[Ubuntu Oregon] Ubuntu membership

[Walter Lapchynski]

So we have 27 members in the LoCo, 11 of which are Ubuntu members.
Part of our goal as a LoCo is to further encourage membership.

To that end, for those of you that are not members, I would like to
open up a discussion about the subject. Why haven't you yet become
members?

You might want to read:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Membership

I don't think this is the only reason to become a member but here's
some of the perks:
 * certificate signed by Mark Shuttleworth himself
 * ubuntu.com email alias
 * ubuntu/member/nick IRC cloak
 * people.ubuntu.com SFTP
 * aggregation of your blog on Planet Ubuntu
 * right to print business cards and join the LinkedIn group
 * some other 3rd party stuff, including discounts at gandi.net
 * voting privileges!!!

I emphasize that last one. There's a lot of chatter going on right now
about the community. The only way we can change our leadership is
through democracy. If you really want to shake up the status quo,
that's a big one.

The other thing is that you can use it for your resumé. It's a
recognition of your contributions. This is the biggest reason why I
would suggest it. Among other things it tells people you interact with
that you provide sustained contributions to the community. You're not
just a participant in the community, but you are one of its architects
and maintainers.

You might be thinking that this is just for developers. Not at all.
The community and its projects need a lot of different forms of help:
 * development
 * bug triage
 * technical support
 * documentation
 * marketing
 * artwork
 * translation
 * leadership
There is really a place for everyone. For those that are interested,
there is a community of people that would love to help. For any one of
these, I can hook you up with people that can help you be a
contributor.

Also, though I refer to sustained contributions, I don't mean that you
work on it day in and day out. It's not about making a job out of it.
It's not even about having a title. It's not about volume or quantity,
but about continuing to contribute.

I imagine that for some folks the value here is still not clear.
Please ask the questions and I'll be happy to answer, as will the
other Ubuntu members we have in the group.

If we could get to over 50% membership, I would be super excited. We
don't have too far to go!
-- 
@wxl
Lubuntu Release Manager, Head of QA
Ubuntu PPC Point of Contact
Ubuntu Oregon LoCo Team Leader