[Osmf-talk] Draft resolution on membership prerequisites

[Shawn K. Quinn]

On 2/13/22 10:25, Tobias Knerr wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> at the 2020 AGM, a 79% majority of the membership asked the board to
> propose prerequisites for membership in the OSM Foundation which would
> ensure that all applicants for membership have made a reasonable amount
> of contributions to OSM (not necessarily through mapping).[1]
> 
> We would like to ask for your feedback to a first draft of this proposal
> which you can read below. It uses a definition for "reasonable amount of
> contributions" that is comparable to the active contributor
> membership[2], but has lower requirements: 42 days of contributions ever
> instead of 42 days per year. Existing memberships would not be affected
> by this change.
> 
> The 2020 resolution called for a membership vote on this topic in 2021.
> Unfortunately, the board didn't produce a proposal in time for the 2021
> AGM and we would like to apologize for this delay. Our current plan is
> to have the resolution ready for a general meeting on April 30, 2022.

I already consider "42 days of contributions" whether per year or total
to be a bit vague. One can change one data item every day for 42 days
and that supposedly satisfies the requirement, whereas if I contribute
500 changesets each touching 100-150 data items over a week, that would
not. Likewise, when you get out of mapping proper, there needs to be
some kind of fair and objective criteria by which contributions are
measured to ensure they meet a reasonable minimum. Maintaining software
which works with OSM data, especially something like OsmAnd, Vespucci,
StreetComplete, etc should count toward whatever minimum is set. I'm at
a loss as to how to objectively measure that kind of contribution, though.

Personally, I know I've met whatever criteria would be set as of many
years ago but I want to be sure what is put in place for the new members
is fair.

-- 
Shawn K. Quinn <skquinn at rushpost.com>
http://www.rantroulette.com
http://www.skqrecordquest.com