On 2016-02-08 5:53 PM, Ellie Young wrote:
The Community Resources team at the WMF recently held a consultation
I will join my voice to the chorus expressing concern and dismay at the completely ridiculous interpretation of that minor discussion - it clearly does not resemble a mandate to make such a sweeping change to a movement-central event like this.
[Obvious disclaimer: I am the lead organizer of the 2017 edition of said event so clearly I am not unbiased]
I've never been a fan of the old bidding process - having been its victim in the past and seeing the large amount of wasted effort and demotivation it must necessarily generate - and I agree wholeheartedly that the *process* needs to be reexamined. But even *that* reexamination requires more than a couple weeks on a talk page with a couple dozen people involved.
Something of the scope of the changes that consultation is claimed to warrant, however? Farcical.
Wikimania is the beating heart of our movement. We should be deploying efforts to be more inclusive and place it within reach of a larger segment of the community, not chopping it up.
-- Marc