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Jeff Chandler

Open Source Scotland Cancelled

The conference that was supposed to bring together heavyweights within the open source world to Scotland has been cancelled. KevinJohn Gallagher listed a number of reasons as to the cancellation of the conference with one of them being the unfortunate circumstance of a number of people requesting refunds for their tickets after Kevin published an article explaining why his company would no longer be using WordPress. He promises to refund everyone’s tickets in full but you’ll have to give him some time as it involves multiple parties.

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16 responses to “Open Source Scotland Cancelled”

  1. No frequent wptavern reader should have any doubt on how I think of this matter and the total lack of any emotional reaction from the WP leadership in support of KJG and the total condemnation of the actions people took against KJG. Except for one. Mark Jaquith. He his the only one in the core team and the WP leadership that showed any sort of moral and compassion with regards to KJG. Jane Wells response was that what happened to KJG was “lame”. And then she called people (and I think it was directed at me) troll because we criticized their lack of actual thorough condemnation. I’m a little surprised that WP Candy didn’t do an editorial on the whole thing and how this ordeal has shown the ugly side of WP fandom. You didn’t condemn it in an editorial either Jeff.
    Personally I don’t like the wp community at large that much anymore. Its so cold and unfriendly when it really should be warm and open. Its like a sect more than a community.

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  3. As an organizer of several tech events (including WordCamp Miami), it’s certainly a shame when any event like this has to be cancelled (we almost did when we started). Seems to me – if i were just reading this for the first time – that recent events related to WP was not the primary reason it was cancelled. If you read it, looks like Paypal and venue issues were primary causes as they are listed first. Refunds seems more like the straw that broke the camel’s back. IMO.

    Although I do wonder, in hindsight, how one times writing such a dramatic blog post while having an upcoming event “with multiple speakers chosen for their links to” WordPress. Not disrupting his rights (and certainly some of the most extreme shameful reactions by a sad few were not expected), i just find it interesting. Also curious to know how many people were asking for refunds tied into his drama.

    Again, it’s sad and many lost an opportunity to learn and meet. Hopefully another opportunity will present itself and curse Paypal. :)

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  4. @Jeffro – Of course it would mean much. If people stay silent when others are misstreated you in essence support the misstreatment. That is how it has always been. If one want an open warm and welcoming community misstreatment, hatefullness and threats must be dealt with and condemned. Thats just the nature of the game. Like I wrote in a reply. If a group attacks and other people in the name of a company, org etc (unless its supported by the leadership) the company, org must condemn it. Failing to do so shows in best case indifference to how others are treated and worst case could be taken as they support the actions.
    People saying what they think should not result in such a hateful response as it did this time.
    Personal attacks, listing clients mocking that projects only lasted X months etc.
    We have the RWW article as well. Total stupidity.

    @David Bisset – Dramatic blog post? For Christs sake. All he wrote was in essence “we wont be using WordPress as our main tool in my company anymore”. He even writes that he still likes it and will continue to use it personally. The drama was supplied by others.

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  5. Not knowing details, but if attendees of an *open source* (not WP) conference cancel because its organizer decided to not promote one specific open source software anymore, I agree with Andreas that this is indeed lame.

    Better these people reflect on if they truly support the idea of open source or, like in the regular commercial market place, only one product while trying to fight against, and talk negatively about, the rest.

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  6. The fact that this episode did get an open free-for-all airing, on this & other high-profile WordPress venues, is a good reflection on WP. The fact that we are now visiting the debris-field for a little second-guessing, is encouraging.

    Critics of top WP personalities & policies, sometimes gloss over the fact that with 10-20% of the Web running on their product, top people will find themselves in an untenable ‘gotcha’, trying to address or assuage all the contrary views & interpretations of any given event or situation.

    There is nothing unusual or novel, in finding that strong individuals with good leadership assets, can bang off & over the rails, at times. It’s more a question of whether they can recover, get it shiny side up, and moving down the road again.

    KevinJohn Gallagher has a lot going for himself. But just because one might have 500 Hp under the hood, doesn’t mean one can put the pedal to the floorboards and end up where one wants to be, ‘just like that’. The laws of Physics & Human Nature still pertain.

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  8. @Ryan Hellyer –

    And now it is affecting events within the open source community.

    KJG himself acknowledges that ‘issues’ existed with Open Source Scotland, independent of his fracas with WordPress. It does seem possible & reasonable, that a degree of pique could be involved.

    The Open Source Scotland venue is not “the open source community”. It is an attempt to organize a community that already exists, in a particular way, for particular purposes.

