On Thu, Oct 2, 2008 at 2:36 PM, Tom Holden <thomas.holden(a)gmail.com> wrote:
This raises an interesting question we were briefly
discussing on IRC last night: namely is there any situation where we would
reject the membership application of someone who met the legal requirements?
I can imagine we may decide to eventually reject those who had not paid
supporting membership fees, but I really cannot see any reason for blocking
an application beyond this. I certainly think it would be wrong to tie
membership to on wiki activity or seniority in the community. Does anyone
have strong opinions the other way?
When I've been involved in similar discussions in the past with regard
to a different organisation, the issues arising were around the
categories of membership which had been created (and which the draft
Mem/Arts would permit us to create). There were often concerns that
individuals or organisations had applied for categories of membership
for which they were not eligible. Of course, where possible, it made
sense to contact the applicant before the meeting to discuss this, but
sometimes they were insistent on applying for the inappropriate
category, or the inappropriateness only became apparent under
discussion. This sometimes required examination of details such as
their mailing address, which would have to be done in camera.
Whichever categories of membership we might choose to create, I would
strongly suggest maintaining at least one category which would be open
to any and all applicants.