My apologies for the gentle dig at you, Ravi. :)  You set yourself up and I just couldn't resist but it was not meant any way in bad faith. I sincerely hope you are not offended. Or if you are, I hope that you are magnanimous to forgive me.

Good to know that you are a great Wikipedian. :) Hari has given you quite a character reference. Hari does have a point that these issues should be open to debate. And, of course, your question/POV is valid.

A few submissions from my side.

Ravi, this is the first time we are organising Wiki Conference and we are facing any challenges. The road is much rockier than we thought it would be. Unflagging optimism on behalf of Working Group is our greatest asset and we are slowly overcoming our worries.

This news of the grant being approved has relieved us as without this, there would have had to be major restructuring of the Conference. A very large chunk of it is going for scholarships - for 150 people, all said and done which includes travel & lodging. After that we are giving more than the money's worth in registration fees to all attendees. Besides this the operating expenses are quite large for a 400+ sized conference.

 In the future, when the standard operating procedure is developed, when the Chapter is on firm footing - it has just stood up the first time in January, they will be able to support us better as time passes. Then things will be easier. Also, the WMF is in the process of establishing itself in India. When all these happen, the Conferences will be easier to organise and focus will shift from just trying to do it, as we are involved in at present, to doing it more efficiently and more effectively. So what you say will automatically happen.

My view is that money asked for this purpose does not preclude you for asking funds for any Wikimedia project. Please do not feel that this grant will hinder that. If not now, then definitely next year, I'm sure your grant request will be honoured, of course assuming it meets all necessary requirements in all ways.

Warm regards,

Ashwin Baindur
------------------------------------------------------


On Wed, Aug 24, 2011 at 8:51 PM, Hari Prasad Nadig <hpnadig@gmail.com> wrote:
Theo,

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.

Ravi is a longtime Wikipedian on Tamil Wikipedia, and one of the authors of this: http://www.archive.org/details/BadriSeshadriAnIntroductiontoTamilWikipediabyRavisankar_KizhakkuMottaimaadi

(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)

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.

Cheers,


On Wed, Aug 24, 2011 at 8:10 PM, Theo10011 <de10011@gmail.com> wrote:
lol +1 to Ashwin.

Ravishankar, I dont know who you are but please dont denigrate the work of my friends and fellow community members with statements like those.

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.

Theo


On Wed, Aug 24, 2011 at 8:06 PM, Ashwin Baindur <ashwin.baindur@gmail.com> wrote:
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.

Warm regards,

Ashwin Baindur

On Wed, Aug 24, 2011 at 8:01 PM, Ravishankar <ravidreams@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi,

I am not so glad to see the huge grant for Wikiconference and the way it is spent.

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.

This is huge money if directly invested in resources for any Wikipedia project will give great meassurable results.

Ravi



--
Hari Prasad Nadig
http://hpnadig.net
http://twitter.com/hpnadig
http://flickr.com/hpnadig


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