Re: Formal Member Registration

[Sachin Garg <sachin@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

My 2 paise on this issue:

I just rejoined the list and looked up this thread, especially since I
had attended the meet where Atul had put forth his views on the above.

I generally agree that informality is good and all that, but considering
the size we are now, in order to do something fruitful and take the
'movement' forward (Arun would disagree), but then Linux is what brings
us, all from diverse walks of life together, we need to band ourselves
together with some sort of order.

Today, everything that happens in LI (I know ILUG-BLR only, so I speak
for that) is b'cos of a few people taking initiative. It started with
Jessie taking the initiative on her own (OK, it may have bring benefits
to her or others, but definitely those are *much* less than the effort
she or the others expend). Not to forget KD, Atul, Gopi and myriad
others who have voluntarily put in their time and effort to band
together like-minded people.

But, this informality and rag-tag band has its disadvantages as have
been pointed out by Atul. For the past many meetings, C-DAC has been
kind enough to offer their LCD projector to the ILUG-BLR meets, purely
on personal connections. It is an individual (any one, previously myself
and now Jessie) who shoulders the whole responsibility. What happens if
something goes wrong, somewhere? It is that thought that makes me afraid
many a time.

A bit of formalism, ensuring that LI and ILUG-BLR get the much needed
legitimacy is definitely on the cards.

A little bit of money shelled out (saving from what one would normally
spend on other (I would call frivolous) activities) would go a long way.
And how much was Atul talking about? A mere 10 bucks! Heck u can't treat
u'r girlfriend or buy even a half-peg of liquor in that (unless one
drinks country-made, which I doubt anyone  does here).

The rest, we could have graded membsership, ensuring that those who can
pay more, pay more. We could still continue to be a co-operative, with
every member being equal, irrespective of the shares he or she
possesses.

The bottomline is that every community would need money, for its various
needs. Today, LI has volunteers, who would help in kind, but has to look
outward for whatever its cash needs. It is imperative that we form a
society (with its inherent ills), but then every entity has a set of
rules, a charter by which it exists. There has to be someone who speaks
out for the Linux users in the country to those who want to help the
community or to those who wish to harm it. A rag-tag band without a
leader is just "too many cooks spoiling the broth".

I know many would not agree, but there it is. The bottomline: We *need*
to *organise*

Thanx for listening to my rant and if you got this far, u r patient!

sachin