[Linux-aus] Request for Sponsorship for Barcamp Gold Coast on 2nd April

[Michael Still]

On 3/31/11 9:49 PM, Donna Benjamin wrote:

> That bit about participating and sharing knowledge - in my view - is
> exactly what makes open source matter.
>
> Mikal - to be honest, I'm somewhat surprised you don't grok that.

Like I said earlier, I think Bar Camps are a good thing, and have 
nothing against them. I've volunteered at three or four SciFoos over the 
years, so I like to think I understand where these events are coming 
from. This isn't an attack.

However, it seems that the business case for spending LA's members money 
on sponsorship could be summarized as "brand advertising". I am not 
convinced that brand advertising is something that LA member's would 
expect their money to be spent on.

Many other things LA has been sponsoring -- pyconau, wordcamp, the Ada 
initiative all clearly do meet the test of furthering the interests of 
LA's members. Even some of those however have been divisive recently.

Apart from providing an event for LA members to attend, how does our 
sponsorship of these events help our members? Perhaps I'm dense, but 
this is still not clear to me.

AUUG once had a debate about whether they should take out full page ads 
promoting Unix in newspapers. This was only a few years before they 
folded, but when they seemed flush with cash at the time. I worry that 
unfocused spending is something which will endanger the Linux Australia 
we know and love.

Anyway, it appears I'm the only person who feels this way about 
sponsoring these events, so this will be my last post on the issue.

Mikal