[Ambassadors] EMEA Membership Questions

[Max Spevack]

On Sat, 17 May 2008, Christoph Wickert wrote:

> We have Ambassadors from all these countries and all these people will 
> have to pay the same amount of money. Do you really think you will be 
> able to attract members from Africa or the Middle East this way?

I know that I keep chiming in on the side of this thread, but once again 
I must say that from my perspective as a Red Hat employee whose 
full-time job is to build community throughout EMEA, I am not at all 
interested in collecting any sorts of fees from people who are members 
of the Fedora community.

When the idea of a Fedora EMEA e.V. was first proposed to me, the reason 
that I supported the idea was because it would be useful to have a legal 
entity, not Red Hat, that was organized and working to promote the 
mission of Fedora throughout EMEA.  I think it is also an interesting 
experiment in community empowerment, and a good next step for the larger 
Fedora Project to try.

Fedora EMEA e.V., if you ask *my opinion*, should be trying to raise 
money from third parties, and not from the current Fedora community.  A 
peson does not need to be a "member" of Fedora EMEA e.V. to be a member 
of the Fedora community in Europe, Africa, Middle East, or anywhere.

Again, I speak only for myself, and from the viewpoint of someone who is 
tasked with thinking about the overall health of the Fedora community in 
EMEA, and in also making sure that the financial situation of Fedora 
EMEA e.V., whatever that situation might be, is handled transparently 
for the community, the Fedora Board, and Red Hat to all make the most of 
it.

--Max