[Osmf-talk] Possible vote on membership prerequisites

[Martijn van Exel]

Hi,

I don't see what such a scheme could practically accomplish.

If you merely want to financially support OSM, you can do that without 
becoming a member, I don't see a need to create yet another class of 
OSMF member just for that.

While I understand the desire for voting members to be somehow involved 
with OSM, there is not a way to define upfront what 'significant 
contributions' are without either excluding (purposely or inadvertently) 
people who have contribute to OSM in a way that goes unmeasured by 
whatever set of metrics OSMF comes up with, or make membership 
applications subject to an intractable and subjective evaluation process.

Then there's the question of execution. A membership application 
evaluation process similar to the existing Active Contributor 
Membership, if that is what you have in mind, simply does not scale to 
evaluating hundreds or thousands of new and existing memberships on an 
ongoing basis.

I would hate to see OSMF go down this route.

Best,

Martijn

On 10/22/2020 2:09 PM, Tobias Knerr wrote:

> Hello OSMF members,
>
> another idea the board has worked on is to make some kind of
> contributions to OSM a prerequisite for becoming a member in the OSMF.
> This would go well with the idea of a new, non-voting "supporter"
> membership class for people who simply wish to support OSM financially,
> but this vote would only establish if there should be such a requirement
> at all.
>
> As with the other potential resolutions for the annual general meeting
> (AGM) we shared today, this is currently just an idea. It's not a final
> text, and the board has not yet decided whether to ask the members to
> vote on something along these lines the AGM.
>
> Also, this would not be an AoA change: The board already has the power
> to reject membership applications. But seeing how we haven't made much
> use of this ability in the past, it's probably worth making sure that
> the membership actually likes the change, and a formal vote at the AGM
> would achieve this.
>
> ## Potential text of the resolution:
>
> Using its powers under §15 of the Articles of Association, the board of
> directors shall reject applications for membership or associate
> membership if the applicant has not demonstrated significant
> contributions to OpenStreetMap, for example by mapping. The OSMF
> Membership Working Group will, together with the Board of Directors,
> define what counts as “significant contributions”, and the definition
> will ultimately be affirmed by a decision of the Board of Directors.
>
> ## Rationale:
>
> This change would more firmly establish the OSMF as an entity serving
> the people and communities who create OpenStreetMap. By ensuring that
> votes in Foundation elections and resolutions are cast by OpenStreetMap
> contributors, it becomes more likely that the Foundation will continue
> to support the the project well.
>
> The criteria are meant to be similar in spirit, although not necessarily
> in scale, to the fee waiver criteria (known as active contributor
> membership). In particular, they are meant to allow for non-mapping
> contributions.
>
> Unlike the fee waiver, eligibility will be evaluated as a one-time step
> during application for membership, rather than annually. As such,
> members do not have to fear losing their membership if their activity
> fluctuates or declines.
>