(a)gmail.com>
To: Wikimania general list (open subscription) <wikimania-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
Sent: Sunday, 26 August 2012, 12:34
Subject: Re: [Wikimania-l] UK budget plan for 2014 Wikimania bid
I agree that it would be wrong for chapter money to go into Wikimania bids, especially as
some bid teams have access to resources that others don't. However London lost the
last bid against Hong Kong partly because it was deemed not to have "solid support
from the chapter". Considering how much support there was from the chapter it would
be difficult to see how the UK chapter could give more solid support without supplying
paid staff time. So the logical response to the jury's
decision
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimania-l/2012-May/003491.html is to
budget for more solid support from the chapter.
If the Jury had said that both bids were very good , but for 2013 it was really time for
another Wikimania in the Far East then we'd be in a different situation.
WSC
On 25 August 2012 20:32, James Hare <messedrocker(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Staffing is a very good thing to spend money on—while executing the conference. Spending
$62,000 on staff for a bid would be worth the investment if bidding for Wikimania were
anything like bidding for the Olympics, but it is not. The spirit of Wikimania is
ultimately from its volunteer leadership, and if the Wikimedia UK volunteers cannot muster
that spirit to run their own bid, they have no hope and no soul.
>
>
>
>
>James
>
>
>
>
>
>On Aug 25, 2012, at 3:28 PM, Itzik Edri wrote:
>
>Sorry, it's undiplomatic to interfere with others budget plans - but I just
can't ignore how the future of Wikimania will look like if others will follow UK plans
to invest £40,000 only for the bid process (about 62,000$).
>>
>>
>>I wrote my last response on that few minutes ago:
>>
>>http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:2013_Activity_Plan#5.2_Wikiconference_2013
>>
>>>
>>>"Hire a production company for half of this cost. It's really waste
of donors money, for what we expect to be done by volunteers, or for a minimum costs. If
every one who going to bid for Wikimania will spent this amount of money (and why them
not? if UK can, why others not?), it's mean that for 4 places every year we are
"spending" more than 260,000$ only for the bid!!!. --217.132.1.140 19:22, 25
August 2012 (UTC)"
>>>
>>>I really think the "Wikimania" groups need to speak about that.
It's the first time a group/chapter spending such amount of money for bid, and
it's open a door for next cities to do the same - with money which can uses to invest
in Wikimania itself.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>Itzik
>>
>>
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