Swag for FUDCons

[inode0]

On Fri, Jul 16, 2010 at 2:08 PM, Paul W. Frields <stickster at gmail.com> wrote:
> Mo Duffy brought up a good point in the Board IRC meeting:
>
> * * *
> <mizmo> jsmith, is there real value in the number of t-shirts we
> produce? could we be doing something to provide more value for the $?
> * * *

You can ask the same question about everything we produce for
promotion. And you might as well start at the top of the list of
expenses even if it is unpopular to suggest not producing it.

We spend far more money on pieces of plastic that have a useful
lifetime of about 4 months than we do on t-shirts which have a useful
lifetime of years for most people. And all those thousands and
thousands of pieces of plastic are surely more unfriendly to the
environment than the few hundred t-shirts we give away each year.

Since metrics are so popular how about we collect some on how many
DVDs that we give away ever actually get dropped onto a tray in a
computer? Or how many event attendees have such a lousy internet
connection that they can't download the Live CD to test themselves in
matter of minutes? To be honest I think we have very little reason in
North America to think we are getting very much return on the
investment we make in physical media. And that investment dwarfs the
t-shirt budget.

> Should we consider offering alternatives for FUDCon, or even general
> events?  Some of the ideas proposed:
>
> * Offer a choice for recipients to get something more {eco-friendly,
>  sustainable}, e.g. plant a tree

I want to help save abused elephants by rescuing them from zoos and
circuses and sending them to sanctuaries. How about we do that?

No, I don't really think saving elephants or planting trees falls
under the mission statement of the Fedora Project. I am all for free
elephants and free trees, really I am!

I will make one comment about t-shirts specifically. I think the value
the project gets from giving them away is exponentially higher when we
give them to existing contributors than when we give them to random
people at events. Existing contributors really appreciate them, they
wear them with pride, and they promote the project by doing so. In the
case of FUDCon, it is a small gesture of appreciation. And if you
don't want one, don't request one on the FUDCon wiki page.

John