Membership set up

As of 2006 no membership is available on the Wikimedia Foundation. ---

This page will list the different tasks required to set membership working (see membership fees)

Change the bylaws

Propose new text to reflect

• contributing active may be editors or not.
• to be volunteer, it is not required to send membership application to the Florida office

Update the membership FAQ page

To shortly summarize what has been decided in membership fees

Set a membership page on the WMF website

The main membership page will be on the wikimediafoundation website, in several languages if possible (most world wide organisations propose a half dozen languages, we should perhaps aim at this). A limited number of languages can be managed on one page only. Languages suggested are en, de, ja, fr, es. More than 10 would probably become cumbersome. However, very obviously, in case local chapter membership pages are hosted on this website, they will need to be in local language(s).

The membership pages should explain

• the global organisation of the membership system
• the details of membership (notes about the difference between a volunteer and an active member, etc....)
• the existence of local chapters
• where to go for related information (e.g., the membership FAQ, financial report etc...)
• how to a "become an active member" (a link to the membership application)

The "membership" page should be linked from various places in the individual projects (perhaps in "user preferences" and from "special pages").

Volunteer application

We need to allow members to join voluntarily in their preferences. At a minimum, this mean

• a checkbox (checked by default) : Yes, I agree to be a member of WMF
• a link to another page, where will be explained what WMF is, and what volunteer membership means.

The first requires help from a developer.
The second will be a regular wiki page, editable on the Foundation Website

Additionnaly, some have suggested that we take the opportunity to gather additional information on members, on a volunteer basis of course. See Voluntary membership information.

An alternative is to assume all users are members, and allow them to opt out.

Set a membership application form

May be pdf or online

• Online requires development -> user must be indicated member
• Anyone can do the pdf.

A form will be available either to fill in online, or to download and send by postmail (this is mandatory for the german chapter).

Example: the form for membership in the German Verein: http://wikimedia.de/Aufnahmeantrag.pdf

The form for membership will ask

• membership type (as an editor or not)
• user name on a wikimedia project if applicable (of the type anthere@fr)
• how much will be contributed (regular dues, or low dues)
• real name and adress for tax needs if applicable
• whether this membership should be made public or not.

A check of the length and degree of contribution will be made in case low dues are selected.

Additionally, it is strongly suggested that over time, another form section is added to allow members to indicate preferences for how to use part of their contribution/fee.

Set a paypal system

Let's ask Jimbo

Storage of personal information

Will depend whether the form is online or not.

Secretary work

In particular if the form is paper version, some one must receive the check and forms. The forms information should be made e.

Who feels like helping membership management ?

Tempts providence by asking ... What needs doing over and above the current user registration process though? ie. can it be dealt with by adding three extra columns to the current userfile (being 'last payment amount', 'next payment due date' and 'membership status') --VampWillow 20:56, 17 Jun 2004 (UTC)

I think it will go further than just tech issues, but let's go slowly

It would be helpful to have wikipedia user groups that promote WP, encourage get-togethers, and inform interested people (in person) about how and why to become a member. +sj+