[Foundation-l] [Wikimania-l] Wikimania 2008 will happen in Alexandria, Egypt

[phoebe ayers]

Hi Sue,

On 10/12/07, Sue Reed <sreed1234 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> I have a question that in the myriad of emails I've read so far I'm not
> sure I've seen an answer. Were the questions about Egypt's perceived or real
> lack of tolerance brought up during the public meeting and jury process?
>
> If they were, and the jury chose Alexandria anyway, then you just have to
> move on and decide whether or not you're going to go based on that decision.


Thanks for your question. They were brought up; you can read questions from
the public meeting here:
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2008/Bids/Alexandria/Q&A

and the bid talk page was open for general discussion throughout the entire
bidding process:
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimania_2008/Bids/Alexandria

Please note that we invited public comment on the judging criteria several
times as well on this and the wikimania list.

Personally, considering all of the things that one could choose to discuss
about the various bids (and that the jury did discuss) I find it fascinating
that this single issue is getting all of the controversy. Based on past
experiences, I would have expected folks to be upset about all sorts of
different things :) Aside from these threads on the mailing list, however, I
have heard a lot of congratulations and support, and I know the Alexandria
team is very appreciative of the support that has been shown to them so far.


-- phoebe