Re: [OSCOM] Announcement: Magnolia introduces official training -starts on May 9th

On May 1, 2005, at 10:46 AM, Steven Noels wrote:

> On 01 May 2005, at 14:48, Erik Hatcher wrote:
>
>> I apologize for sending this personal issue to the OSCOM list.
>
> Then don't.

I did it because the only time Tina has communicated with me about the 
issue is when I mentioned her handling of ApacheCon on this list when 
she promoted herself as an option for OSCOM.   Part of the reason I 
posted publicly was to let the community see my experiences with 
someone who obviously is interested in working with OSCOM.

> Imagine you run a tiny business which depends on a number of 
> subcontractors. Your big client pays late, yet your subcontractors 
> demand their monthly payment. Tough.
>
> I figure Tina is trying to do an honest and hardworking job, otherwise 
> she wouldn't be putting together conferences for non-profit interest 
> groups as Apache. Besides, if you think about it, every bit she pays 
> to speakers also means less money for Apache.

Tina has failed to deliver on her promises to me.  Regardless of the 
tough times she may have experienced due to ApacheCon, she has ignored 
my communication with her until it became public.

Her motivations to provide a service to the open-source community is 
laudable, for sure.  Her professional demeanor while doing so has not 
been.  I'm not the only one with bad experiences with Tina, but I will 
only speak for myself here.

As for paying speakers - that is a different topic altogether, and each 
conference/symposium does it differently.  Great content can be had at 
conferences that do not pay speakers, and lousy content can be found 
where speakers are paid - compensation has little bearing on quality of 
material.  Direct monetary donation to Apache is a good thing, but it 
is only way way to give back to it.  I personally am a committer on 
several projects, am a Member of the ASF, and promote the "Apache Way" 
often, as well as having worked many many long hours on training 
material, books, and articles on Apache topics.  Using only the money 
I've earned from all of that total, I'd be in poverty and my children 
malnourished.  The money from Security Travel is not the issue.  In 
fact, if she pays me, I'll donate it right back to the ASF!

	Erik