Paolo, The polices as well as the rationale look okay. The changes are really needed as times have changed. Pls keep in mind that not all members could attend the GAs. Maybe you can also stipulate a requirement on GA attendance for a plug member to be in "good standing"...unless there's already such a provision.
Regarding your comment (separate e-mail) on lifetime membership, there could be provisions (probably existing already) in the plug constitution that could be "self-limiting". For example, when a member (lifetime or annual membership) has certain attributes or fits certain descriptions/qualifications (e.g., against linux already), the membership could be revoked by the board. Something like that. Rommel, I guess you need to sign up so you can lobby/present your proposal. 8^) Sammy -----Original Message----- From: Paolo Alexis Falcone [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, December 21, 2004 11:36 AM To: Philippine Linux Users' Group Subject: Re: [plug] Proceedings of the PLUG General Assembly, 18 December 2004 On Tue, 21 Dec 2004 10:16:48 +0800, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Paolo, > > In that case, can you pls extract that part of the by-laws / > constitution which juridically elaborates on institutional and > individual membership? Excerpts from the PLUG Constitution, Chapter V: Membership: "Any person, whether an individual or juridical, can be apply and maintain membership provided that the person passes the following qualifications: 1. Individual members must be willing to abide to the constitution and all legal laws promulgated by PLUG. They must also exhibit verifiable willingness to become members of PLUG and interest in the further advancement of open source. 2. Juridical members must be willing to abide to the constitution and all legal laws promulgated by PLUG. They must also exhibit verifiable willingness to become members of PLUG and must have conducted a free open source-related project and/or activity prior to application for membership. Individual and juridical members shall be required to pay reasonable membership fees as deemed appropriate as well as present at least two valid IDs. A membership for one fiscal year shall be granted for qualified persons; after which the said membership status can be renewed by the member at his own discretion granted he passes the qualifications for membership. To be considered in good standing, a member must not have outstanding financial obligations and/or other liabilities to the organization upon the time that such requirement would be checked as well as abide by all existing regulations and by-laws of PLUG. A special committee shall be formed by the president consisting of appointed members which shall take charge of qualifying members and applicants. New applicants seeking membership to PLUG must be qualified for membership using the criteria stated above, and must be sponsored by two members in good standing as a means for ascertaining that such a person exists. Violations of the provisions of this constitution and promulgated regulations shall be considered as grounds for revocation or denial of granting membership." > PLUG membership was initially designed to be free...that anyone who > joins this mailing list is automatically a member. Dunno if the > archives of the list captured that thought. Maybe some of the oldies > could say something about this. There were dissenting opinions on this. There are some quarters that claim that "to be a PLUG member, one has to be active in its activities." This is the same reason why membership is very vague. That itself is much more vague, as there's no metric to define 'to be active'. After numerous meetings and deliberations, the current board qualified the metric for being a PLUG member. > The old membership "policy"/style was made that way to welcome newbies > and experts alike as well as to promote linux. With a change in > membership policy, it is proper to inform everyone in this mailing > list on the details such as rationale for the change, what the changes > are, date of effectivity, et al. As member of the board, we felt the need to "clarify" the vague mechanism of "membership" if we could even call it a policy. There were dissenting opinions back then as to what qualifies someone to become a member of PLUG. Given the vagueness of policy, technically the board as convened during the time of drafting the constitution would have been the only members. Given such assumption being the basis on working on the constitution, we had to pursue a binding document that would confer membership, which is why we passed resolutions declaring individual and juridical membership. With the qualifications of membership enshrined in the constitution, our hope is that there would be a metric from which policies can be drafted to enact the guidelines, just like what an organization should have. It was the intention of the board to formalize the mechanisms of membership to dispel vagueness in policy, as well as for the protection of the organization - that the organization would not be used as springboard to propel individualistic agenda or promotion. I think the first email regarding the proceedings stated the date of the ratification of the constitution and by-laws of PLUG. It is not thorough nor "complete to the last detail" but it should serve as a good start for any activities that the organization is to undertake, policies to be crafted, or where to start amending the by-laws upon compliance to the mechanisms stated therein. There was an announcement for the ratification of the constitution since last month afaik, as part of the announcement for the PLUG General Assembly. I think we didn't lack in the effort of informing everyone about this. Anyway, quoting the PLUG Constitution, Chapter XII: Effectivity: "This constitution shall take effect upon approval of the Board. The provision of this Constitution shall be prospective in character and nature." > As for Rommel's suggestion, pls also post the mechanisms for amendments. > Those concerned might be interested to know what the current board > feels about this proposal. Excerpts from the PLUG Constitution, Chapter XI: Amendments: "Amendments to the constitution can be done by members in good standing, and must be sponsored by a member of the board of directors. Ratification of amendments shall be done via convening of a general assembly voting in quorum. Quorum shall be defined as at the very least 50% of eligible voters plus one more person. Rules for casting of votes for the proposed amendments shall be the same as the regulations for casting votes for the composition of the board." With the passage of the resolutions, we then declared who'd be the "eligible voters". > I propose that the minutes of meetings be posted here since not all > members of this list are able to attend face-to-face meetings. This > will also help promote linux and plug. It was only recently that we posted proceedings of PLUG GA's as this was the first one that was conducted by the present board. -- Paolo Alexis Falcone [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Philippine Linux Users' Group (PLUG) Mailing List [EMAIL PROTECTED] (#PLUG @ irc.free.net.ph) Official Website: http://plug.linux.org.ph Searchable Archives: http://marc.free.net.ph . To leave, go to http://lists.q-linux.com/mailman/listinfo/plug . Are you a Linux newbie? To join the newbie list, go to http://lists.q-linux.com/mailman/listinfo/ph-linux-newbie -- Philippine Linux Users' Group (PLUG) Mailing List [EMAIL PROTECTED] (#PLUG @ irc.free.net.ph) Official Website: http://plug.linux.org.ph Searchable Archives: http://marc.free.net.ph . To leave, go to http://lists.q-linux.com/mailman/listinfo/plug . Are you a Linux newbie? To join the newbie list, go to http://lists.q-linux.com/mailman/listinfo/ph-linux-newbie
