Talk:Membership FAQ

There are a number of points on this that immediately come to mind as simple issues to correct. (I've spent many years creating Constitutions for voluntary organisations so have seen some things that can arise and can suggest alternatives!). Have made them on the page but feel free to revert to here if you think that is a better option. SFAIUI though everything here is still up for discussion... --VampWillow 20:49, 17 Jun 2004 (UTC)

How will membership be handled?

When do we suggest people to join the fun ?

• Proposed by default at registration of the user name ?
• a link in the preferences pages ?
• a link in the tool bar ?
• a link in the donation page ?
• only on wikimediafoundation website ?

What should the membership form contains in term of information ?

• Are the current solutions to financially participate easy enough, or do we need to add more of them ?

Privacy issues

• Is giving real name mandatory to be a contributing member, and if so, how can we provide real privacy if the user ask for it ? Can we store real name offline ?
• Compliance with data protection laws of various countries?

Feedback

• Should we list publicly the members ? Or only provide it privately upon request ? Should people have the right not to appear a member ?

Copyright holders

As I read this, it appears to be saying that the copyright holders of the content which has been contributed to the project aren't contributing members. Is that right? Perhaps "Contributing Member" should be "Donating Member" or "Financial Donating Member" to distinguish between the act of contributing works and the act of donating money? How are the rights and views of the copyright owners of the content (those granting the Wikimedia Foundation a GFDL or other license) represented? How is the balance between those contributing the works which the project distributes and those contributing money? Jamesday 11:39, 24 Jun 2004 (UTC)

The bylaws distinguish between Contributing Active Members and Volunteer Active Members. The only difference between them, according to the bylaws, is that Contributing members pay dues and get to vote for two Board positions, whereas Volunteer members do not pay dues and can only vote for one Board position. So, the word "contributing" does relate only to money, not to the contribution of content. Anyone contributing content and not wanting to pay dues can be represented by the Volunteer Member Representative. As the only difference is in terms of who they may vote for, there shouldn't be an issue with providing the balance you mention above. Angela 15:43, 24 Jun 2004 (UTC)

That's what the Foundation documents say, however, contributions have traditionally been used here to refer to by far the largest value of contributions: the works those building the projects are licensing to the Foundation and others. I object to devaluing the most valuable contibutions, the ones which are at the heart of the projects the Foundation is supposed to be supporting, in this way. Jamesday 23:50, 22 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Volunteer and registration

Volonteer members may only be recognised members if they sent a form to register. Who will ever send a form just to be recognised a member ?

• benefit of being voluntary member : one vote

Is it mandatory to have registered to have one vote ?

Anthere

A simpler means of registering, especially for the Voluntter Active members, would be preferable. For example, by checking a box in your user preferences. Angela 22:02, 10 Jul 2004 (UTC)

A discussion should determine whether membership should be automatic, or if it would require a voluntary agreement from the member (such as checking a box in the preference page) ant

Under no circumstances should it be automatic. The current Foundation byelaws are divisive and contrary to the interests of those building the works. For that reason, I do not consider myself to be a member of the Foundation, regardless of whether the Foundation wants to claim me as a member. Jamesday 23:55, 22 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Feedback and related benefits of being a member

We should show people nice stats (number of members, fees amounts collected...)

The main benefits of being a member are listed in Membership_FAQ#Why_should_I_become_a_member.3F

Other benefits might be envisionned, but they should not outgrow the amount of fees collected.

The following benefits may be available to members in the future. Please note that none of these have yet been established, and no decision has yet been made about whether they will be.

• Discounts on Wikimedia products.
• Affiliate discounts
• Email-forwarding from a user.wikimedia.org domain.
• A free annual report of the Foundation activities
• A tee-shirt with favorite wikimedia logo on it
• A free wikireader of your choice (or at discount price?) to show good friends
• Mailing labels with Wikipedia logo on them
• ...

My question is: will members actually be able to influence the Wikimedia Foundation's policy? I realize members will be able to vote for one board member, but is that it? I came to this page wondering what kinds of responsibilities and rights would go along with membership, and it seems there really aren't any. Perhaps the idea is in the early stages of formation, but to me the idea of dues-paying membership in an organisation necessarily implies the ability to influence, vote on, help direct, or propose policy. Will this be incorporated into Wikimedia membership?

Cheers,

Acegikmo1 03:07, 3 Jul 2005 (UTC)

Nothing ever happened with membership. I've proposed it be removed from the bylaws, which the board have informally agreed upon pending a legal review. That version is at [1]. Angela 05:36, 3 Jul 2005 (UTC)

Costs

The cost of payment is often nothing when the amounts of money are payed into a bankacount in the country where the payment is made. Many people, myself included, do not have a paypal account, and the amounts even the $60,-- are to low to want to decrease the amount with banking costs.

By having local chapters with a legal standing, eg "vereniging" or "Stichting" in the Netherlands, it would be possible to have local bank accounts and transfer in bulk money to whereever it needs to be. This might mean: transfer all European money to one central bank and transfer from there to the US.

This does mean that local chapters will be necessary. GerardM 08:02, 22 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Current status of this FAQ

According to Board meeting log, in June 2005 changes of membership were "proposed". It seems "active contributor membership" were de facto deleted, since this classification weren't refered during the Election ;-), but still Bylaws on the foundation wiki says there is ACM.

So for updating Wikimedia:Membership properly I need to get information what is going on membership issues;proposed changes were still in proposal status (including review for legal advice) or already modified and changes occured.

Modification of the page mentioned on the above by whom can be responsible will be appreciated. --Aphaia++ 05:00, 20 August 2005 (UTC)

best to wait till the bylaws modifications are legally approved. Imho. Anthere 10:02, 20 August 2005 (UTC)