Tinu, you were not rude and harsh. I second your statements. That was
simply sharp, to the point, simple and straight forward.
There was some hard talk required for some of the un-coolest words uttered
and you delivered it.
Appreciate that as well deeply appreciate the effort put in by Sohan and
Srikanth.
Hey, there are lot more like me and many others who dont even spent a
single second to do such kind of outreach and voluntary work, other than
probably dropping such occassional mails.
Once again appreciate the work done by Sohan and Srikanth. We might see the
results only over a longer period of time.
Thanks & Regards, Abhi
On Sat, Mar 3, 2012 at 8:16 PM, CherianTinu Abraham
<tinucherian(a)gmail.com>wrote;wrote:
Sheesh ! Those comments were so harsh and insensitive.
May I ask how many
outreach events have you co-ordinated & led ?
Give some respect for the volunteers who take out their valuable personal
time to travel far and conduct events just for the love and passion for the
movement ! It takes lots of sacrifice & dedication to do such stuff which
they could have otherwise well spent with the family and friends.
If you are unable to appreciate, least don't demoralize them.
It was just because of his humility that RSrikanth wrote as below
"apologizing for all the faults". The truth is by far different. The fact
is that the NIT Trichy student organisers this year didn't honour the
promises and minimum courtesies/facilities that were expected/guaranteed.
Last year the NITT/Pragyan organizers had approached us for the Wikipedia
event and we had one of the best experiences of support and hospitality
from them. Me , Srikanth L ( Logicwiki) and Bala/Sodabottle led the event
at the college. The student volunteers were there waiting to receive us at
the bus station at 5 AM ! They escorted each of us ( coming from different
directions) to the pre-arranged hotel accommodation. They ensured that we
were at our comfort and ease. Dedicated taxis ( with volunteer escort) were
arranged for our transportation between the town and the college. Food and
our other needs were taken care. The Computer lab was arranged for the
session and dedicated stall for interacting with the crowd. Since there
was a huge demand, AFAIK, they had to do some kind of written test, to only
permit the 100 attendees. Their hospitality and support was awesome and I
still cherish them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/Tiruchirappalli/Tiruchirappal…
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Tiruchirappalli_Meetup_Feb2011
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2011-February/002334.…
This year, when we were approached, they asked us to sign an MoU as it was
needed as the event was ISO certified. One of the conditions they wanted
was a guarantee for swags which we politely refused. The MoU was signed
with a bare minimum clause that we will conduct a day of Wikipedia
event/workshop. A lot of people were involved in the discussions, Naveen,
Nitika , Sohan , Hisham, me and many others. Once we removed the guarantee
of swags, it was evident that the organizers were not largely interested.
Still we moved ahead to conduct the event, in spite of last time promise
that they could allow only a 2 hour slot. Much were promised which weren't
fulfilled.
I am extremely thankful to Sohan Maheshwar & RSrikanth for volunteering
and traveling ( an overnight journey from Bangalore & Coimbatore to Trichy)
in spite of all these hurdles on a precious weekend.
If "they have screwed up", I have equally screwed up. But I am proud of
it. We have done events that were largely successful and the ones that were
nothing to talk about.. But it is all part of this game.
I strongly stand behind our volunteers who help the movement. Their time
and efforts are very very precious !
I just hope that this one-off incident will not discourage them ( or
anyone else) from further future contributions.
I am grateful to Nitika & Naveen for all those innumerable calls and
followups with the organizers and volunteers.
I have strongly communicated our displeasure and disappointment to the
organizers and last heard, they were being blasted from the college
authorities and seniors for their mismanagement.
Apologies if I appeared to be a bit rude and harsh. No hard feelings.
Regards
Tinu Cherian
On Wed, Feb 29, 2012 at 5:55 PM, Sushant R <sushi2cool4u(a)hotmail.com>wrote;wrote:
so u agre? gud. cos u scrwd up n did it big
tym.
nxt tym u think of anythin, don kay?
u don hav a lptop, no isssus. get 1. can't afford one? get lost.
v aint got no place 4 ppl lyk u.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 29 Feb 2012 17:39:48 +0530
From: parakara.ghoda(a)gmail.com
To: wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
Subject: Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] The Great NITT fiasco ...
Heya all.
I guess, I really need to explain something here.
I was wrong when I blamed the organisers of Pragyan for what happened.
The Fiasco, isn't a FIASCO anymore. We've got four users from the event
and I'm proud of that.
I believe I have inadvertently caused a flare up which has resulted in a
lot of people getting shouted out. Tensions are soaring and I believe I
caused it.
As far as Accomodation/Travel is considered, from my POV, what I got was
perfect. Saagar had informed me that guesthouses weren't good enough and I
took [and still take] his word for it. He slept in the lab so I could sleep
in his room.
As for the event, as Sohan pointed out the, delay and internet issues
were the only issue. The internet issue was mine in entirety. I didn't
mention that, OR mention anything about a lab. That makes it my fault.
The MoU: I admit, I didn't read the MoU at all, both the edited and
original versions of it. Big mistake.
Saagar helped me a LOT, and did whatevr was in his power to change the
slot to a weekend to ensure that Sohan could participate.
The lack of time and all was because we, [particularly ME] took time in
arriving at a proper decision. For every 10 mails I got from Saagar, Sohan,
Nitika, Naveen and Tinu on the matter I sent out only one reply.
I admit, the majority of the goof up was PURELY MY FAULT.
The remaining issus were a direct result of lack of time.
I just feel pathetic that I said whatever I did, because I and several
others are now at the receiving end of a lot of people.
At the time of writing the first mail, I was at the receiving end of
three people, one in particular called my session a flop show and blamed
everything on me, causing me to write that mail.
Now, suddenly I'M at the recievning end of no less than 16 people.
I feel guilty that the NIT T team, who did their best to make me feel
comfortable have been put thru this by me.
I learnt a lot at Pragyan, it was my first tech first, to be honest, and
I really enjoyed the guest lecture that I attended, which I feel is
specially significant to Wikipedia, which I shall write separately about
soon.
Sohan may feel different, but as I said over the phone to Nitika, I and
ONLY I am to blame for what I did.
I hope this isn't the end of what I was hoping would be a good
partnership. It is quite rare to see the top brains look at Wikipedia from
our POV. Most top schools/colleges etc are snobs [it's a stereotype but
mostly true in my experience] and these guys seemed genuinely interested in
what was being done.
I just feel pathetic at being such a screwup. As stated earlier I have a
lot to learn and till then I shall not volunteer for an academy/workshop.
I'll merely be a spectator and wait till I mature into someone better. The
real world is not so rosy as the Wiki world is.
Regards,
Srikanth.
P.S: I did manage to get a picture of the NITT gate which is now on the
Commons. Maybe you guys could use it. It is CCBYSA ofcourse.
--
Regards,
Srikanth Ramakrishnan.
Wikipedia Coimbatore Meetup onMarch 10th.
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetup/Coimbatore
Aliens invaded Tamil Nadu, left their Spaceship and now it is a Toll
Plaza.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:IVRCL-Vijayamangalam-Toll-Plaza.JPG
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