RE: Please bring the conference news back

The first time that I hear of this. I didn't read everything Marco wrote (too long :) but I must say I'm unpleasantly surprised at removing conferences from the front page. I think conferences (whether commercial or non-commercial) are of high importance and interest to the broad PHP developer's community and less visibility for them will mean lower momentum for the gatherings and thus for PHP itself. It's really not a very good community move. These conferences are extremely supportive of the community and PHP profileration. Andi > -----Original Message----- > From: mtabini@gmail.com [mailto:mtabini@gmail.com] On Behalf > Of Marco Tabini > Sent: Thursday, February 08, 2007 10:05 AM > To: webmaster@php.net > Subject: Please bring the conference news back > > All— > > First of all, let me say that I am sending this e-mail after > a lot of very reluctant thought; since my company is in the > business or organizing PHP conferences, I am clearly biased > and, inasmuch as I think that I am writing objectively, I can > hardly claim that as a fact. > > First a quick bit of background for those not in the loop: > all conference-related news have been removed from the > php.net homepage; this was discussed briefly at various > intervals on IRC, and although general agreement had been > reached that conference announcements were beginning to > clutter the homepage, no decision was taken until yesterday, > when they were abruptly removed from the home page and > relegated to a separate page that can only be reached by > clicking on a link at the top of the site template. > > I think this was a bad decision for a number of reasons. > > The first—let me get it out in the open right away—is that it > damages my business. In all honesty, if this change hadn't > affected me directly, I wouldn't be writing this e-mail. This > clearly doesn't concern anyone else (except those who also > organize PHP conferences), but it needs to be stated to keep > things in perspective. > > The second is that, although my event has now lost some > exposure, this is a relatively minor problem for my > organization, because we have other means to promote php|tek > and we build the cost of that promotion into our prices. > Other organizations—for example, all the non-profits that > organize conferences, like PHP Québec or the Vancouver PUG, > have different goals and probably rely on the exposure they > receive through php.net much more. I cannot and do not speak > for them, but I can't imagine them popping the bottles of > champagne open right now. > > Conferences matter to the PHP community, and they matter to > php.netvisitors. In the last thirty days, we have received > approximately 9,000 referrals from the various php.net > mirrors—these are people who saw the conference announcement > on the homepage and clicked through to our site. It is by no > means an astronomical number, but it is certainly significant > enough to dispel any notion that the conference announcements > are irrelevant or that they do not belong on php.net in the > first place. > > Historically, conferences have also played a part in the > growth and increased popularity of PHP. Many core developers > have had opportunity once and again to meet face-to-face at > the various events worldwide—not just among themselves, but > also with PHP users from around the globe. In turn, > conferences have helped (directly and indirectly) with > spreading the word about PHP in settings where it might have > otherwise made no inroads whatsoever. Many companies and > organizations that organize conferences have also directly > supported the PHP projects by contributing either financially > or by other means. > > Removing the conference announcements from the homepage > wholesale and essentially "disappearing" them from the site > (if you think that the link at the top makes everything ok, I > suggest you take a look at Fitt's Law of ergonomics and > reconsider) has caused a number of (perhaps unintended) > consequences: > > 1. While the fact that conference announcements appeared on > php.net didn't amount to an endorsement, they certainly > indicated that the PHP Group considered them relevant to the > community. Removing them abruptly and with no explanation > signals a shift in policy which, in my opinion, does not jive > with reality. To the outsider, the removal could well mean > that the people who run php.net no longer consider > conferences useful, relevant or important to the > community—and that is not what I have heard from the people I > have actually spoken to. > > 2. Removing all the announcements also means that calls for > papers are no longer visible at all. This deprives the entire > community of an opportunity to make their voices heard, and > to make an impact on the PHP world. > Ultimately, this damages PHP, simply because there is less > opportunity to promote new ideas. > > 3. The list of upcoming conferences currently shown in the > right-hand side bar is completely useless. All the three > conferences listed on the site right now (Vancouver PHP, OSDC > Israel and UK PHP Conference) are to take place in the next > three weeks. The problem is that the decision of attending a > conference—particularly if it lasts more than a day—is hardly > ever made on a whim. It usually takes careful planning, > management approval of expenses, and so on. A list of > upcoming conferences listed chronologically does not help > anyone, while the old system was, in a sense, > self-regulating, since every organizer tried to publish their > announcement when they would strategically make the most > sense, rather than have them categorized by an arbitrary algorithm. > > 4. There are now two news items on the main page of > php.net—one is from the beginning of November, and the other > from a few days go. Even with an announcement coming about a > 5.2.1 release and an explanation of what happened to the > conference announcements (which will eventually fall off of > the main page), that gives the impression that very little > happened in PHP land since last fall. This is obviously not > true—but you have to have intimate knowledge of the going ons > of the platform to know it. > > 5. Conference announcements have also disappeared from the > RSS feed. I am not sure how many people rely on it to get > their PHP news, but they are now cut off from knowledge of > these events. > > 6. There is a difference between desire for action and > impulsiveness. I understand and appreciate that discussing > things to death is not constructive; however, "we talked > about it on IRC for three hours" is not a good justification > for such a significant and far-reaching change. Allowing > everyone to voice their opinion—karma or no karma—before > making significant decisions has always been the norm. > > All things considered, if the concern was to reduce clutter > on the home page, I think that the situation could have been > handled much better. Rasmus has mentioned that he is looking > to have the site redesigned; the decision to move conference > announcements could have been made part of the redesign and > made to take place in a more organic way. Others might have > suggested workable solutions that would fit in the current > design without making rash changes that were obviously not > well thought through. > > On a personal note, I am very dispirited; organizing > conferences is hard, and very expensive work (you cannot > fully appreciate this until you have been asked to pay $70 > for a gallon of coffee) and, while it is my day job and > obviously gives me a direct benefit, I have always felt that > making these events happen was a great way to give back to > the community and to the people who make PHP a reality. This > decision feel like a huge (and > unwarranted) slap in the face—again, probably something that > won't matter to anyone other than myself, but something I > wanted to get out there. > > Cheers, > > > Marco > > -- > Marco Tabini > php|architect > > Phone: +1 (416) 630-6202 x.666 > Fax: +1 (416) 630-5057 > Web: http://www.phparch.com >