RfC: New Rules for X2Go: The Gathering 2017 - x2go-project

22 Aug 2016

      Hi everyone,
there are a few things that I would like to mention before posting an
"X2Go: The Gathering 2016 - The Aftermath" message (which will hopefully
happen within the next 7 days).

If you're sick, then please stay at home.

If you've had recent contact with someone that has some contagious
disease, and you are not 100% sure that you're immune - please, stay at
home as well!

If you know that someone has a contagious disease, and you've signed
up for our event, please do not seek physical contact with that person
before the event.  If you have anything that needs to be discussed
because you need it for the event, use e-mail, phone calls, whatever,
but don't visit each other, the reason being rule #2.

Everyone was smart enough to follow rule #1.  However, rules #2/#3
weren't followed by everyone, and thus it was only sheer luck that no
one else got seriously infected but the person carrying the infection.
(Seems my immune system was able to deal with it, so I'm back up to spec
again.)
If this had taken a turn for the worse, we would have had X2G0 as the
successor to H5N1.  So please avoid that in the future and act
responsible with regards to your fellow participants.

I've received feedback that we should not be hosting the event in
August, but rather before or after that month.
The precursor to "X2Go: The Gathering", the X2GoHackTrain, took place in
September.
For "X2Go: The Gathering", we've had October/November, June, and now August.
My assumption was that a lot of people would be on vacation during June
and July, which is why I picked August for this year's event.  Seems I
was mistaken about this and people - especially, but not only in Spain -
prefer August for their summer vacation.  June/July still doesn't "feel"
right to me, so maybe the next event should be in May 2017 already?  The
October/November event saw the highest participant count, but the June
event was only one participant less.  However, with merely three events,
these numbers aren't exactly statistically significant.
So what do you think which month is best suited for the 2017 event?
Without further feedback, I would aim for May-June 2017, mainly due to
the weather.

As you might have noticed, we've had some last-minute changes to the
list of participants: Some had signed up - and cancelled again - after
the official deadline was over, others cancelled due to time constraints
or because they became sick and were responsible enough to stay at home.
This turned out to be a problem for me (time=money - I'm taking time off
of my day job to organize this), Linuxhotel (changing the room
reservation plan over and over), and the event itself, as the Orga crew
was understaffed.  Also, it hits us financially, as we're wasting money
from our sponsors, since Linuxhotel rightfully charges us the single
room fee for a double room that has only one occupant.
For X2Go: The Gathering 2016, I'm sure we'll find a way to cover these
costs, but I do not want to see that happening again.

My idea how to solve this would be:
a) A late signup fee for everyone that we can still accomodate after the
official deadline has passed.  I'm thinking something between a 15%
price increase and charging the regular (non-community-rebated)
hotel room fees.
b) Cancelling your stay less than 48 hours before the event will mean
you have to pay for bed and and lunch (all the other costs can be
waived).
c) BIG EXCEPTION to b): No charges if you're cancelling because you're
sick.  This is to encourage responsible behavior and to avoid people
taking part even when they're sick.
I'm sure we can all pretty much agree to #1 - #3.
The question is, and this is why this message is tagged "RfC", how do we
deal with issues #4 and #5.
I've posted my suggestions, please let me know what you think of them
and what other suggestions you might have.
Kind Regards,
Stefan Baur
(with my X2Go Event Planner hat on)
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