[HCoop-Discuss] Financial situation

[Franklin Gordon Bynum]

On 04/29/2007 07:12:36 PM, j.c.hallgren at juno.com wrote:
> yes, having 150 users requires more resources than
> for 50, but as long as what we are using matches that and isn't setup
> to handle many more users than we'll ever have in near future, then
> all is good...let's not too big and fancy until we have the users to
> support it, IMHO.

We have reached the limit of our current architecture and need to  
expand to grow further.  We can't accept new members to support this  
without new equipment.  Your stance leaves a chicken and egg problem:  
how do we grow without current members fronting costs?

If this were a business from which you were purchasing hosting  
services, then the business itself would invest in new equipment and  
seek to recoup that investment through future user fees.

But this is not a business from which you are purchasing services.  You  
are a member/owner of a cooperative.  YOU own a share of this  
organization.  YOU are partially responsible for this organization.   
You have a vote on how it is run.  If there is capital investment to be  
done to ensure the stability of the co-op, you are responsible for your  
fair share.  Period.

In the spirit of cooperation and fairness (and surely for more  
practical reasons), we have devised a progressive payment system that  
allows you to pay as little as you can while others pay as much as they  
can.

I am not a board member, officer or anything else.  I am a member.   
Insofar as I take an exclusionary tone here, it is certainly not the  
official policy of our co-op.  Indeed, among the fundamental principles  
of cooperation is inclusiveness.  Inclusiveness, that is, of those who  
accept the responsibilities of membership.

Those responsibilities will continue for as long as the co-op exists;  
hopefully they'll go on as long as people need hosting services.  In  
the future members may well be asked to invest more than $24.  But for  
now, members are being asked to invest in their co-op to the tune of at  
least $24.  That's hardly asking anything at all.

frank