[revision 2001-04-16] SPI membership page process definition

[Nils Lohner <lohner@ecf.teradyne.com>]

[please comment on this.  I'd like to get it in shape so people can 
pick up the code for the membership pages and work on it easily.   this 
has gone on for over a year; let's get it done once and for all.  
--nils]


Here's a description of how the membership process should work. It is 
based on the rules set down in the bylaws:
http://www.spi-inc.org/corporate/spi-bylaws

The remaining rules etc. will be made by the membership ctte.


[revision 2001-04-16]

>> NON-CONTRIBUTING MEMBERS
- non-contributing memberships should be automagically granted with a 
  valid email address (somewhat like the list subscription
  confirmation process)
- no expiration date
- these members are just 'supporters' of SPI with no real obligations 
  etc. but with their membership they indicate that they support the 
  principles of SPI
- registration: register with email addr and passwd (automatically 
  generate passwd?)
- automatic confirmation to that email address
- ability to recover passwd by entering email addr and having the 
  passwd resent
- can apply for contrib membership by submitting list of contributions 
  for review/approval by membership committee


The first part of the contrib member process is exactly the same as for 
non-contrib, and can get approved automatically by confirmation of the 
email address.  The contributing membership part is then handled 
afterwards by the membership ctte.

>> CONTRIBUTING MEMBERS
- these do expire (say in 2 years- not fixed yet)  When they do, they 
  become non-contrib members
- must have made significant contributions to the free software 
  community, as determined by the membership committee.
- registration happens as follows:
- get name, email, list of contributions, contact info
- membership committee looks at application and decides if enough info 
  is there
- if enough info, he's approved, pgp key is required for voting etc.
- if not enough info, ask for more info (repeat as necessary)
- if not enough contributions, non-contributing membership is offered
- non-contrib membership is approved as soon as email addr is validated 
(same process as for non-contribs)


All fields should exist for BOTH types of members since:
a) non-contrib members can apply to become contrib members
b) contrib members that expire are downgraded to non-contrib and we 
don't want their info lost
c) same for contrib applicants that are rejected: they become 
non-contrib


DB Fields needed:
name
email addr
contact info (just a text field; people can put addr, phone, etc. as 
desired)
password (for accessing/updating information)
PGP key
contribution information (can be a pointer to a file with the info)
record history (what was done then; can be a file pointer; should never 
have info deleted from it)
..date of application
..date of approval/rejection for contrib membership
..date of any changes to the record
contrib_membership (becomes valid when confirmed by membership ctte)
non_contrib_membership (becomes valid when the email addr is confirmed)

...probably others I haven't thought of, let's try to get a complete 
list.