Helene has expressed my thoughts too. I am sure that she spoke for everybody who was present. There was a very friendly atmosphere and a common conviction that we are on the right track. We parted very satisfied. And some loaden with many new Paros.
A great help was Bernd Bussler. He had not much benefit himself by the meeting, but his practical help was a great benefit for all of us. Before the meeting began, during the meeting and even after it ended. And he provided many people with species that they never could get hold of in the past years.
We look for further commentaries, on shortcomings too, if necessary. A report will follow, but it needs some time to be prepared.
For me, it was a great experiment: an internet-based network with members in all continents offers a meeting in the physical world, and we decided for Hamburg, Germany. Has this been the beginning of a series of further physical meetings? We left this question open in Hamburg. When this should be the case, it could without doubt happen elsewhere on earth. But surely in two years time at the earliest, I think …
By the way: our membership and all our activity is for free. The Hamburg meeting was for free, too. It’s civic engagement. But we need money for such things, therefore we collected some in the beginning of the Parosphromenus-Project five years ago (for the software- and provider-costs, for instance). Single people and some institutions gave money, and it was enough for all the years. In Hamburg, however, we had to borrow that translation system, for instance (320,– Euros). Now our funds have a tendency to nil. Three people on Hamburg gave spontaneously 220,– Euros. Great, but we shall need more. We shall write a newsletter on that problem in some weeks time. Now it’s time to be happy: It was good.