1. I think any scheme dependent on members voluntarily paying more or less based on willingness, and not usage or some other factor, is a terrible idea. Granted it is very nice if someone does make a one-off donation, but we should not institutionalize it as a way of doing business. HCoop is not a charity, and members should not feel that their dues are gifts. Essentially anyone paying more than the minimum required "share" would be subsidizing everyone else's service. This would also create undue pressure on members to pay more dues lest they be a "bad" member, or to give deference to users paying high shares because they are "patrons." I think we should assess dues on rational basis, and members should be required to pay them and no more, large or small, and there should be no pressure whatsoever to give more. This is the only way to run a business, even a cooperative business.
2. I would like to reiterate that I think it would be a big mistake to enforce equal dues and equal services for every member, and I think Terrence is spot-on here. Our capacity is large, and some members have much greater need than other members. It is only logical that we should assess dues based on actual usage, just as every single web-hosting business out there does. Remember, if we cannot compete with the thousands of other web hosting services out there on the basic requirements of price and service, our co-op is doomed. Every web-hosting service either offers multiple plans priced according to resource limits, or according to actual metered usage. It is unflexible and unfair to offer a one-size-fits all plan, having users who barely use HCoop at all pay the same rates and subsidizing heavy users serving many gigs of media file monthly. It is also economically unsustainable, because it will mean that these users will be forced to our cheaper competitors who provide a more rational pricing scheme. -ntk _______________________________________________ HCoop-Discuss mailing list [email protected] http://hcoop.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/hcoop-discuss
