Michael S wrote:
> There aren't word to describe what I'm feeling, but I'll try anyhow. The
> way
> you just pulled the rug out from under me just mere hours after I bought
> non-refundable tickets is simply infuriating. I'm out over 400 dollars.
It
> seems pretty clear that with priceline and name your own price, you
can't
> get a refund, although there might be a way buried in the fine print. If
> all
> else fails I might call the credit card company. I know *I* was going.
> Brayn
> Varner, Michael Phipps, and probably Isaac Yonemoto would've attended as
> well. I would think Jonathan Thompson, Darkwyrm and Gabe would have gone
> too. Isaac suggested to me that a trip to Menlo Park might be in order.
> Menlo Park being the former home of Be Inc, not to be confused with the
> Menlo Park in New Jersey where Thomas Edison worked.
Michael -
There really aren't words to say how I/we feel, either.
> Just because Haiku is a non-profit run by volunteers doesn't mean it has
to
> feel like amateur hour. The phrase fly-by-night springs to mind. I feel
I
> could've done a better job and I'm scatter-brained most of the time.
> Firstly, more notice beforehand would be nice. Specifically, the when
and
> where, not just some unspecified date in August in some region of the
> country. Three months would be good. This wasn't a huge problem for me,
but
> for some other people I'm sure it played a role.
Sure, we know this. Unfortunately, SF was *MUCH* harder to work with than
any other part of the country. Both Vegas and Orlando were a lot easier -
they nearly BEGGED me to come. They contacted every hotel in sight, they
organized their responses; their chambers of commerce were awesome. In
comparison, SF said "we could talk to up to three hotels; anything after
that and you are on your own". So we had to do hours and hours of footwork
that was done for us by people on the ground in years past.
This isn't an excuse, mind you, but some insight into what happened.
> Secondly, OSNews didn't pick it up as far as I know. You need to spread
the
> word. Send an e-mail, write a business-style press release.
You are assuming that we didn't. It was certainly on the website and the
mailing list, both of which are monitored by OSNews staff; if they wanted
to post it, they certainly could have.
> Thirdly, communication is key. I sent an e-mail to Darkwyrm at gmail dot
> com
> on the 14th of July with my t-shirt size and date of arrival, as
requested
> on the waltercon site. I said I'd pay in a week or two. I didn't get
> anything back. A simple "I received your e-mail," would suffice. How
> about a
> we-need-more-people-to-attend-or-we-cancel news posting ? That would've
> helped a week ago.
More clues - the hotel/meeting place (don't remember which) emailed us and
said that we had 3 days to pay up or they would cancel. We looked at the
existing signups and decided that it wasn't worth it.
> Fourth, what else is there to do ? I think Bryan was bringing his wife.
> Maybe Czeslaw would decide to drag his wife and child to San Francisco.
> I've
> heard it said, that being with someone you love and watching as they
enjoy
> themself gives the other person equal enjoyment. What I haven't heard
said
> is that this only goes so far and is going to wear off.
> Anyway, there needs to be a list of other things to do on a traveler's
> budget.
> Free samples and a walking tour anyone ?
> http://www.ferrybuildingmarketplace.com/visitors.php
>
> I'm not talking about everything there is to see and do, but a list of
> public transportation e.g.bus stops and shuttle services and the fare
and
> pick up schedules would be helpful. Also a list of other things to do
would
> be nice. Historical sites, night clubs, live music, book stores,
libraries,
> unique architectural curiosities, shopping malls and movie theaters
would
> all be nice. I'm sure the local visitor's bureau would send out dozens
of
> pamphlets for free.
You'd be surprised how unhelpful they were to us. :-/
> I started off really angry. Most of that is gone, but what's left isn't
> much
> better. I'm reminded of the "7 Ps," or a variation of the alliterative
> phrase. "Poor Prior Planning Produces Piss Poor Performance."
We started, by the way, planning 2 months before. Which is about what we
did for 2004-2006. Sooner would have been better, sure. But we never had
this sort of trouble before. Also, by the way, the prices of meeting rooms
and hotels were RADICALLY higher in SF than anywhere else. Something else
we tried to work around.
> Do I blame Michael Phipps, Darkwyrm, the establishment (MacOS, Windows,
> Linux) the man (Bill Gates, Linus, Steve Jobs) or the system (osnews,
> slashdot) ? I'm reminded of Koki, but let's not start the European
> Waltercon
> debate; this failure is due to not spreading the word , and not getting
the
> announcement out early and basically the apathetic "it'll take care of
> itself" attitude.
In fairness, we posted on this mailing list, the Haiku website and the
Waltercon website. Would a slashdot post really attract more people? Would
they be the sort of people that we would likely want (as opposed to people
who check the Haiku website)?
> Is this the same LinuxWorld that Koki canceled ?
> http://www.elliottsamazing.com/lrh.html
Yes. I am speaking there on 8/8. Actually, the whole story on that is that
they were never going to provide us a booth - they didn't have space in
the
OSS pavilion. But we always had a space with the birds of a feather
conversations.
> Did I mention that I e-mailed just about everyone with an idg.com e-mail
> address on the 24th of May ? I think Michael said they were out of room
for
> the no cost section ? What changed ?
Explained above.
> Lastly, what am I going to do with this ?
> http://img2.freeimagehosting.net/image.php?52dad963ec.gif
If I remember my WalterCon history, you would be far more appropriate to
place with the questionable woman than I would. :-)
I am absolutely miserable about this. I *never* wanted to not have a WC.
But it would have been a disaster with 4 people (Gabe, Bryan, Issac,
MikeS)
there. We did a survey to find out what people wanted in a WalterCon. We
hit every point - geography, date, content, etc. Yes, earlier announcement
would have been better. But it is sort of hard to announce something when
the hotels and meeting places won't get back to you. Over and over and
over
again. We (DW) made dozens of calls to get things set up. We fought
against
the WalterCon website - a beta install of software that gave us a ton of
trouble. We really did do our best. People I consider to be personal
friends are taking a bath on this (including you, MikeS). I really hate
that. We had a very poor set of options this past Monday. Hold an event
for
4 people where Haiku would take a HUGE financial bath, no one would come
away with their goals met (i.e. learning more, fraternizing with other
devs, etc) or canceling it now while the most people have the chance to
recoup their losses. I think that we did the right thing. I don't like it
-
it was the best of no good choices.
I have a request for folks out there - if the *ONLY* reason that you
didn't
sign up for WC07 was the lateness of the posting, please, respond to this
and say so. If money, flight, the date would have made a difference,
that's
different. But if we had posted exact time, place and cost in May, would
it
have made a difference? I don't think so, but I am willing to hear about
it
publicly if it would have.
Michael
