I'm quite disappointed to see that the UK-based wikimania team seems to have decided that everyone will have to get a credit card to be able to participate wikimania. A few years back this would indeed have stopped me from participating in Wikimania. Paypal was already a huge step for me to take - credit card was simply impossible.
I'm also very sorry to see that this is only surfacing now (why didn't you ask people about this? Missed opportunity), the evil of assumptions is indeed valid, the evil of using the organizers' ease of administation as starting point maybe even more. I would like to join the chorus to allow paypal, but i would also strongly suggest to open a separate bank account for wikimania, and allow people to send their money there, using the invoice code you provide them in the payment instructions as a description. I'm not convinced that mixing it with the large amount of donations would actually be helpful (that is asking for mixups etc). However - I do remember how complicated it is to set up a payment system - even one like paypal or iDEAL that seems simple but isn't that really (you need to track payments and confirm the payment made is matched with the registration). So given the short time, I think the most reasonable would be - even though quite uncomfortable - to have cash on-site payment options. Everyone making it to the conference will be able to handle that, the big downside is that there are some security issues there too. The good news is you still have two months to figure those details out. Best, Lodewijk 2014-06-04 21:29 GMT+02:00 aude <[email protected]>: > On Wed, Jun 4, 2014 at 8:41 PM, Austin Hair <[email protected]> wrote: > >> On Wed, Jun 4, 2014 at 8:03 PM, Richard Symonds >> <[email protected]> wrote: >> > I don't mean to sound daft, but Chip & PIN cards are (at least here) >> > MasterCard/Visa cards with 16-digit numbers. The two are the same? >> >> While usually true in the U.S. and UK, this isn't the norm for most of >> the world. (Yes, I learned this the hard way.) >> > > +1 > > It is a headache for me to pay via credit card (send euros to the US, with > bank fee / exchange penalty), then pay penalty again to pay in pounds or > whatnot from US $. Doing this is a big pet peeve and only do with great > hesitation and very good reason. > > Paypal is also problematic for me in europe and not an option (although it > works for most people apparently) > > Bank transfer would be the way to go. (me send money to Wikimedia UK or > somewhere trusted) > > quick google search finds > http://help.eventbrite.com/customer/portal/articles/1267789-use-ideal-to-process-online-payments-for-orders > > would that be an option? > > Cheers, > Katie > > >> >> Assumptions about the availability of various payment systems have >> been a thorn in the side for many Wikimanias—for instance, I remember >> having to explain that bank transfers aren't just uncommon in the >> U.S., but actually inconvenient and often expensive. To be fair, most >> people have never had to think about payment processing on a global >> scale, and assumptions you learned to make five years ago may not hold >> true today. >> >> I wasn't planning to pay using a credit card, but at least I'm >> fortunate enough to have that option available to me. Many others >> won't—the Netherlands isn't exactly a technologically isolated >> country, but revolving lines of credit aren't something your average >> student here will routinely have (for instance), and our banking >> system isn't centered around the credit card network. It's not my >> headache, this year, but I urge the organization team to reconsider >> this decision. >> >> Austin >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Wikimania-l mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l >> > > > > -- > @wikimediadc / @wikidata > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimania-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l > >
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