I understand the ideas behind a membership fee structure, but isn't that contrary to the concept of open source as a voluntary participation model?
Thanks, Lise On Mon, Mar 24, 2014 at 12:06 PM, Justin Hopkins < [email protected]> wrote: > In the hopes of having these details included in Ben & Kathy's report: > > - Should the Evergreen Community have a membership fee structure as a >> way of getting funds for pooling? What are the benefits of membership? >> Equinox's idea lab a potential model? Should there be a tiered model >> of membership, higher the tier the greater the benefits? >> > > I am generally in favor of a membership structure for the purposes of > building funds for pooled development projects, and even having various > "tiers" seems like a great idea - those who contribute more can and should > be recognized. But I want to take this opportunity to say that I'm very > dubious of a tiered _benefits_ model insofar as it influences the direction > of development, access to developers, test environments, etc. Obviously the > larger community entities and those who are able to contribute to shared > funding projects (like GPLS's huge commitment to the web based staff > client) are already receiving these sorts of benefits - which makes sense - > but I'm concerned that formalizing these sorts of things as explicit perks > given to membership tiers could fundamentally change the nature of our > project. I'm afraid that we may end up making development 100% "customer > driven" rather than what I see (currently) as a nice balance between > "customer driven", "community driven", and "own-itch-scratching". > > Justin > -- Lise Keppler Forsyth County Public Library 660 W 5th St Winston Salem NC 27101 336-703-3070
