On 07/11/2010 02:25 PM, Gregory Maxwell wrote:
I suppose it is valuable information to know that you have so little respect for my opinions, though I would have preferred to learn of this someplace other than on a public mailing list.
One impression from this Wikimania is that we are too weak. We need to be a stronger, richer, more generous team.
Many people try their best at some projects, and what they get back is complaints about missing details. We're not generous enough to offer support and appreciation.
The film "Truth in numbers" was finally released, but questions from the audience afterwards were not full of amazement that the film was completed. Instead they contained rather negative comments about it. It's as if there were a dozen movies about Wikipedia to chose from and you didn't like this particular one.
At another session, the WMF five year strategy was discussed, and the decision to help India forward was criticized because the decision didn't document why Indonesia was less important!
It's all very similar to how some newcomers to Wikipedia have their first article deleted. The message is that help is unwanted, so most volunteers give up and leave. In a normal workplace they might put up with the abuse, knowing that at least they get a salary. But Wikipedia volunteers don't get any salary, so they don't have that reason to stay. They leave.
Yes, the Polish organizing team was too weak. They should have been more people and should have started out earlier. When Manuel Schneider (of Switzerland) volunteered in May 2010 to do the video streaming, he should have been told that this was of course already taken care of. Instead he was told that he also needed to take care of Wi-Fi. (It's good he wasn't blamed for the failing air conditioning as well.)
The processes for evaluating the bids for organizing Wikimania should be stronger, to detect such weakness earlier. This could lead to a rotation among fewer locations, e.g. Berlin and Buenos Aires and some place in Asia on a 3 year rotation. Yes, it will be boring to go back to the same places, but at least there will be some routine in the organization. It would also mean that Andrew Keen is right, at least in part, when he says you can't let amateurs run the show.