On Sat, Aug 16, 2008 at 6:21 PM, Alison Wheeler wikimedia@alisonwheeler.com wrote:
On Sat, August 16, 2008 17:15, Thomas Dalton wrote:
There seems to be some confusion here. You seem to be suggesting that you can become a member of the company without being a member of the chapter (becoming a member of the chapter is impossible due to the lack of a bank account). The website says: "For Supporting members, there is also the option of membership of the Company." That suggests you do need to be a member of the chapter to join the company. Which is it?
Ah ... hmmmn .. you noticed that did you ... w-e-l-l ...
Company law rather precludes us making membership of the non-profit Company conditional upon anything else, although there was an early decision of the Directors that we might well conclude that someone who was not a member of the Chapter (ie supporting member) was not a fit person to be a member of the Company. Generally it was felt to be in the best interests of the organisation as a whole that anyone active on the Company side (including being a member) should also be a supporting (Chapter) member although it cannot be a 'compulsory' issue.
The issue that I feel lies behind much of the conversation on this subject (but which I don't think I've seen explicitly outlined) is that of the governance of the organisation. As this is very much a project founded on the idea of community, is there to be some kind of accountability of the board to the community? How many members of the company do you anticipate there being? Will making someone a member of the company be a regular occurrence? What rights will supporting membership bring?
I realise that the answers to these questions may still be undecided, but it would, I think, be useful to know what the directors' intentions are.
Sam