[OSGeo Oceania] membership - elections - AGM

[Alister Hood]

Hi everyone, I've been following this from a distance, but I now can't
remember if there was any real discussion of what it might look like
to be hijacked by "bad actors".  Has it happened to similar
organisations?  If the requirement to be a charter member is simply to
participate on an email list, does the two-tier membership really
provide any protection?  Are there other mechanisms that might help
protect against the bad actors?  I'm guessing a mechanism involving
the parent Osgeo is unlikely when we are talking about a local legal
entity...
I confess I'm still not sure I understand what Osgeo Oceania is likely
to actually do, which would affect these questions.

Regards,
Alister

On Sun, 22 Sep 2019 at 21:55, John Bryant <johnwbryant at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Thanks a lot Cameron, Adam, Ed, & Greg (and Anonymous :) ) for extensive review & input.
>
> There are a couple of big questions we need to address (and they're inextricably linked, so let's discuss them in tandem):
>
> 1. Will we have 2 tiers of membership, ie. general and charter?
> The 2 tier idea was proposed as a way to ensure there is a low barrier to entry for all, but that we also have a means of ensuring that voting members meet some basic eligibility guidelines, partly to protect the organisation from bad actors. However, there are legitimate concerns about adding complexity and confusion. The alternative is to have a single type of membership, in which we'd need to balance low barrier and eligibility.
>
> ... which leads to ...
>
> 2. What is our eligibility criteria?
> The threshold was initially proposed as active volunteering, with reference to the OSGeo charter member "positive attributes". After a bit of discussion at last week's board meeting, we agreed to try and re-articulate these for our particular situation. But there are some legitimate concerns that they may be too high a bar. The resolution of the two-tiers question will play into this.
>
> I need some help in resolving these questions, can I get some feedback? What are your thoughts? Board, you'll be asked to pass this once it's complete, what are your thoughts on these questions?
>
> There are also a number of practical considerations being discussed in the draft document [1], these are worth looking at as well.
>
> Thanks
> John
>
> [1] https://docs.google.com/document/d/14_6Ru8Xy5jGIuWXysuIJQwQonmjhtlpmHbqVwtOsUNA
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