Re: Formal Member Registration

["Soumyanath Chatterjee" <soumyac@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

There is a huge pile of headers in my mailbox on the subject.

 Tux wants a suit in India :-)

That's the image that came in my mind as I was going through the exchanges.

As the discussion is really getting charged I am putting my 2p./$45 in it.

First -- the issue:

* Large number of members
* Administrative over heads
* Meeting of large number of people requires infrastructure problem

Solution proposed:

Membership fee -- in the same line with other professional societies.

And why not --- CSI has it, IE has it,  ORSI has it, INVEST has it.
You name any professional society and they all have a membership fee so --
WHY NOT LUG ?

I am sure many of you are also member of other so called paid member of such
professional societies -- I request them to contribute what goes in those
institutes.

You attend some regular meeting of those societies and decide yourself - do
you want LUG to be like CSI/IE et.al.

Yes, I agree without formal membership and membership fees it is not
possible to pull out seminar and conferences at the scale such institutions
does

I think instead of money LUG membership should focus on knowledge.
What we can do is to have a membership process, say

1. A LUG member must be a registered Linux user.
2. Must clear some formal examination or demonstrate some proficiency in
Linux
    This may be some free tests as available from www.brainbench.com or some
formal course.
3. LUG may certify the training institutes offering Linux courses (for this
a fee may be charged)
4. There may be a category of corporate members -- which can use the
knowledge available with LUG for corporate gains

Point 3 & 4 IMHO will take care of the LOGISTICS part.

And YES, please issue ID card but only the knowledgeable lot. For squatter
and bystanders who come to LUG meeting just for the free samosa and tea --
sorry! to be a LUG member you got to be using Linux.

About big meeting and catering etc. one can convert them into paid seminars.
That may make it more manageable.

BUT paid membership for LUG is a big NO -- I don't want LUG to become APB
(another professional body).


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- Soumya

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