[Coco] Fest Ideas was Aaron's apology and Coco Contest Results

[Allen Huffman]

On Apr 30, 2013, at 3:07 PM, Aaron Wolfe <aawolfe at gmail.com> wrote:
> I honestly have mixed feelings about the idea of internet bids in the
> auction.  I am glad that the people who Allen helped to acquire some
> hardware this year were able to participate because I know they are
> "real coconuts" who will make great use of the items, and in some
> cases I personally know these were items they struggled to find in the
> past.  However, as was mentioned elsewhere, opening bidding to the
> entire internet could easily attract the same opportunists who control
> ebay and who have ruined the fun for other platforms.  The auction has
> always been a unique opportunity for those who make the effort to
> attend and I think this "perk" is quite valuable.

First, a huge thanks to Aaron for his work in maintaining the chat room and the live video feeds. The online statistics this year are quite exciting. As to proxy bidding...

I suppose we have to ask one thing:

Why does Glenside do the No Minimum Bid Auction?

If it's just to give attendees a chance to buy stuff really cheap, then it's simple: no internet bidding. But if it is meant to raise funds for the club, then certainly, opening it up only makes that even better. Ultimately, the concern is to make it do something that furthers the goals and activities for the club, and not harm it. If I thought that having a video feed would kill attendance and thus end the reason for the video feed existing, I would totally be on the "no way, sorry" side of this.

I am grateful for the video feed. I had to miss the last two CoCoFESTs, and I am the person who literally "wrote the book" on going to fests... I wonder if there is anyone who attended that would NOT have gone if there had been a better virtual way to participate? Versus how many see all this and it makes them attend a future event? It's a balancing act, and we don't know the weight of each side yet :)

What I don't want to see is giving folks who don't support the club or event the same privileges as those who do. But that's just a personal thing with me. (A bit hypocritical, since I didn't go for two years and thus was two years behind in club dues!)

> I like Allens idea of accepting bids only from Glenside members.  I
> think I would take things a step further by specifically not having
> any official method offered to remote members for casting bids.  This
> is not to say that internet bids would be forbidden, simply that to
> bid you must make the arrangements yourself with someone you know at
> the fest.

Yes, but once that is the case, then those remote bids don't have to be from Glenside members at all.  By officially sanctioning it, the club could control that -- just like a place with a Pepsi contract can say "No Coke products here."

A decade ago, we did a big survey on the list about a Virtual CoCoFEST. I recently found all the responses. I think it's time to revisit that thread, as well, but any such event I would want tied to Glenside and used as a fundraiser or something. I would love to see more guest speakers brought in for the event, for example.

		-- Allen