[Hcoop-discuss] New member process proposal

[Nathan Kennedy]

Terrence Brannon wrote:
> On 4/22/06, Nathan Kennedy <ntk at hcoop.net> wrote:
>   
>> If new information comes to light at any
>> time during the 48 hours from application, directors can change their
>> votes to revoke the acceptance, and the account can then be deleted.
>>     
>
> What sort of new information would lead to revoking within 48 hours or
> membership as opposed to 48 days? What I mean is certain things can
> get a normal member removed if he violates the AUP. And of course
> these apply to the provisional member. But what extra things apply to
> the provisional member?

I realized that I did not completely answer this question.  Basically 
what I meant was that a provision member would only be admitted as a 
full member if he satisfied the normal criteria for membership, 
otherwise he would not be admitted at all.  This is just speeding the 
process for getting people in the door.  So your question really becomes 
"what would deny someone's application for membership that would not get 
a member kicked out of the co-op?"

Obviously this is a subjective question since we don't have any 
eligibility criteria beyond "open to any member of the public who can 
meet the requirements of membership," and that kicking someone out is 
simply "for cause" when 2/3 of the members vote to do so.

But here's my take on it.  No-one has a "right" to be a member of the 
co-op.  In general, we should be inclusive and welcome as many people 
from as many backgrounds as possible, but if someone is denied 
membership they have no cause to complain.  On the other hand, once 
someone is a full member of the co-op, kicking them out is a drastic 
step.  So if we have serious concerns about a potential member, they 
could keep someone out even if over something that is not severe enough 
to kick a current member out.  Part of this is prevention--we don't KNOW 
nonmembers and we don't KNOW what will happen when they are members, and 
it's better to prevent than react.  But mostly it's just the seriousness 
of expulsion and the effect that it has on a community.

I'm trying to come up with concrete examples, given we haven't had to 
kick anyone out yet.  For instance, if someone applied for an account 
saying "I want to use HCOOP to host my scat porn site.  I sell pictures 
and live shows of myself taking a dump in various natural settings," I 
would probably vote to deny that member's application.  On the other 
hand, suppose Clinton hosted a picture of himself on the crapper for the 
album cover of his latest metal album (sorry Clinton!).  If he really 
wanted to do this, I would not make him take it down and I certainly 
wouldn't vote to kick him out.

Does that make sense?

-ntk