I will add my grain of salt to this discussion. When I was young, and I was traveling a lot, I would stay in Youth Hostels. Membership was mandatory. Things have changed a bit, Youth Hostels now call themselves "Hostelling International" and in most places membership is no longer mandatory. But members (of any national organization) get all sorts of discounts and other perks.
I do not understand what the problem is if a membership is required in order to attend Wikimania. Does anybody have a Real Life example where such a membership has posed a problem ? Or are we just kibitzing to pass the time until June ? Gabe On Fri, Mar 18, 2016 at 2:43 AM, Cristian Consonni <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi, > > 2016-03-17 23:55 GMT+01:00 Risker <[email protected]>: > > Nemo, it's not standard practice. I've been to four or five wikimanias > and > > never had to join an association to go there. I have never had to join an > > association to attend any other Wikimedia-related conference, session, or > > activity. The Wikimedia movement has openly embraced the lack of > requirement > > to identify or create an account/membership to participate since day one > of > > its existence. The budget of Wikimania should be published onwiki, it > > should be transparent (to use the current buzzword) to everyone, and > nobody > > should have to pay money in order to find out its budget. > > Before we get dragged too much into the philosophical question of what > being Truly Wikimedian (TM) really means I would like to point out a > little more of the context, with the disclaimer that: (1) I am not a > lawyer and (2) I am not/was not part of the group that made the > specific decision of setting up the association (3) I hope that > Iolanda and the team can find a solution to accommodate any specific > need. > > Here some context: > > (a) When you arrive in Italy if you stay for more than 48 hours, the > person/organization hosting you (regardless of your citizenship, this > applies to Italian citizens as well if they are staying in some place > that is not their habitual residence) must communicate within 8 days > your presence and your data to the local Questura (basically, the > government branch managing the police force). This is why in all > hotels, hostels, B&Bs and even in places such as AirBnB apartments you > are usually asked to provide data such as your passport number. This > is to say that the idea of lack of identification is understandable in > general and easy to apply on the internet, but it is less so when you > are staying somewhere. > > (b) Setting up a company is more costly and complex than setting up an > association, moreover there is no equivalent in Italy of the concept > of "Public-benefit corporations". Setting up a Foundation is expensive > as well. Futhermore, setting up a company excludes (as per the law) > the possibility of accessing some facilitations that are provided to > non-profit associations. Not secondarily, if you are a company > basically it is assumed that all of your activities are meant to > generate a profit even if you actually do not make one. So, you are > basically required to pay taxes even if as a non-profit you can get an > exemption. > > (c) Related to (b) the Italian law makes a distinction between events > that are (mainly? I am not sure) organized for the members of an > associations and events that are (mainly) organized for the general > public. In the former case the regulations are easier to fulfill. > > As I said, I am sure that Iolanda and the team will look further into > the matter and try to solve any issue that you may have. The general > setting for which an association is needed, however, is the one > presented above. > > Ciao, > > C > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimania-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l >
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