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

[Dan Rosenthal]

On Apr 19, 2008, at 12:32 PM, Mike Godwin wrote:

>
> 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?
>


No, but I'd solicit bids at least. I don't know if all of them have  
the ability to conduct assessments in egypt, though I imagine that  
they would. You asked me to name some companies, and I did.

>> 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.
>

I fully understand that the foundation's budget is not limitless.  
However, as the foundation has come into some money recently, and this  
might be a good use for a small portion of it.

> 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.

I hope that's not directed at me. I certainly would accept positive  
assessments of the conference in Alexandria, assuming they're properly  
done by a trained company. As I said, the only parts of the post I  
took exception to are the local team parts.

>
>
>> 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?
>

It is not. The Egyptian Consulate is not dedicated to Wikimania the  
way the local team is. They would not be crushed if it did not happen.  
They will, however, face scrutiny if something did go wrong. So it  
seems to me that the Consulate has much more of an interest in giving  
us the straight truth.

> 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
>
>


-Dan