[Foundation-l] Taipei chosen to host Wikimania 2007

[GerardM]

Hoi,
When people want Wikimania happening in 2007 in their town and they do their
best to achieve this, they do this on the basis of competition. They
compete. They either win or lose as there is only one place where Wikimania
will happen. This is the way of things, considering things to be different
is madness.

In Taipei we will have a completely different event from the event in
Frankfurt and Boston. Each time we learned new things and the resulting
offers for hosting were different as a consequence. Not allowing for this by
saying in advance that Turin does not have to do "the work" again is imho
stupid. In order for Turin to be a competitor next year, they have to
analyse what went wrong; was it their offer, their presentation sheer bad
luck?

Trying for Wikimania is without guarantees, all competing cities had a
credible offer. Only one could be chosen. Picking out Turin for next year is
bad business, it is an insult to the other cities that made an offer and it
is a message to other cities that they should not bother for 2008 because it
is likely to be Turin.

Turin may compete again, sure, but it has to compete on an equal footing. If
Almere 2008 is to be a credible option, there cannot be a prefered city for
2008. It is morally wrong.

Thanks,
    GerardM

NB Still living in Almere

On 9/29/06, oscar <oscar.wiki at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> it would certainly be madness to have procedures that would ask people to
> do
> an excellent job twice, let alone many times over.
>
> the questions raised here seem to me:
> *how can we make such fortunate results not disappear down the drain?
> *would the torino-sponsors be willing to do the same for 2008?
> *how long can we afford to wait with this without spoiling the
> opportunity?
>
> even if the choice of a city hosting wikimania needs to be made sooner and
> sooner in years to come (we may want to set a limit in "booking" here,
> say,
> 3 years?), the bids themselves should always be judged on their own merits
> first of all, the geographical location being important too, yet coming
> second in line as a criteria imho.
>
> it may be wise to agree upon this: that a bid which doesn't make it for
> one
> year, may run once more and make it the year after. such a prospect, when
> communicated in advance, could prevent serious disappointment for some of
> our potential sponsors (they would feel less "turned down" because there
> is
> always a second chance). also it would be good to discuss and know this at
> an early stage: if, from a sponsors point of view, a bid is valid for one
> calendar-year only, or perhaps also for the next, in case a city isn't
> elected.
>
> oscar
>
> On 9/28/06, Jimmy Wales <jwales at wikia.com> wrote:
> >
> > Not that it is up to me, nor should it be, but I intend to be a strong
> > personal supporter of Turin for 2008, and encourage the concept that we
> > should settle this fairly soon.
> >
> > Gianluigi Gamba wrote:
> > > I congratulate with Taipei team and I'm sure they'll organize a
> > memorable
> > > event.
> > >
> > > As a member of the Turin bidding team, let me voice a choral "too
> bad".
> > > We had a sort of incredible "astral conjunction" of sponsors *really
> > eager*
> > > to have the Wikimania event, the enthusiasm of the whole community,
> the
> > > honeymoon with the media and the commitment of many people from
> national
> > > (and not only) institutions.
> > > I wonder if such combination will return in a future. I hope so.
> > >
> > > A prayer to the future jury: that's not been this year's case, but
> > should
> > > geographic and linguistic criteria be essential in choosing the future
> > > locations, please say it in advance, before people start making
> > contacts,
> > > put their faces off and spend words.
> > >
> > > Good luck Taipei, and good job.
> > >
> > > G. (aka Paginazero)
> > >
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