On 09/30/06 Rick R. wrote:

And if John Dvorak of PCMag (who had already declared OS/2 dead 5 minutes after Lou Gerster wrote that infamous memo) has any perception problems in Ontario/Canada, then tell him to meet me in Ontario, CA or any other part of southern California, and I'll show him how I administer a multi-million $ project on my OS/2 box.
 
I just calculated some figures in my head and it turned out that the expense tab alone for me would be ~$2000.-- to take of from here and go "up there".
And that does not include loss in pay or the medical costs for the heart attack the project manager is going to have if his main tech man decides to go AWOL on him.
 
Since I am in a hotel here, I wouldn't even know what to do with all my stuff.
So I end up driving up there, and even if I'd buy a plane ticket I still end up paying double for hotel room and probably rental car.
 
I'd rather spend that $$$ on new equipment.
 
Not to mention the pesky detail that many of my foreign co-workers (yes, I did encounter an OS/2 fan from India on one of my last projects) would have a hard time getting a visa for Canada nowadays.
 
You choose that far away place, so now don't bitch if attendance turns out to be low.
I hope it won't, but if it does then its certainly not our fault!

Actually Stan nor I had any say in this year's location.  But I at least thought it was actually a good idea to have it in Canada for several reasons (cost is less there, Europeans are more likely to attend a non-US event(security nonsense and politics), and we have never had an event in that area). Unfortunately travel has been made extremely expensive and pretty inconvenient as well so all those reasons are less relevant today they they were a year ago.  So perhaps the days for any conventions that can't draw almost entirely local attendance are numbered.

But I think you miss the point entirely.  If you can't make it so be it. Stan's issue is really with people who want the entire event provided to them without attending.  There is no financial support for such an endeavor.  Warpstock has always provided the event materials online after the event was over.  But even so Warpstock doesn't need charity, it needs people to attend.  That is why it is held in different areas of North America every year to give people a chance to attend.  The easiest way to make sure that Warpstock is located convenient to you is to put in a bid for 2007.  Without any bids the whole issue is moot.

Mark