With the current PTG just finished and seeing discussions happen about the format of the next[0], it seems that the advantages of these seem to be pretty clear to most, so let me use the occasion to remind everyone of the disadvantages.
Every meeting that is happening is excluding those contributors that can not attend it. And with that it is violating the fourth Open principle[1], having a community that is open to everyone. If you are wondering whom this would affect, here's a non-exclusive (sic) list of valid reasons not to attend physical meetings: - Health issues - Privilege issues (like not getting visa or travel permits) - Caretaking responsibilities (children, other family, animals, plants) - Environmental concerns So when you are considering whether it is worth the money and effort to organise PTGs or similar events, I'd like you also to consider those being excluded by such activities. It is not without a reason that IRC and emails have been settled upon as preferred means of communication. I'm not saying that physical meetings should be dropped altogether, but maybe more effort can be placed into providing means of remote participation, which might at least reduce some effects. [0] http://lists.openstack.org/pipermail/openstack-dev/2018-March/127991.html [1] https://governance.openstack.org/tc/reference/opens.html __________________________________________________________________________ OpenStack Development Mailing List (not for usage questions) Unsubscribe: [email protected]?subject:unsubscribe http://lists.openstack.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/openstack-dev
