Re: [guadec-list] Terms and conditions for registration

[Brian Cameron <brian cameron oracle com>]

Koen:

> One last note, we want to avoid that people think of it as a 'two class
> society' or something as such: you pay nothing, you get in. You pay 250,
> you get pampered and VIP'ed. Even though maybe the non-payer has contributed
> 30.000 lines of code, and the payer none.

There should be no concern of this.  People who have this perception may
just need to be reminded of the facts.  Giving people extra swag, or a
dinner or other amenities in *exchange*, or as an *incentive*, to giving
a donation or paying a higher entrance fee in no way creates a class
structure or gives people with t-shirts power over those who do not have
them.  If anything, such swag is a symbol of a person or organization's
generosity.

A $10 tshirt or a $20 dinner is a small gift in exchange for an
individual who donates $100 or for an employee of a company who pays
each of their employees tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of
dollars/euros/etc. to work on GNOME and then pays a $250 GUADEC
entrance fee per employee on top of that.  As Dave says, events cost
money and people should understand that doing things like giving gifts
in exchange for donations helps to pay to make the event happen.

Those people who donate lines of code who do not donate money are
rewarded in other ways, such as with recognition, honor, and prestige
within the community (and maybe even job offers or opportunities).  We
could also consider giving a separate t-shirt to significant GNOME
volunteers regardless of whether they donate or not, as a separate
reward if we want to provide such people with more recognition.

Brian