[Ruud-v-A]

Not from the docs, but a pretty clear community example is that tickets for RustFest are more expensive for people who don’t belong to an underrepresented group.

Edit: replaced “minority” with “underrepresented group”, as that is the language used on the website [1].

[1]: http://blog.rustfest.eu/this-week-in-rustfest-5-tickets-dive...

[kbenson]

> Not from the docs, but a pretty clear community example is that tickets for RustFest are more expensive for people who don’t belong to a minority.

Having just looked this up because I wasn't aware of it, I wouldn't classify that statement as true. They allow/ask for donations to help people from diverse locations attend.

https://ti.to/asquera-event-ug/rustfest-zurich/

NOTE: THIS IS NOT A CONFERENCE TICKET. Support us bringing the opportunity to attend RustFest to more people around the globe who otherwise couldn't afford it. Anything you offer here will go into our diversity pool with the sole purpose of helping people from underrepresented groups attend RustFest.

That doesn't mean minorities necessarily, and even if it did, it doesn't mean everyone in that group gets a cheaper ticket. From the first sentence though, it seems obvious they are trying to get diverse nationalities, not necessarily diverse ethnicity from the hosting country.

[Manishearth]

This is untrue.

RustFest sponsors folks who couldn't otherwise attend with tickets (and sometimes travel and other things, I forget the details). This includes students (IIRC)

They also have tickets on the site which you can buy to add money to the sponsorship pool.

[Ruud-v-A]

The ticket site [1] states:

> We believe in diversity and would like to provide support to people of many different backgrounds. This includes, but is not limited to people who belong to one or more of the following groups: people of color, women, nonbinary and gender non-conforming people, disabled people, people with mental health issues, and LGBTQIA+ people.

[1]: https://diversitytickets.org/events/100

[Manishearth]

Right, this is an awarded scholarship ticket (not "tickets are cheaper for you", this is "apply and you may get a free ticket+travel")

Scholarships are a pretty normal thing wrt conferences.

[edmccard]

>...tickets for RustFest are more expensive for people who don’t belong to an underrepresented group.

Have you ever used a discount that was available only for "new customers"?

EDIT: I see that 'Manishearth pointed out that these are not discounts, but scholarships.

[Argorak]

Founder of RustFest here.

First of all: RustFest is unaffiliated with Rust, the project. We are in touch, but we run our own ship. I _am_ member of the Rust community team, but my function within RustFest is not that one. Currently, I am the only person in the team with _any_ capacity within Rust, the project.

Most applications for this program are from places that the Rust community currently does not cover with conferences, which has a value to the wider community (spread). It is the express goal of this program to speak to people we would otherwise not reach. We had great success with our outreach program and it's meeting it's intended goal (having a more fun crowd around). We constantly tune it. We've been working and improving this program since around 10 conferences (I ran eurucamp and JRubyConf.EU before and are in close contact with other conferences running such stuff). Almost all people buying a ticket fund these things by either buying a supporter ticket (at 200EUR) or a small donation. They approve.

So, this may be "social politics", I'm very upfront about this, but this is not "we throw something at the wall and see if it sticks". No, we do it precisely because it is a working driver to growing a community. We have a stated goal: a more diverse community many people feel welcome to. We measure, we improve. Just 1.3% of respondents of this survey said they feel "not welcome", I consider that a smashing success. That's around 1/30th of the people that don't use Rust.

Yes, we give out scholarships to people that could or would otherwise not attend the conference. This is according to multiple factors, ranging from being unemployed to being a person from a marginalised group.

I also find it telling that you single this statement out, but for example pass on our wide commitment for accessibility http://zurich.rustfest.eu/accessibility/, which is much more extensive than what most other conferences provide. Also something we've been working on since _years_ and constantly improved. It attracts people. A great many conferences are very sub-standard here.

We do, by the way, also have a travel stipend for people that contributed to the current Rust quality push: http://blog.rustfest.eu/libz-blitz

Note that RustFest is a fully produced 2 days conference at a price point of 100 Euro or 50 Euro for Students which pays _all speakers full travel_ and is able to pay support for people in need. Running all 6 months. That's _dirt cheap_ if you consider we have to pay all bills and no one is giving us stuff for free. We are a sustainable business, if you want to consider it such.

In the end, I want to state clearly: sales and invites to our conference are at our own discretion, that's why we run them. It's the privilege of our work, we're not cogs silently turning a stage.

[Ruud-v-A]

I apologise if my comment offended you, I know how much work goes into organising a conference and I appreciate your hard work.

[gcp]

Unlike docs those conferences are totally optional when using the language. Which is why I asked for doc examples specifically, as that was OP's claim.