    The failure of this conference does not alter the “community”. Open source people tend to resemble cats, and any effort to herd them is expected to be tricky. The cats are still there, still being cats.

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  9. @Ted Clayton – Hard time understanding what you are actually writing about. But I’ve made an attempt to comment the interpretation I thought were the most correct one.

    The fact that this episode did get an open free-for-all airing, on this & other high-profile WordPress venues, is a good reflection on WP.

    Open free for all bullshit festival is a good reflection of WP? So you mean this episode showed the true nature of the WP community?
    If we simplify. The ones “behind” KJG were reasonable and rational, the rest for the most part did ad hominens, straw mens and were plain irrational fanboys. The reaction was extreme for a non-event. People were shitting their pants for no reason at all.

    The fact that we are now visiting the debris-field for a little second-guessing, is encouraging.

    Who is revisiting it? Not Jeff, not the guys over at WPCandy, not Matt, not Jane not anyone of importance really. This episode will just be forgotten just like all previous episodes and escapades of the WP community and the leadership.

    There is nothing unusual or novel, in finding that strong individuals with good leadership assets, can bang off & over the rails, at times. It’s more a question of whether they can recover, get it shiny side up, and moving down the road again.

    What has this got do with anything at all? Are you putting blame on KJG? Those who should be ashamed are the ones that mistreated KJG. Then comes those who has power to change the atmosphere but refuses to do that. Matt, Jane and the rest. Except Mark Jaquith he at least vocalized his condemnation.

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  11. So this is was supposed to be a festival for all open source? WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, and all other Open Source projects (not just CMS/blogging), correct?

    Wow he doesn’t use WordPress….oh my God let the apocalypse come down upon us.

    All roads lead to Rome. WordPress, Drupal, Joomla all do essentially most of the same things, just different ways. All three take 3 different roads to Rome.

    Certain elements in the WordPress/Drupal/Joomla communities need to take something long out of somewhere where the sun doesn’t shine. De-inflate the ego. There are things that WordPress is better than others, there are things Drupal/Joomla/etc…is better than others…and every other similar OPEN SOURCE software.

    Same thing can be said about PHPBB/SMF/XMB/etc….forums software.

    Obviously the WP.org/.com/swag store/wordcamp central should all be running WordPress. I have used WP/D/J. I use all three.

    The Open Source Community is made up of different sections that have things in common (hence OPEN SOURCE). Within those sections there is the CMS section. Let’s all get along, ok?

    He was promoting OPEN SOURCE, not WordPress specifically.

    People who bitch at events, they don’t have to attend those events. Obviously the only bitching allowed would be if a WordCamp organizer was using Drupal or Joomla.

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  12. @Andreas Nurbo – So now that your view has been out-voted, the whole issue was a mere “non-event”, after all?

    Everyone who disagrees with you is a “fanboy”?

    Did you expect that those who adopt WordPress would be a pack of malcontents?

    Some of your key premises make for sandy foundations.

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  14. As the organiser of the Scottish Open Source Awards for a couple of years we watched in wry amusement as this event was being organised. It was supposed to be “Open Source Scotland” and yet there was no attempt by the organisers to reach out to me or my colleagues, all well known Open Source practitioners in Scotland. Open Source is about community. If you’re doing something like this without engaging with the community, it is more likely to end in failure. It sounds to me like the WP is a cover for a deeper malaise … and lack of engagement is just one of the symptoms.

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  16. @Greg Soper –

    Yes, this is a ‘dynamic’ that arises repeatedly ‘in association’ with the overall ‘grassroots’ Open Source community.

    I don’t know the ‘local’ scene in Scotland, nor am I familiar with the “Open Source Scotland” organization.

    That acknowledged, I do know and am familiar with repeated cases over the years & throughout the international scope of Open Source, in which someone or something comes out in a public way, claiming or implying that they are or represent the Open Source phenomenon, per se, in general. Usually, there are fairly extensive ‘liberties’ being taken, with such ‘representations’.

    We see hints of this even with the odd member of so well-grounded & secure an entity as WordPress, in which someone occasionally expresses themselves in a fashion that can sound like it wants to “equate” WordPress and Open Source … which of course is not even vaguely close.

    Because it is largely unorganized & informal in nature, virtually anyone or anything is relatively free to publicize themselves as ‘being’ or ‘representing’ Open Source.

    That Scotland could be well-populated with Open Source personae non gratae & assorted turdlings who are glossed over by Open Source Scotland, and who return the favor with interest, would hardly be surprising.

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