On 04/07/2017 01:05 AM, fauno wrote: > Luke <[email protected]> writes: > >> Unfortunately, most any of those ideas couldn't be "declared" which >> leads me to wonder if the money ever really existed at all - other >> than to be a stressful headache for yourself and everyone involved in >> the project. > please tell me when we couldn't make a payment because of romanian laws > or personal payments couldn't be reimbursed. what stresses me is your > concern trolling. >
Certainly. June 15th 2016: We already designed the stickers for FISL, you and Ceata agreed to pay for them after a somewhat lengthy debate about how expensive and useless they are. I get the company to make the custom stickers and go the extra mile of sending a custom invoice. The sticker company is ready to ship expedited to us just in time for the event. During this internal conversation, we learned quite a bit. 1) Ceata can't use the invoice sent by the sticker company through PayPal, goes off on their own trying to make stickers in Romania. Quote Ceata: "Oh, sorry. _I didn't know Romania isn't a billing option in PayPal_." "IMO, _these high-quality stickers are too expensive_ for the small funds Parabola has for the moment. I can try to get stickers of close quality at much less by _making them in Romania and billing Ceata wouldn't be a problem here._" 2) No communication for awhile, the sticker company keeps asking me for payment since they were going to put them into production to meet our deadline. I pay them with my own money. - June 16, 2016: Somehow Ceata ends up getting correct 'declarative receipt' from the sticker company saying it was paid in full. I've no idea how how they managed to finally get the proper invoice outside of Paypal, but I was not kept in the loop on this venture and it was already too late. Quote Ceata: "It reads "paid in full", so I suppose Luke has made the payment. If this is the case, Ceata can refund Luke provided he sends me the proof of payment (forwards the PayPal receipt)." - Obviously, the invoice, which I already paid is invoiced to my name now - so I tell you and Ceata both to forget it. 3) Ceata claims bitcoins are not illegal in Romania, but receiving and spending is not allowed because of "transparency" and tax concerns. Quote Ceata: "Receiving donations in Bitcoins and converting them in national currency for later payments is not prohibited in Romania. However, _receiving and__ __spending Bitcoins is not allowed, because it's not transparent in the__ __eyes of the authorities_ and _we can be suspected of tax avoidance_." 4) Ceata doesn't have any option of using a pre-paid credit card or debit card for miscellaneous purchases. Quote Ceata: "No, we can't. _Because organizations can't request gift cards from banks_ (_at least not in Romania_), only individuals can request such cards." 5) Ceata says they are unable to pay anything in advanced for FISL, requesting invoices and receipts from each event after FISL occurs. Quote Ceata: "I don't understand the problem here. André doesn't have the funds to pay in advance for the travel to and food at FISL? If this is the case, _I'm sure family or friends can help him._ When presented with any or all receipts, Ceata will refund him." ..."It's not for a lack of trust, but because it's an accounting nightmare to record the transactions involved and _it raises suspicion in the eyes of the authorities._" The correspondence between June 15 to July 6th proves the situation of actually utilizing donors money is not only ridiculously complex, it was/is unsustainable. If you wish drag this trivial debate on and publish them all in full as ParabolaLeaks, please redact names/addresses. Needless to say, the same thing happened, again, with the chasis, power supply, and RAM. With the /small/ possibility that they would be able to pay for a shipping label. Based on previous experience, I believe there is a strong chance of being unable to fulfil on that as well. There was also the internal discussion of not having a chasis at all: Quote fauno: "to me, the chassis is optional. you can have the motherboard bare or on a recycled chassis or on a box, and buy a new power supply and maybe an extra one just in case." I really would rather our primary build server doesn't have to look like this: https://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1122857 So really, if this "general fund" cannot be used by anything we have proposed, what is it used for? Why do you vehemently defend it?
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