[Ubuntu-ch] Would like to become involved in Swiss Ubuntu Group

[Tormod Volden]

On 1/25/07, Didier Raboud <didier at raboud.com> wrote:
> Non-"VIP-Members" can edit it, but you have to be registered (authentified).

Good, I'll encourage people to register and for instance start
translating documents. Maybe you administrators can set up a template
or guideline of some kind, that for instance the German version of
Toto should be Toto/de, de/Toto, Toto-de or similar.

> It's nothing marketing or stuff like that... The subscription is not "that
> high" (20 CHF => ~13.50 €), it's not meant to be "elitist".

Absolutely, that's why I called it symbolical, and that's my point:
It's not the price, which probably is correct, it's just when you
charge anything at all, you put off a lot of people, who maybe would
have no problem paying it once they understood what they were paying
for, but hesitate, maybe just because the payment itself is a hassle
and then disappear. Of course, this would not scare the die-hard
activist who really want to contribute time and efforts. However, once
in a while a drop-in who just wanted to try out and have a look gets
stuck and becomes a valuable contributor. I don't want to beat this
horse any more, it was just a suggestion in case you would like to get
more members.

>
> Without being member, you can participate in every aspect of SL.org. Sl.org is
> meant to be "newbie friendly" and aims everyone who could be interested in
> Linux in (the french-speaking part of) Switzerland.
>
> You certainly know that hosting a website costs. These costs have to be paid,
> and I personally do not want this service to be paid by publicity. The
> philosophy is: It costs, one have to pay for it. Let us pay for it! You can
> USE it if you want and we encourage you to do so, but we want to pay for it.

Of course, we can see the paid membership fee as a standardized,
regular donation :)

> It allows the association to have funds to build projects that costs too. You
> can't print flyers or burn CD's for free or only by hoping some big entity
> (Canonical?) will pay for it.

Sure, but you'll find contributors who gladly buys a cd-roller and
burns some, or get to have some flyers printed because they workplace
is generous or sponsors it.

> > I guess it's just the habitual thing for an association to collect
> > fees to easily fund minor expenses (Participation A Frais). But I
> > think it works negatively and it's time to reconsider.
>
> I don't think so.

Fine, but I encourage you to discuss it at your meeting.

> > (If you want to grow and prosper, that is). Having a donation bucket at
> > meetings (like in the church) is an alternative with less administrative
> > overhead.
>
> The goal of the association was to have an organisation instead of a single
> person. It means "long-term", it means "reliability", it means "democracy"
> (OK, with the subscription fee, it's maybe a little biaised, but still).

That's all good. I hope it means getting lots of things done as well.
I don't try to be overly critical, I totally respect the way you are
running it, but I think more than 15 members would be great.

>
> > Selling CDs at meetings is another way, or even better, to avoid
> > "selling", give away CDs with a strong encouragement to donate to the
> > bucket. You can still do everything totally transparent so that nobody
> > will question what happens to their money.
>
> Nobody _is_ questionning, for the single reason that the association makes its
> trades public. Any member can attend the annual conference, read budget and
> counts (comptes), nothing is hidden at all [2].

Absolutely, that's what I meant, that the rigid organization is
totally transparent and reliable (I saw that myself on your web site).
I just mean it can be the same with voluntary donations in the bucket
as well - it's doesn't have to be dodgy, in the pocket of someone, who
knows business.


>
> We, as an distro-independant website, have no sustain from anyone, the
> webhosting we use has to be paid. Don't forget Ubuntu-CH mailing-list runs on
> Canonical servers... SL.org doesn't.

The Ubuntu SwissTeam mailing-list used to be hosted for free by a
friendly Swiss open-source institution. We just changed because we
could, so that Canonical can provide our list, and we leave more
capacity on the old server for projects like yours. Well, didn't we?
:)

And again, how much is the hosting? I saw 45 CHF last year, I would
gladly donate that if it made membership free, but I guess it is more
expensive? OTOH, sometimes you can get free hosting in a university or
a linux-friendly company.


> Look at Ubuntu-fr.org ... They made exactly the same as we are doing, apart
> that nobody can become member.

If that's an "official" Ubuntu community, everybody can become member.
Or is it just a private web site?

>
> The association allows us to ensure the reliability and durability of SL.org,
> ensure that succession is taken, ensure that servers/hosting are paid. The
> difference between U-fr.org and us is that they rely on punctual donations,
> as we do rely on regular members. Frontend is different for same background
> daemon. :-)
>

Sounds good, I guess we all complement each other a way or another.

Good luck to us all! /etc/init.d/total-world-domination start

Tormod