[scribus-dev] Scribus e.V.: application form and letterhead

["Christoph Schäfer"]

> I was thinking much the same. Even with full voting members, it would be =
>
> nice to have the amount as a significant "token" amount, and for =
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> non-voting individuals maybe flexible according to their status as =
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> student, employed, etc.

The charter, in its current form, doesn't know anything about non-voting members. I suggest we try to operate with the minimalist version for one year and then adjust if necessary, based on our experiences.

As for unemployed members, we could add another exemption category before we vote during the founding meeting.

> Again, if we consider some potentially large corporation, this suggested =
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> amount is rather piddling. Google probably loses track of more than 200 =
>
> euros a minute!

Sure, but a large corporation could also donate (code or money), no?

> But these are things to decide at our first or maybe subsequent meeting, =
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> and we might even defer a decision about corporations for a bit. We need =
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> to consider what it is we want from corporations (other than their =
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> money), what they might want or need from us (other than being involved =
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> with a group of highly intelligent  people).

Agreed.

<snip>

> >
> > I think we should add a mention on that form as how to pay. Can we =
> >
> > make it clear that a member must renew his membership, say, 30 days =
> >
> > prior to the end or anything like that? It is not automatic that a =
> >
> > member will renew. Anyway, I don't have much time to dig into this at =
> >
> > present time but these are the ideas that pop-up instantaneously!
>
> This too, can wait, I think.

Unfortunately, it can't. We need to create an initial scale of fees (including maturity) during the founding meeting. Otherwise we would operate without any opportunity to ask for subscription fees, as only the general meeting can decide on the scale of fees. And the g.m. rules, as per German civil law, require the partcipation of members in person. We should be aware of this fact while discussing any changes. I strongly suggest to sort things out as much as possible here before the founding meeting. Otherwise we might tie up the work of the organisation unnecessarily.

Please try to understand the rationale for my arguments: The founding meeting will be the first general meeting under German law. Any decision we take during the meeting will be valid until the next annual general meeting, which will probably be 2009, so we need to make sure we can get the organisation registered and working with a minimal, but sufficient set of rules. We need to be flexible, so that we can decide what needs refinement and adjustment in 2009. In other words, the goal of our discussions has to be what needs to be decided during the founding meeting, what can carved out to be decided by the first managing committee (please read the statutes and articles closely), and what can be left undecided to test the existing rules against reality (requests by potential members etc.).

Thanks for all comments so far. I'm quite optimistic that we get everything done quickly, as soon as the tax office has greenlit the charter.

Christoph

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