[Osmf-talk] Membership (was: EVERYONE: PLEASE VOTE)

[Frederik Ramm]

Hi,

Tom Hughes wrote:
> Certainly we can't make people members without their active consent, 
> both because the Companies Act requires it (section 112(2) of the 2006 
> act) and because by doing so they will become liable to pay up to £5 in 
> the event of the foundation going bust.

Of course we could always do away with members (in the legal sense) 
altogether, and instead form our own status (e.g. "registered OSMF 
supporter"). We could re-write our AoA in a way that gives these 
registered supporters some codified rights etc., and we could design all 
this ourselves without having to refer to the Companies Act which we 
don't seem to be particularly good at!

That way, we'd not be exposing everyone to the intricacies of UK 
companies law. However the unsolved question would of course be 
democratic control - if everyone is just a "registered supporter" then 
who gets to vote for the board?

Bye
Frederik