Re: [part 2] Article 3: Membership

In message <19990324150845(dot)A30726(at)gecko(dot)fortunet>, Darren Benham writes:
>On Wed, Mar 24, 1999 at 05:22:13PM -0500, Nils Lohner wrote:
>
>> - board members
>> Board members, by virtue of their office, are automatically
>> contributing members.
>> [board members are working for SPI so by definition are contributing.]
>Why? Why not "Only contributing members can be board members" Is the job
>of being a board member going to be so full they won't have time to
>contribute to another project?
>

No its not, but it's a little of the same in Debian: the DPL shoudn't
necessarily have packages. Remember it's volunteer work here, so I'd like
to make it easier esp. sine the board members will be putting a fair
amount of effort into SPI. Also, I think that there should be an option
(however small) for non contributing members to become board members. I
think this is highly unlikely, but say we need a financial expert on the
board who hasn't worked with free software before for example.

>> - term of membership
>> The membership will not expire.
>I'd have it expire in 2 years also... basicly a ping to take them off the
>email lists if they don't respond...
>

Then you have to define what happens when a contributing memebr slips into
non contrib. I think this way is easy, and really see no need to remove
inactive supporting members. Otherwise I'd me for a longer term (4-5
years possibly).

Nils.

--
Nils Lohner Software in the Public Interest, Inc.
E-Mail: lohner(at)spi-inc(dot)org PO Box 1326
Board Of Directors <board(at)spi-inc(dot)org> Boston, Ma. 02117 USA