Of course, this IS something the whole community can and should discuss. It is about the future of Wikimania as a volunteer-driven event. WM-UK spending £40,000 is unfair for other future bids (did you know that most of the chapters have less than £40,000 for the whole annual budget?) and a terrible way of wasting money. WSC said that Hong Kong defeated London for 2013 because they had a more "solid support by the local Wikimedia Chapter", but Hong Kong spent 'zero'. Spending more money is futile and, in fact, gives me the opposite idea -- that the chapter is so uncommitted to the project that they need to hire people to do what others do on their free time.
I hope WM-UK will reject the idea after all these opinions (and probably also those in their internal channels)... and now I'll try to keep my nose in my own business, I suppose. 2012/8/26 Itzik Edri <[email protected]> > Harry, > > That's exactly our problem in the movement - that it seem like everyone > can do whatever he want. But it's no. > > The money, even if only part of him coming from the fundraising - is > movement money. And if Wikimedia Israel is spending money for nothing, this > is not only my concern - but something that everyone in the movement need > to care, if we want future for our movement. > > This is not the place, and this is not the right place - and I'm not > meaning that WMUK are spending money unwittingly or not in modestly, like > we need to do - but this is happen in the movement, but unfortunately there > is also a trend of uncontrolled swelling budget, within the chapters, and > also within the WMF. > > But this is not the issue, the issue is the future and the kind of > Wikimania as a community project, and the balance of power between the > third Chapter in his budget size and other volunteer groups that are > supposed to compete in the bid. It's one thing (and ok) if the Chapter > staff invest there time on a bid, but it's something else to spend that > amount of resources. Even if at the end it will be half of it, or a quarter > of it. Even five thousand pounds, this huge amount compared to what others > have invested so far. > > Itzik > > > On Sun, Aug 26, 2012 at 3:37 PM, HJ Mitchell <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Right, let me be quite blunt. This thread is not "undiplomatic", it's an >> attempt to meddle in the affairs of other chapters, which do not concern >> you. how would you have liked it if I was trashing the Haifa or DC bids >> before they were even anything as formal as bids? >> >> As to "my opinion of WMUK has been tainted", let me again be very blunt. >> You have clearly not read the documents linked, or not understood what you >> were looking at. You are looking at suggestions. We are exploring a variety >> of options, none of which have been discussed or approved. Now, as WSC >> says, last year's bid failed partly because of insufficient support >> from the chapter, so this year, there is a *suggestion* in a *draft* >> budget to *earmark* *up to* £40k for the bid. That doesn't mean that £40k >> *will* be allocated, nor that, if it is allocated, the whole £40k will be >> spent. In fact, I think it's very unlikely we will find anything to spend >> that kind of money on in just the bidding stage, but that's why it's called >> a *draft*. You can't criticise the chapter for offering financial support >> when it was criticised last year for not providing financial support. >> >> Now kindly keep your noses out of other people's business. >> >> (I should probably point out that I'm not speaking on behalf of WMUK) >> >> Thank you, >> >> Harry Mitchell >> http://enwp.org/User:HJ >> Phone: 024 7698 0977 >> Skype: harry_j_mitchell >> >> ------------------------------ >> *From:* WereSpielChequers <[email protected]> >> *To:* Wikimania general list (open subscription) < >> [email protected]> >> *Sent:* Sunday, 26 August 2012, 12:34 >> *Subject:* Re: [Wikimania-l] UK budget plan for 2014 Wikimania bid >> >> I agree that it would be wrong for chapter money to go into Wikimania >> bids, especially as some bid teams have access to resources that others >> don't. However London lost the last bid against Hong Kong partly because >> it was deemed not to have "solid support from the chapter". Considering how >> much support there was from the chapter it would be difficult to see how >> the UK chapter could give more solid support without supplying paid staff >> time. So the logical response to the jury's decision >> http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimania-l/2012-May/003491.html is >> to budget for more solid support from the chapter. >> >> If the Jury had said that both bids were very good , but for 2013 it was >> really time for another Wikimania in the Far East then we'd be in a >> different situation. >> >> WSC >> >> >> >> On 25 August 2012 20:32, James Hare <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> Staffing is a very good thing to spend money on—while executing the >> conference. Spending $62,000 on staff for a bid would be worth the >> investment if bidding for Wikimania were anything like bidding for the >> Olympics, but it is not. The spirit of Wikimania is ultimately from its >> volunteer leadership, and if the Wikimedia UK volunteers cannot muster that >> spirit to run their own bid, they have no hope and no soul. >> >> >> James >> >> >> On Aug 25, 2012, at 3:28 PM, Itzik Edri wrote: >> >> Sorry, it's undiplomatic to interfere with others budget plans - but I >> just can't ignore how the future of Wikimania will look like if others will >> follow UK plans to invest £40,000 only for the bid process (about 62,000$). >> >> I wrote my last response on that few minutes ago: >> >> http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:2013_Activity_Plan#5.2_Wikiconference_2013 >> >> >> "Hire a production company for half of this cost. It's really waste of >> donors money, for what we expect to be done by volunteers, or for a minimum >> costs. If every one who going to bid for Wikimania will spent this amount >> of money (and why them not? if UK can, why others not?), it's mean that for >> 4 places every year we are "spending" more than 260,000$ only for the >> bid!!!. --217.132.1.140 19:22, 25 August 2012 (UTC)" >> >> I really think the "Wikimania" groups need to speak about that. It's the >> first time a group/chapter spending such amount of money for bid, and it's >> open a door for next cities to do the same - with money which can uses to >> invest in Wikimania itself. >> >> >> Itzik >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Wikimania-l mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Wikimania-l mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Wikimania-l mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Wikimania-l mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l >> >> > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimania-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l > >
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