[Qgis-psc] Suggesting a rule for travel refunds at Zanzibar meeting

[Richard Duivenvoorde]

On 07/07/2018 10:19 AM, Andreas Neumann wrote:
> Dear PSC members,
> 
> As people fill in their requests for travel support - see
> https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1FkqjzjRWlnTS2AVxSpJM-UtkRafPYUqQOMlvjlzkzlY/edit#gid=1896805420
> 
> 
> I have the following suggestion for people who visit both the Zanzibar
> dev meeting and the FOSS4G:
> 
>   * QGIS.ORG <http://QGIS.ORG> would only pay half of the airfare, as
>     that person also goes to FOSS4G
>   * QGIS.ORG <http://QGIS.ORG> would pay the accommodation costs in
>     Zanzibar during the meeting and potentially the ferry back to Dar
>   * QGIS.ORG <http://QGIS.ORG> would certainly pay for the local food
>     expenses in Zanzibar at the meeting, as usually
> 
> 
> Would you agree with this proposal?

I kind of agree with this. By paying half of your trip/accomodation
yourself, you also show you are eager to come.

There is the argument about being friendly and inviting to new people,
but I think we just do not have the funding to be THAT inviting. I also
don't think it is fair to people who are able to or just pay there own fare.

I also tend to be a little more strict to people for who we fund:

We have funded people earlier which came to socialize: a good thing!
We funded people who then worked on their own plugins: nice!
We funded people we never seen/spoke to earlier: good!

But sponsoring coming in at 10 euro per sponsor, funding a new comer for
1500 euro, that is a lot of sponsors...

I think we should get some effort back from people who are funded.
Mostly we know the people, but even then, in my view we should ask back
something in return.
Is it wrong to ask for people to 'fight their selves in' a little? By
either (before(!) asking for funding) show us they are
QGIS/community-minded, so fixed some issues, wrote something, or did
other (non paid) community work?

And even if you did not do such things... Please(!) still come to the
hackfests: they are fun!!!!

But in my view we should not fund rookies (unless they did some homework
beforehand).

It should be clear to people, there is no free-ride: first make yourself
useful before asking for (sponsor) money.

And off course every 'rule' should have it's exceptions :-)

I think as PSC we also talked about that: if somebody has 'references'
or 'recommendations' from somebody else from the community, Andreas/psc
should be able to fund such people.
And for people we know that they do A LOT of community work, PSC should
be able to fully refund them (talking about you ....).
And as our finances are pretty transparent: let people have a look at
our 'books' and let PSC know if you thing we fund too much OR too little!

Last @Andreas: thanks for doing this 'dirty' work!

Regards,

Richard Duivenvoorde