[Foundation-l] Re: Wikimania 2006 - host city contest to open onSeptember 1st 20

[Tim Starling]

Pawe³ 'Ausir' Dembowski wrote:
>>What about Australia - home of Tim Starling among many others - or
>>even NZ if for some reason we are wanting to only hold these things in
>>developed countries. But i dont see what is wrong with the idea of
>>Brazil, India, SA, Argentina or somewhere similar. There are a
>>reasonable number of wikimedians in the larger countries in the global
>>south.
> 
> 
> Well, in my opinion it would be better if Wikimania was organized in a
> country where a local Wikimedia chapter exists. For now we only have
> such chapters in Europe, although I hope we'll get more of them in
> other continents as well.

In what way did the German chapter help to organise Wikimania 2005?
Wikimania had an international organising team and its own finances.
Chapters exist for national pride, grants and dubious tax minimisation
schemes which require locking up money in places where it can't be spent
on servers. I have no plans for encouraging the formation of one
anywhere near me, unless I see solid evidence that it makes financial sense.

Australia is a poor choice for other reasons, namely airfares.

-- Tim Starling