[Attn All] New membership policy? Your thoughts

[Tim Gould]

Hi all,

Per changes to the P&P, we now need the membership procedure to be set in consultation with the community. That phrase was added for the very good reason that membership procedures should be for all to decide.

As such I would like to hear as many thoughts as possible on membership procedures.

Added later:
NB. The membership rules are important in that only members can vote for the LDraw Standards Comittee (LSC) and LDraw Steering Comittee (SteerCo).

Tim

[Tim Gould]

Speaking as a member, I feel that membership should be automatically granted to active users (those who have made at least one non-spam post) on this forum, as well as anyone who asks to post here via proxy. That way we include everyone who is interested enough in LDraw to register and introduce themself here, as well as people who may not be technically able (I know this is unlikely) to be able to post on the forum.

Tim

[Michael Heidemann]

I follow your thoughts and have nothing to add.

[Orion Pobursky]

I'm not sure about automatically granting membership for few reasons:
- A potential member has to review and agree to the bylaws. This actually is easy, just make it part of the "required reading" when signing up for a forum account. However:
- Per the bylaws you have to be above the age of majority to become a member. This is more thorny. I don't want to set an age limit for the forums.
- I'd like someway for a member to opt out of membership and still be able to post to the forums.
- Somewhat related to the previous item, I'd like membership to be website software agnostic otherwise we'll run into the same problem we have now.

[Michael Heidemann]

Very good points. Did not thought about that yet. Do you have any idea how to implement your thoughts in the forum or on the Ldraw.org website ?

[Orion Pobursky]

I'm thinking an external database. A web interface ensures that the prospective member reads the bylaws and affirms that they meet the age requirement. The user then provides an email and a member ID number is generated for the member. Via this ID number/email combo the user can vote in elections or opt out of membership. That's the gist of my idea. Of course this can be ironed out a bit more to provide tighter integration between membership and the forums/website

[Tim Gould]

Why not just have a forum where people state "I hereby state that I am 18 years or older, I have read and understood the bylaws and I would like to be considered for membership of LDraw."?

Same effect, no extra programming required. We simply add the people who have made the statement to a special list which gives them access to voting.

Whatever the solution it will be tied to some sort of online system, with the new rules it's just easier to change.

Tim