<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif;font-size:10px"><div class="" style=""><span class="" style=""><span style="font-family: monospace; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;" class="">On Sun, Sep 21, 2014 at 5:20 AM, Simon Poole <</span><a shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:simon@poole.ch" href="mailto:simon@poole.ch" style="color: rgb(25, 106, 212); font-family: monospace; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;" class="">simon@poole.ch</a><span style="font-family: monospace; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;" class="">> wrote:</span><br clear="none" style="font-family: monospace; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;"><span style="font-family: monospace; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;" class="">> We don't have a good solution wrt the membership fees which at</span><br clear="none" style="font-family: monospace; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;"
class=""><span style="font-family: monospace; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;" class="">> least for some regions are a big hurdle, but I'm a tiny bit optimistic</span><br clear="none" style="font-family: monospace; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;" class=""><span style="font-family: monospace; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;" class="">> that we may have something this or next year (it is again one of those</span><br clear="none" style="font-family: monospace; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;" class=""><span style="font-family: monospace; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;" class="">> issues that have been on the table since 2007).</span><br class="" style=""></span></div><div class="" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 10px; font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-style: normal; background-color: transparent;"><span class="" style=""><span style="font-family: monospace; font-size:
12.727272033691406px;" class=""><br></span></span></div><div class="" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12.727272033691406px; font-family: monospace; font-style: normal; background-color: transparent;">Actually, OSMF had a solution for this in 2007. If a mapper could not afford the fees, or the transaction was difficult, they could send a postcard or letter to register their membership. I'm not sure if anyone ever took up this offer, but it was a real option.</div><div class="" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12.727272033691406px; font-family: monospace; font-style: normal; background-color: transparent;"><br></div><div class="" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12.727272033691406px; font-family: monospace; font-style: normal; background-color: transparent;">The point of the minimal membership fees was never to raise money, but be a small token of seriousness in joining OSMF. In other words, it's a slight a step beyond registering for
an OSM.org account. The postcard method also demonstrates this, but with no financial or transaction burden.</div><div class="" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12.727272033691406px; font-family: monospace; font-style: normal; background-color: transparent;"><br></div><div class="" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12.727272033691406px; font-family: monospace; font-style: normal; background-color: transparent;">I'm not sure how we collectively forgot about this option. But it is a simple and effective option that we could immediately reinstate.</div><div class="" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12.727272033691406px; font-family: monospace; font-style: normal; background-color: transparent;"><br></div><div class="" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12.727272033691406px; font-family: monospace; font-style: normal; background-color: transparent;">-Mikel</div><div class="" style=""></div><div class="" style=""> </div><div
class="" style=""><br></div><div class="" style=""><br></div><div class="" style="">* Mikel Maron * +14152835207 @mikel s:mikelmaron</div> <div class="qtdSeparateBR"><br><br></div><div class="yahoo_quoted" style="display: block;"> <div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 10px;" class=""> <div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;" class=""> <div dir="ltr" class="" style=""> <font size="2" face="Arial" class="" style=""> On Sunday, September 21, 2014 7:57 AM, Randy Meech <randy.meech@gmail.com> wrote:<br class="" style=""> </font> </div> <blockquote style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255); margin-left: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding-left: 5px;" class=""> <br class="" style=""><br class="" style=""> <div class="" style="">On Sun, Sep 21, 2014 at 5:20 AM, Simon Poole <<a shape="rect"
ymailto="mailto:simon@poole.ch" href="mailto:simon@poole.ch" class="" style="">simon@poole.ch</a>> wrote:<br clear="none" class="" style="">> Formal membership in an organisation is simply slightly at odds with the<br clear="none" class="" style="">> basic premise of OSM.<br clear="none" class="" style=""><br clear="none" class="" style="">Possibly, but in fact there is an organization and it has remained<br clear="none" class="" style="">largely static over the years. This seems more at odds with a large<br clear="none" class="" style="">global project, to say nothing of how unsafe it is to have board seats<br clear="none" class="" style="">won with so few votes on such a valuable project.<br clear="none" class="" style=""><br clear="none" class="" style="">> As said above at least from a pure legal pov some of the hurdles are now<br clear="none" class="" style="">> gone. We don't have a good solution wrt the membership fees which at<br
clear="none" class="" style="">> least for some regions are a big hurdle, but I'm a tiny bit optimistic<br clear="none" class="" style="">> that we may have something this or next year (it is again one of those<br clear="none" class="" style="">> issues that have been on the table since 2007).<br clear="none" class="" style=""><br clear="none" class="" style="">There could be a multi-year plan with membership targets and<br clear="none" class="" style="">accompanying price reductions. For example, double membership in 2015,<br clear="none" class="" style="">cut the fees in half. Or something like that with the goal of raising<br clear="none" class="" style="">roughly the same money from many more people.<br clear="none" class="" style=""><br clear="none" class="" style="">As for other hurdles, removing them is great but I believe the real<br clear="none" class="" style="">problem is lack of knowledge about the OSMF and what it does among the<br
clear="none" class="" style="">general OSM user base.<br clear="none" class="" style=""><br clear="none" class="" style="">> If we take it as a given that increasing membership is a good idea, the<br clear="none" class="" style="">> question is what should the board or more specific: I, do about it? This<br clear="none" class="" style="">> might seem like a rhetoric question, but isn't.<br clear="none" class="" style=""><br clear="none" class="" style="">Some ways to do this:<br clear="none" class="" style=""><br clear="none" class="" style="">1. Put up a notice on the website (like the one for SotM in Buenos<br clear="none" class="" style="">Aires right now) with a message & a link to this:<br clear="none" class="" style=""><a shape="rect" href="http://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Join" target="_blank" class="" style="">http://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Join</a><br clear="none" class="" style=""><br clear="none" class="" style="">2. A
yearly email to all registered users seems reasonable. Could have<br clear="none" class="" style="">a few versions depending on user activity. For inactive users,<br clear="none" class="" style="">reminding them about the project and pointing out improvements in<br clear="none" class="" style="">editing tools since they joined could be good. For active users,<br clear="none" class="" style="">educating them about the existence of the OSMF, what it does, how the<br clear="none" class="" style="">working groups need help (per Paul's message on this thread), how to<br clear="none" class="" style="">get involved, join, vote, etc.<br clear="none" class="" style=""><br clear="none" class="" style="">3. Reminder emails to OSMF members as their memberships expire per<br clear="none" class="" style="">Michal's other email on the topic.<br clear="none" class="" style=""><br clear="none" class="" style="">I'd be happy to write up some of this if people think it's
helpful. I<br clear="none" class="" style="">talked to Harry about joining the CWG but haven't done much yet.<div class="" id="yqtfd71602" style=""><br clear="none" class="" style=""><br clear="none" class="" style="">-Randy<br clear="none" class="" style=""><br clear="none" class="" style="">_______________________________________________<br clear="none" class="" style="">osmf-talk mailing list<br clear="none" class="" style=""><a shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:osmf-talk@openstreetmap.org" href="mailto:osmf-talk@openstreetmap.org" class="" style="">osmf-talk@openstreetmap.org</a><br clear="none" class="" style=""><a shape="rect" href="https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/osmf-talk" target="_blank" class="" style="">https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/osmf-talk</a><br clear="none" class="" style=""></div><br class="" style=""><br class="" style=""></div> </blockquote> </div> </div> </div> </div></body></html>