2009/9/20 Jarry1250 <jarry1250(a)googlemail.com>om>:
Hey all.
Before the proper debate begins, I was just trying to work out my own
views on how easy it should be for donors to officially join WMUK, it
occurred to me that there is a huge black hole in my knowledge, and I
was hoping someone might be able to fill it. Is there a /negative/
effect related to having inactive ("freebie") members*, and do other
projects keep track of how many of their members regularly contribute to
discussions?
That is, indeed, the question, and we need to answer it. I had thought
there wasn't, which is why the first draft of a donation site I put
together had becoming a member as default for all donors that wanted
to donate £12 or more. A few people objected to that, but I can't
remember why - I do remember there were some convincing arguments,
though. There are some legal duties of members that we need to make
all prospective members aware of (very minor duties - I think it's
just the £1 guarantee, really), and there are privacy issues (the list
of members has to be made available to anyone that asks for it, unless
you think their reason is so frivolous as to warrant going to court
over it), but as long as we make sure prospective members are aware of
these facts before joining, I don't see a problem.