<html>
<head>
<meta content="text/html; charset=windows-1252"
http-equiv="Content-Type">
</head>
<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 04/07/2017 01:05 AM, fauno wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote cite="mid:87r315jac9.fsf@endefensadelsl.org" type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Luke <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:g4jc@openmailbox.org"><g4jc@openmailbox.org></a> writes:
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Unfortunately, most any of those ideas couldn't be "declared" which
leads me to wonder if the money ever really existed at all - other
than to be a stressful headache for yourself and everyone involved in
the project.
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap="">
please tell me when we couldn't make a payment because of romanian laws
or personal payments couldn't be reimbursed. what stresses me is your
concern trolling.
</pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
Certainly.<br>
<br>
June 15th 2016: We already designed the stickers for FISL, you and
Ceata agreed to pay for them after a somewhat lengthy debate about
how expensive and useless they are. <br>
I get the company to make the custom stickers and go the extra mile
of sending a custom invoice. The sticker company is ready to ship
expedited to us just in time for the event. During this internal
conversation, we learned quite a bit.<br>
<br>
1) Ceata can't use the invoice sent by the sticker company through
PayPal, goes off on their own trying to make stickers in Romania. <br>
Quote Ceata: "Oh, sorry. <u>I didn't know Romania isn't a billing
option in PayPal</u>."<br>
"IMO, <u>these high-quality stickers are too expensive</u> for the
small funds Parabola has for the moment. I can try to get stickers
of close quality at much less by <u>making them in Romania and
billing Ceata wouldn't be a problem here.</u>"<br>
<br>
2) No communication for awhile, the sticker company keeps asking me
for payment since they were going to put them into production to
meet our deadline. I pay them with my own money.<br>
<br>
- June 16, 2016: Somehow Ceata ends up getting correct 'declarative
receipt' from the sticker company saying it was paid in full. I've
no idea how how they managed to finally get the proper invoice
outside of Paypal, but I was not kept in the loop on this venture
and it was already too late. <br>
<br>
Quote Ceata: "It reads "paid in full", so I suppose Luke has made
the payment. If this<br>
is the case, Ceata can refund Luke provided he sends me the proof of<br>
payment (forwards the PayPal receipt)."<br>
<br>
- Obviously, the invoice, which I already paid is invoiced to my
name now - so I tell you and Ceata both to forget it.<br>
<br>
3) Ceata claims bitcoins are not illegal in Romania, but receiving
and spending is not allowed because of "transparency" and tax
concerns.<br>
Quote Ceata: "Receiving donations in Bitcoins and converting them in
national currency<br>
for later payments is not prohibited in Romania. However, <u>receiving
and</u><u><br>
</u><u>spending Bitcoins is not allowed, because it's not
transparent in the</u><u><br>
</u><u>eyes of the authorities</u> and <u>we can be suspected of
tax avoidance</u>."<br>
<br>
4) Ceata doesn't have any option of using a pre-paid credit card or
debit card for miscellaneous purchases.<br>
Quote Ceata: "No, we can't. <u>Because organizations can't request
gift cards from banks</u><br>
(<u>at least not in Romania</u>), only individuals can request such
cards."<br>
<br>
5) Ceata says they are unable to pay anything in advanced for FISL,
requesting invoices and receipts from each event after FISL occurs.<br>
Quote Ceata: "I don't understand the problem here. André doesn't
have the funds to pay in advance for the travel to and food at FISL?
If this is the case, <u>I'm sure family or friends can help him.</u>
When presented with any or all receipts, Ceata will refund him."<br>
..."It's not for a lack of trust, but because it's an accounting
nightmare to record the transactions involved and <u>it raises
suspicion in the eyes of the authorities.</u>"<br>
<br>
The correspondence between June 15 to July 6th proves the situation
of actually utilizing donors money is not only ridiculously complex,
it was/is unsustainable.<br>
If you wish drag this trivial debate on and publish them all in full
as ParabolaLeaks, please redact names/addresses.<br>
<br>
Needless to say, the same thing happened, again, with the chasis,
power supply, and RAM. <br>
With the <i>small</i> possibility that they would be able to pay
for a shipping label. Based on previous experience, I believe there
is a strong chance of being unable to fulfil on that as well.<br>
<br>
There was also the internal discussion of not having a chasis at
all:<br>
Quote fauno: "to me, the chassis is optional. you can have the
motherboard bare or on<br>
a recycled chassis or on a box, and buy a new power supply and maybe
an<br>
extra one just in case."<br>
<br>
I really would rather our primary build server doesn't have to look
like this: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1122857">https://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1122857</a><br>
<br>
So really, if this "general fund" cannot be used by anything we have
proposed, what is it used for? Why do you vehemently defend it?<br>
<br>
<br>
</body>
</html>