[HCoop-Discuss] Goals and policies

[Adam Chlipala]

Davor Ocelic wrote:
> Instead of requiring a refundable deposit (and thus increasing
> entry-barrier for new members, which would be $25 that way),
> I would rather see a bit different change in the
> bylaws. One which would allow us to close people's accounts as
> soon as their balance is below 0.
>   

I also think that this is probably the logical next step for us.  We 
should have a script for freeze-drying a member, taking down all of his 
sites while saving all of the data needed to unfreeze his membership at 
a later date if he pays up.  We should freeze dry anyone who reaches 
negative balance, and unfreeze as soon as the member pays an amount that 
brings his balance at least to N * #shares, for some N that we fix.  I 
would support continuing to charge freeze-dried members, if we're going 
to let them keep their memberships.  Thus, we should probably boot 
people if they're freeze-dried for a month.

Now that I think of it, this does suggest starting the freeze-drying at 
the point of balances less than deposits of 3 months' dues, so that we 
never bill members amounts that we're not sure they will ever pay.  If 
we amend the bylaws to let us boot people for below-deposit balances, 
not just negative, after 3 months, then we could have a nice financial 
picture indeed.  We might also consider shortening the period while 
amending the bylaws anyway, which would let members have lower deposits 
on hand.