[Foundation-l] A question for the Wikimania jury

[Austin Hair]

On Mon, Mar 31, 2008 at 1:11 AM, Gerard Meijssen
<gerard.meijssen at gmail.com> wrote:
>  In my opinion it is unfortunate that the committee has expressed a vague
>  opinion about the likely venue for 2010. I would have preferred it when the
>  best offer would be allowed to win and that all offers would be weighed on
>  their own merit.

It's certainly unfortunate that we phrased our announcement in such a
way that led people to think that, and speaking for myself I don't
think that's actually the case.

For my part, and I know I'm not alone in this, I've always considered
every bid on its own merits.  I've never given a bid special
consideration because "it's their turn"—if so, I would have put my
weight behind Toronto, a serious contender for the last three years
running and a finalist every time.  When I helped draft the
announcement, I certainly didn't read that statement to mean that we
would be giving undue preference to NA/EU bids for 2010.

After four venue decisions, we know to expect criticism of the final
choice—for numerous, conflicting reasons.  Unfortunately, Wikimania
can't be everything to everyone.

What surprises me is that while I see a lot of outright attacks,
nobody ever offers an alternative.  Nobody's said "I've reviewed the
bids, and given your criteria I think you made the wrong decision
based on factors X, Y, and Z."  Nobody's proposed alternative
crtieria.  Nobody's even found fault with individual members of the
jury and their judgment.  All I see is, frankly, a lot of whining
based on their idea of what Wikimania should be, and where it should
be, with those arguing about "where" being almost exclusively
Europeans and Americans.

Constructive discussion is certainly welcome, and Michael Snow has
already started a new thread on the topic of what and why.  These
questions have been plaguing Wikimania since 2005, so I encourage—in
fact, beg—everyone to weigh in on what they think it should be, and if
you think so, just where we've gone wrong.

Peace, wikilove, and all that jazz,

Austin