[Foundation] Criteria, Voting, Membership What does it mean?

[Michael Bauer]

On Tue, 12 Mar 2002, Ivan R. Judson wrote:

> 
> > "Membership in the Jabber Software Foundation requires significant,
> > sustained, and measurable participation in furthering the mission of the
> > Jabber Software Foundation by providing organizational or technical
> > assistance as defined in the charter of the Jabber Software Foundation.
> > Membership is by election of a majority of current Members of the
> > Foundation.  Applications detailing participation are required prior to
> > voting."
> 
> This seems clearly focused and sufficiently vague.  It however seems to omit
> the obvious participation of benevolent sponsors, which although perhaps not
> actively contributing benefit in name alone to the effort.  This sounds odd,
> but I think it's a real issue.

We ommitted it so that people could not "buy" their way into Membership.  
If people want to support the Foundation, great, they can make a 
contribution but that didn't entitle them to a vote.

> 
> > We should keep Membership requirements short and sweet and open to some
> > interpretation by the Members themselves.  I think we could augment this
> > definition with a set of examples, though.
> 
> 
> >  1. Develop and contribute open source code.
> >  2. Define protocol extensions for open source code.
> >  3. Draft documentation for the use and adminstration of Jabber.
> >  4. Provide technical assistance in email and jabber forums.
> >  5. Assist in the organization and management of the Foundation.
> >  6. Support the development of Jabber web sites.
> >  7. Assist in defining the licensing of Jabber.
> >  8. Assist in managing the brand identity of Jabber.
> >  9. Provide support in organizing functions for Jabber community.
> > 10. Contribute to increasing the awareness of Jabber.
> 
> This seems to fill out what purpose the foundation serves.  Ie, logically,
> you have to do these things to be a part of the foundation, once part of it
> you have to continue to do them.  Feels somehow odd.  I don't have a
> concrete reason, but i'm working on it.

It is kind of a Catch-22.  That's why we added the original language that 
you had to "demonstrate a commitment" to doing these things, rather than 
having to do them first before becoming a member.  At this point, I think 
people should do first and apply second.

> 
> --Ivan
> 
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> Members at jabber.org
> http://mailman.jabber.org/listinfo/members
> 

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Michael Bauer        me at michaelbauer.com       http://www.michaelbauer.com