Re: Proposed Membership Guidelines

[Bart Decrem <bart eazel com>]

looks great to me!

bd


Russell Steinthal wrote:

> Dear GNOME Foundation Members:
>
> The Board has asked Chris DiBona, Dan Mueth, and I to serve as the
> Membership and Elections Committee for the upcoming year.  All three
> of us served on the committee which oversaw the first Board elections
> earlier this year (along with Sergey Panov and Martin Baulig), and
> are enthused to go forward to next year.
>
> As our first item of business, we have drafted a set of guidelines for
> handling membership requests in the future.  These are intended to
> codify our previously ad-hoc determinations about what constitutes
> sufficient contribution to GNOME to qualify for membership, as well as
> to set out procedures for handling applications.  Our plan is to
> submit the policy to the Board for approval as our mandate; before
> then, however, we welcome any suggestions or comments from the
> membership.
>
> Please note that there are several areas still undecided, including
> the actual design of the application form and how long members who
> joined before the last election will have until they need to renew.
> (If possible, we would like to avoid having the vast majority of the
> renewals occur at the same time, to avoid a logistical nightmare.  We
> may, therefore, use some sort of staggering system to spread out the
> initial members' renewal dates.  No final plans have been made,
> however.)  Finally, remember that these are only meant as guidelines-
> as they themselves note, the Board will always be able to exercise
> its discretion to approve or deny membership, consistent with the
> Foundation's charter.
>
> If you have any questions regarding the policy, please feel free to
> ask here, or to contact us at membership gnome org 
>
> -Russell
>  for the GNOME Foundation Membership and Elections Committee
>
> Draft Membership Policy for the GNOME Foundation
> ------------------------------------------------
>
> * Who is eligible for membership in the GNOME Foundation?
>
> Per the GNOME Foundation's charter, any contributor to GNOME is
> eligible for membership.  Although it is difficult to specify a
> precise definition, a contributor generally must have contributed to a
> non-trivial improvement of the GNOME Project.  Contributions may be
> code, documentation, translations, maintenance of project-wide
> resources, or other non-trivial activities which benefit the GNOME
> Project.  While large amounts of advocacy or bug reporting may qualify
> one as a member, such contributions must be significantly above the
> level expected of an ordinary user.  Membership eligibility is an
> individual determination: while contributions made in the course of
> employment will be considered, they will generally be ascribed to the
> individuals involved, rather than accruing to all employees of a
> "contributing" corporation.  As noted above, these guidelines are not
> meant to define precise objective criteria: ultimately, an
> individual's membership eligibility will be determined on a
> case-by-case basis, in the sound discretion of the Membership
> Committee and the Board of Directors.
>
> * How can I apply for membership in the GNOME Foundation?
>
> To apply for membership, please complete the form available at [insert
> URL].  Please note that applications for membership must include
> sufficient information to allow the Membership Committee to verify the
> applicants' eligibility; applications which include inaccurate or
> insufficient information may be rejected at the committee's
> discretion.
>
> * My application was rejected; what can I do?
>
> If you have questions as to why your application was rejected, please
> contact the Membership Committee by electronic mail to
> membership gnome org; you may be able to provide additional
> information which will lead to the approval of your application.  If
> you are still dissatisfied with the Membership Committee's
> determination, you may appeal the decision to the Board of Directors
> by e-mailing board gnome org 
>
> * Renewing your membership
>
> Membership in the GNOME Foundation ordinarily lasts for two years.  A
> reasonable period of time before your membership expires, you will be
> contacted by the Membership Committee with a request that you file a
> renewal application, available at [insert URL].  Renewal applications
> will be reviewed according to the same standards outlined above for an
> initial membership, and must generally be supported by recent or
> ongoing contributions to GNOME.  If you do not file a valid renewal
> application by the specified deadline, your membership will terminate;
> former members may, of course, file a new application for membership
> at a later date, again provided it is supported by recent or ongoing
> contributions.
>
> [[Note: The following is not part of the policy per se, but is
> provided for the information of the readers, and would likely be
> posted near the policy on foundation.gnome.org. -RMS]]
>
> * Who is currently serving on the Membership Committee?
>
> Chris DiBona <chris valinux com>
> Dan Mueth <d-mueth uchicago edu>
> Russell Steinthal <rms39 columbia edu> (chair)
>
> [Bart Decrem and Martin Baulig also contributed to this draft policy.]
>
> --
> Russell Steinthal               Columbia Law School, Class of 2002
> <rms39 columbia edu>            Columbia College, Class of 1999
> <steintr nj org>                UNIX System Administrator, nj.org
>
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