[Linux-aus] member signup page text

Stewart Smith <stewart@linux.org.au> · Mon Feb 14 11:15:06 2005

(Background: one of the things we talked about this weekend was
trialling doing a lot of discussion on linux-aus instead of ctte when
things didn't have to be private/internal workings. So, this is an
experiment in that. There'll be mails soon about details of this trial
and other things that were discussed.)

Currently, when you go to signup for membership, you get this text:

> Membership Conditions / Responsibilities
>       * In the interest of being a transparent and open organisation,
>         a list of first and last names of members will be made public.
>         By becoming a member, you agree to have this information made
>         public.
>       * Your email address will be used as the method to contact you
>         unless you specifically notify the secretary
>         (secretary@linux.org.au)
>       * For the application to be constitutionally valid, the
>         following process is used:
>              1. You fill out this form
>              2. You confirm the information on this form
>              3. You confirm your application via email, which
>                 transmits the appropriate form to the Linux Australia
>                 Committee
>              4. A member of the committee nominates you for membership
>                 and can accept your nomination
>              5. You become a member, and are notified via email.

However, this rambling on about constitutionally valid signup stuff is
(I feel) long winded and largely unnecessary. It was originally there to
stop people panicking about online membership applications an validity
etc etc.

But, i think everyone is comfortable about that now and this text only
serves to confuse people.

We should also consider rewriting the first paragraph. We haven't made a
list of first and last names of members available. I don't know if the
constitution says we have to (somebody else can go search through that
oh-sooooo-toooo-loooonnngg-document for me). But if it doesn't say we
have to - do we even want to?

Currently we only put people on a members-announce list - which is
*only* *ever* used for the notification of General Meetings (we are
required to do this by law).

Is subscribing people to the announce list (or having a checkbox for it
- default on) also a good idea?
-- 
Stewart Smith (stewart@linux.org.au)
Committee Member, Linux Australia