[Python-ideas] Anonymizing the PyCon review process

[Daniel Fetchinson]

> Last night I got a couple of PyCon talks rejected, and someone else sent me
> a rejection email they'd received. I wasn't surprised at the rejections,
> but I was quite surprised that many of the review comments were at least in
> part based on the presenter (sometimes the incorrectly assumed presenter)
> instead of on the proposed talk.

[snip]

It seems you are mistaken about the purpose of a conference (not only
python, but any academic or professional gathering). Since the number
of presenters is always much less than the number of people who
listen, the goal of every good conference organizer should be to first
look after the interest of the people who listen and only then look
after the interest of the presenters.

In other words, the number one goal is to have the audience enjoy the
show. Once this is done, one can think about what is in the interest
of the presenters. Whenever there is a conflict, the interest of the
audience comes first. Making somebody well known in the python
community by giving him a slot at pycon is not the number one goal of
a conference.

So if somebody is sad/unhappy/etc because he can not present, well,
that's not a problem at all if the decision was made in the good faith
that turning away the person and giving the slot to someone else will
increase the enjoyment of the audience.

I believe the cases you mentioned fall into this category.

Cheers,
Daniel

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