Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!srcsip!tcnet!nis!sialis!rjg
From: rjg@sialis.mn.org (Robert J. Granvin)
Newsgroups: comp.org.usenix
Subject: Re: Jim Joyce, books, vendor booths, etc.
Message-ID: <1609@sialis.mn.org>
Date: 24 Jun 89 14:12:43 GMT
References: <111994@sun.Eng.Sun.COM>
Reply-To: rjg@sialis.mn.org (Robert J. Granvin)
Organization: Dr. Ho Laboratory and Day Care Center
Lines: 58

>>>	Hmm.  So you really think it is equitable to force someone into
>>>paying for a booth they can't use?  Seems along the lines of forcing
>>>a street vendor to pay for building space he isn't going to use.
>>
>>Have you noticed that street vendors are generally required to
>>purchase a business license, often pay fees to the city, must be
>>approved for their selling area(s) and collect taxes?
>--------------
>
>	Yes, that was suggested as shown above.  But as was also mentioned
>above, those street vendors don't have to purchase building space that
>they are not going to be allowed to or cannot use.

Putting nit-picky wording aside, I don't see the comparison.

A street vendor, for the right to use the cities property to sell his
product, pays the city a fee for a business license and license to
operate in a specific area (or part of a sidewalk).  For this license,
the city effectively sanctions the business.  The city also collects
taxes from the vendor, and may also collect other fees associated with
the _use_ of city property for the business, especially if it includes
utilities.

What seems to be discussed here, is that Jim Joyce is renting a room
where they will sell products at the Usenix conference, and at the
same time expects the Usenix staff to support them.  The only people
that "profit" from this are the hotel (for the room rental) and the
bookstore (for the sales).  Usenix does not even see the customary
useage fee.

It is proper behavior to request, and pay for (if necessary) a
"license to operate" at a conference, just as it is to apply for a
similar license to operate on a street corner.

If the term "paying for a booth they can't use" was interpreted a
little more broadly, you'd realize that Usenix probably is not
recommending that they buy a booth on the floor and then have some
empty tables sitting there.  Rather, it seems to be a fair practice to
compensate Usenix for the priviledge of vendoring or selling wares at
a Usenix sponsored event.  This does not translate into "purchase 
building space that they are not going to be allowed to or cannot use."

Usenix seems to have been much more tolerant of this practice than
anyone else that I can think of.  Good or bad depends on your point of
view (and how either practice affects the organization or the
conference).

The real question isn't the esoteric little details, but whether an
organization should attend a conference and vendor/sell wares without
compensation to the sponsoring organization, while other organizations
do make that compensation.  That will end up putting a bad taste in
everyone's mouth.

-- 
________Robert J. Granvin________        INTERNET: rjg@sialis.mn.org
____National Computer Systems____          BITNET: rjg%sialis.mn.org@cs.umn.edu
__National Information Services__            UUCP: ...amdahl!bungia!sialis!rjg
 "I'll just go bang my head on a wall & figure out why I abuse myself so much"