Dear Jonathan,
Am Mon, Mar 17, 2025 at 03:01:38PM +0200 schrieb Jonathan Carter:
> 3. DebConf
>
> DebConf is great. I hate the process of getting a visa to travel (often at
> least a whole day's worth of admin), and I don't like airports or travel by
> plane (which is usually at least two days in each direction). And yet, I
> sacrifice about 1% of my year just to get to DebConf, because it's worth it.
Thanks you for putting it in these words which I can't do better.
> Often though, I feel like DebConf can be better. My biggest wish is to have
> more core Debian people there. Often, sessions are planned to discuss really
> important and crucial things, but then we don't have the key people present
> to really dig into it and bring it forward. At some point I've wondered if
> we should invite-by-default certain members of certain teams. Make it clear
> that there will be travel and accommodation and food for them if they want
> to come. It might not be enough to convince people with children or other
> commitments at home, but perhaps it could help a little.
I completely understand what you mean. In an ideal world, we could bring
all relevant people together in one room, make decisions, and implement
them seamlessly. If you're asking whether I have an idea on how to get
closer to that ideal within a volunteer project-honestly, I don't.
However, I'm very open to discussing potential approaches.
> I digress, this isn't about my gripes with DebConf, it's about yours. What
> do you think are the biggest problems with DebConf, and if you had a magic
> wish or two as DPL to change things, what would that be?
If I had a magic wish, I'd use it to bring all the key people into one
room-ideally without internet distractions-to focus on urgent issues.
But since I don't believe in magic, I know this isn't realistic.
To focus on realistic goals: I'd love for more sponsors to recognize the
value of our yearly conference and local MiniDebConfs, enabling us to
reach more underrepresented groups in Debian. We could likely improve in
finding additional support. Ideally, I'd like to lower the threshold for
accepting promising contributors, rather than being constrained by
financial limitations.
See you at DebConf
Andreas.
--
https://fam-tille.de
