What I find interesting about PyCon is the money trail, cronyism and nepotism. I see jnoller promote PyCon on Hacker News quite often, but shouldn't he disclose how he personally profits from PyCon?
Quite frankly, our family could really use the extra money and I have actually argued with him on this - embarrassing fact: at the moment because I don't make a full time income, we have gotten back to living paycheck to paycheck and barely. He works his butt off doing these things because the "personal profit" you so want him to disclose - is personal, he is doing it with a ton of hope that at the end the whole community will profit from it. Anywhere from funding other conferences, helping people via financial aide, helping smaller groups via grants… this money you think he is getting – is going to everyone BUT him.
Plain and simple, my husband is a fanatic and crazy – he does this because that is what he does… all he wants is for people to have a community that supports one another… all I want is for one day accusations like this to go away, and instead for him to wake one morning and see a thank you on “xyz” site, for what he is and has been doing.
P.S. Get some cojones and don’t hide behind a parachute account to ask questions, a few things come to mind when I see acts like this – a. you are embarrassed by it so you can’t show your face; b. you are a passive aggressive and are afraid of being called out by your name; c. you are still very young and do not understand how to handle things as an adult. Life is short; be you, don’t hide behind subterfuge.
I do this as a volunteer, as those who came before me did. I don't get fat checks, or kickbacks from sponsors, or free cars or servants. I do get a lot of heartburn, a lot of email, and a lot of stress.
So not only do I find your comment confusing and insulting, I'm honestly completely baffled.
For the record, I have the utmost faith in Jesse's integrity as PyCon chair. I have not bothered to canvass my fellow directors, but I doubt any of them feel any different. The Foundation owes him a huge debt of gratitude for the immense amount of work he continues to put into this role while holding down a full-time job and being an active parent. It is obnoxious in the extreme to slur him in this way.
So let's see "the money trail," and let's have these accusations in the open so we can see that they are, in fact, simply unsubstantiated waffle.
In return, the chair doesn't even get a free ticket to the conference. Everyone pays their way to the conference - even the chair, just like everyone else.
That is part of what makes PyCon great. You go to other conferences to be catered to. You come to PyCon to contribute.
Something that I have seen persisting and increasing from then until now is his passion for evangelizing Python as a valuable, open-source tool.
The personal 'profit' that I have seen him earning is simply this: a well-deserved positive reputation as a guy who invests great amounts of his own time and energy to benefit the Python language and community.
If you're going to say something specific, then say it. If you're going to make baseless accusations about people who volunteer, take it elsewhere.
I've been to a number of conferences in my own country (India) and abroad and the PyCon in the States is my idea of a "perfect" conference. The people are nice, the prices are reasonable, the tech stuff is awesome. There is nothing I can think of that is wrong with it. It's a team effort and each and every person who contributes deserves credit but the chair who is the public face of the event is the man who is deserves the most. He has to deal with an enormous amount of stress and work. I ran PyCon India for two years and know what it's like in a small way. This kind of vitriol for some anonymous account on HN is not something Jesse deserves or needs.
If you genuinely have a problem with some aspect of the conference, I'm sure the organising committee will be willing to listen to you and do what's best. If you simply want to troll, please don't.
You imply that there is a money trail, cronyism and nepotism, but offer nothing to substantiate those claims.
I've been involved with PyCon for years, and know jnoller and many of the other people who donate so much of their time and energy to make these conferences successful, and IMO there is not a less selfish group of people anywhere. They are a huge reason that each PyCon is better than the one before.
I do not know if cronyism created that or not; if it did, then let's keep doing that. It is an amazing level of satisfaction.