Why “fellowship”?

[Tanguy Ortolo]

Hello again,

This is the second thing I thought quite some time ago and which I
wanted to discuss here. :-)

My interrogation is quite simple: what is the purpose of the use of the
word “fellowship”?

I am a member of several associations, and in all of them, except FSFE,
I am called a “member” of the “association” itself. On the contrary,
here in the FSFE, I am called a “fellow”, or perhaps a “member” of the
“fellowship” of FSFE, I am not sure. Anyway, this is not natural at all,
and I really do not understand why there seems to be a specific program,
with a dedicated, separated website for people that want to support the
FSFE?

The first time I subscribed, I must tell that when I got redirected to
the “fellowship” website, I really wondered if I that was right and if I
was not subscribing to something else. Even now, I still do not
understand what that “fellowship” is about and how it is different from
the association itself, assuming that there is an actual difference. And
I also wonder if other people understand: if they do not, then would
confuse them as it confuses me.

Any light on that?

-- 
Tanguy Ortolo