Bug: never been to DebConf. Fix: DebConf newbies.

Last year we have funded the DebConf newbies initiative to encourage Debian contributors who have never attended DebConf, to actually do so. There are plenty of reasons for doing that; as I wrote back then:

My personal belief is that attending DebConf increases the enthusiasm of attendees and ultimately will make them better Debian citizens. It surely happened to me years ago: in the beginning of my Debian membership (as DD, since DMs did not exist back then) I just cared about my pet packages. It was only after meeting the Debian crowd in person at a FOSS event (LinuxTag 2004, IIRC) that I got really enthusiastic about Debian, gradually increasing my involvement in the project. I've never regretted it.

This year, we are doing DebConf newbies again (see also Ganneff's blog post on the topic, for extra goodies).

Deadline for applying (via newbies@debconf.org) is June 18th, although you should better register before May 19th to the conference proper to get sponsored accomodation.

Update: fix deadline date