*removes all hats except the one that looks like it may have spent time under a bridge in an earlier phase of life*<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Aug 28, 2012 at 10:32 PM, Paul Wayper <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:paulway@mabula.net" target="_blank">paulway@mabula.net</a>></span> wrote:<br>
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</div>On 28/08/12 19:16, Kathy Reid wrote:<br>
[snip]<br>
<div class="im">><br>
> Donna hit the nail on the head when she mentioned toxic community<br>
> members. There were times during LCA2012 when I seriously questioned why<br>
> I was giving up months of my life for a community which whinged and<br>
> moaned about something as trivial as whether a t-shirt came in their<br>
> size. Do I really, really, really want to give up half my life for 18<br>
> months (6-12 months if we ruthlessly outsource) for a community which<br>
> has people that do this?<br>
><br>
> On the flipside, there are so many *fantastic* members of this community<br>
> that balance this out that it's still overall very positive.<br>
<br>
</div>I think this is the fundamental problem for LCA, and why it is difficult to run.<br>
<br>
Caveat: I'm speaking with a bit of experience from being in the LCA 2013 team,<br>
but I'm not speaking in any official capacity. These are my own opinions.<br>
<br>
We now, in the LCA 2013 team, are spending huge amounts of time trying to find<br>
things that will be both inoffensive and appealing, for a whole range of the<br>
things we do for the attendees at LCA. I won't go into details - it'd spoil<br>
the fun :-) - but there are heaps of things that we worry about because<br>
someone, often months or years ago, complained about that thing publicly.<br>
Even stuff like the conference network - someone, somewhere, will complain<br>
that they weren't getting 54mbit when they were using their laptop in the<br>
toilets (to make up a not too far-fetched possibility), and everything the<br>
team has done to provide wonderful, easy to use networking everywhere else<br>
will be overlooked because of that one gripe.<br>
<br>
No matter how well publicised any change to LCA is, no matter how many people<br>
here or anywhere agree that it's absolutely necessary to do something<br>
different at LCA in order for it to survive, there will be someone somewhere<br>
who decides that that's their own Custerian Last Stand and will vocally<br>
criticise the team because cutting that back is a personal affront to their<br>
very dignity. We've seen this with many things that are, in relation to<br>
getting five days of awesome technical content from some of the brightest<br>
people in Australia and the world, trivial. I fear to think what would happen<br>
if a fundamental change was made to LCA.<br>
<br>
Now, it seems to me that the only reason to try to make radical changes to the<br>
way LCA runs is if the whole bid process is irrevocably FUBARed. That, to me,<br>
does not seem to be the case.<br></blockquote><div><br></div><div>I'm not sure how much more FU we can get than *not having anyone at all willing to make a bid*. Not having a conference certainly seems BAR from having a conference. </div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<br>
So while I think there's lots of good ideas in this whole discussion about<br>
ways that LCA could be different, I think - personally - that some of the<br>
voices that have been most critical of changing LCA in the past are now the<br>
ones proposing radical changes that don't inconvenience them at all or<br>
detriment their experience at LCA.<br></blockquote><div><br></div><div>To quote Paul Hansen, "the best way to say you do not agree with the way a previous conference</div><div>was done is to step up and organise a bunch of people to run the next one.". If the people who weren't happy with previous conferences are now stepping up to run a conference their way - Fantastic! That leaves us a hell of a lot better off than if no-one is willing to run the conference.</div>
<div><br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
There are plenty of models for ways to run LCA that could be easier and<br>
cheaper. Lots of them can be done by the actual team running LCA - I'm sure<br>
Linux Australia would look with interest at bids that proposed to make LCA a<br>
simpler conference to run. There are also things that Linux Australia can do,<br>
especially when it comes to reducing the amount of learning each new team has<br>
to do of the mundanities of running a conference. LA, and the LCA teams,<br>
already do a lot of things that make the next team's life hugely easier.<br>
These are not to be overlooked.<br></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Agreed. We've already had a few ideas from this thread, and that's a topic I'd like to see picked up and run with.</div><div><br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<br>
And LCA has a reputation to maintain, </blockquote><div><br></div><div>Which is hard to do if it doesn't run.</div><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
a history of doing certain things.<br></blockquote><div><br></div><div>such as *actually happening*.</div><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
No-one would say that turning off the conference wifi would be a bold step<br>
forward in making the conference simpler. Change happens, but with something<br>
as complex, interconnected and multi-faceted as LCA it happens slowly.<br></blockquote><div><br></div><div>I call shenanigans.</div><div><br></div><div>LCA is designed anew each and ever year. Every single conference team starts from an empty slate. If this years conference looks a bit like last year's, that's only because this year's team chose to incorporate successful elements from last year's conference.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Open Days have come and gone at the whim of the teams hosting various conference. Miniconfs seem like a fixture lately, but the format, the timing, and the number of streams has varied from year to year according to the priorities of the individual teams. Some years we have a Rusty Wrench award, some years we don't. 08 made *radical* changes to the Penguin Dinner - which the 09 team (and all subsequent teams, so far) chose not to repeat.</div>
<div><br></div><div>No change has ever been so drastic as not running the conference though. Compared to that, dropping the wifi (or miniconfs, or dinner, or PDNS) is a mere detail.</div><div><br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<br>
Ultimately - and this is a lesson I'm learning the hard way - life is not a<br>
git repository and one does not have admin rights. One does not automatically<br>
get the right as an attendee to tell conference organisers what they should or<br>
should not do. Attendees make the conference what it is not only by being the<br>
awesome people they are but also by what they say and do and blog about. It's<br>
too easy to be negative and to say "they should totally have done it some<br>
other way" when one is not responsible for actually doing it. Keeping a<br>
positive attitude, contributing where you can, and forbearing negative<br>
comment, is what makes an LCA really epic.<br></blockquote><div><br></div><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div class="im"><br>
Have fun,<br>
<br>
Paul<br>
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