[Foundation-l] (Flashback) A short (and revised) FAQ about Wikimania in Alexandria

[Mike Godwin]

Dan Rosenthal writes:

> I would ask from a range of contractors, from companies like Centurion
> Risk Assessment Services, 3D Global Solutions, or MVM Inc.

Are you saying you would hire all of them to do risk assessments?

> Listing
> prices and service options is up to the foundation, not me.

Sometimes investigating prices and service options is a good way to  
find out what you can realistically afford. It's also helpful to  
remember that neither the Foundation's money nor its personnel are  
limitless, whereas this community prides itself on making collective  
contributions, so it seems appropriate to ask anyone who takes the  
time to repeat criticisms again and again to devote a little of that  
time to something more constructive.

Here's what would be a bad expenditure for us -- if we spend more  
money on outside services (potentially a lot more money), and it  
doesn't settle anything regarding Alexandria's plans because there's  
nothing some critics will except. If the real argument is "I'm never  
going to accept any positive assessment of a conference site  
Alexandria," then shouldn't we be discussing the real argument rather  
than spending more money on a side issue?  This is a serious question.

> As for
> who's opinion I would accept, I would accept anyone's opinion BUT the
> local team.  As others have stated, they have a vested interest in
> Wikimania, and therefore are more inclined to say "yes yes, no
> problem" when in fact, there is a problem.

And this is not true of the Egyptian Consulate, in your view?

Are there questions, other than the one in the FAQ, that we should  
have asked, or should be asking?  I tried to synthesize the concerns  
from the foundation-l list, but there was so much traffic, much of it  
unhelpful or unconstructive one-liners, that it was difficult to be  
certain every concern was covered.


--Mike





--Mike