Daniel,
> We help make the conference happen so please treat us with
> respect even if we can't afford to pay are way in.
Huh? How was I disrespectful? Because I suggested discounts?
> As a committee members you are technically a volunteer with a free
> pass yourself!
Well, I actually have a free pass because I'm a speaker. Presumably you
could also get one as a volunteer in other areas like working the
speaker room -- I don't know where ORA uses volunteers.
The vendor booths are seen as benefitting the vendor (or open source
project) and not as benefitting O'Reilly. Remember that ORA doesn't
charge for access to the Exhibit Hall.
So, if there are specific sessions you want to get into, you can
probably manage it, but not I nor Selena nor Gabrielle have access to
any full conference passes.
> I would have really loved to attend as a regular conference goer, but
> that just isn't financially possible for me.
Nor is it for a lot of people. For whatever reason O'Reilly chose the
route years ago of having a lot of free and heavily discounted passes
for open source luminaries, and charging a lot to the *minority* of
attendees who can pay. You can argue whether or not this financial
model was a good idea, but it's pretty well established now.
--Josh