Recent discussions show a lot of confusion about FSF (associate) membership.
The FSF publishes[1] copies of the financial statements The 2018 filing[2] shows that FSF has only registered 7 people as voting members and the other 1466 people only registered as volunteers. Why the distinction? Given the scale of the recent problems, a change of leadership is not just about changing the president. The existing board have supported the president through many years. Any of them could have resigned at any time if they didn't agree with his leadership. Therefore, it is my personal view that: 1. all the 1466 volunteers, associate members and any new volunteers who joined recently must be given equal voting rights. 2. the entire board resigns and the entire organization is then engaged in the election of both a new board and president. The actual resignation date could be deferred until LibrePlanet so there is time for reasoned decision making. A new president alone doesn't mean much if the existing board or staff carry on doing different things. It may take time to see just what success the president really has. People may want to know who the president will be and what their platform is before deciding to renew membership or make further donations, it is too early to decide right now. Given the extent to which recent discussions demonstrate misunderstandings about membership status, it doesn't feel correct for the FSF to continue using the term "associate member", as this term and the marketing around it (phrases like "Renew your membership!") appear to be giving people an inaccurate understanding of their status. Regards, Daniel 1. https://www.fsf.org/about/financial 2. https://static.fsf.org/nosvn/financial-statements/Form990-FY2018.pdf _______________________________________________ libreplanet-discuss mailing list [email protected] https://lists.libreplanet.org/mailman/listinfo/libreplanet-discuss
