Why “fellowship”?

[Matthias Kirschner]

* Tanguy Ortolo <tanguy+fsfe at ortolo.eu> [2012-01-05 15:13:14 +0000]:

> "Heiki \"Repentinus\" Ojasild", 2012-01-05 15:48+0100:
> > It is possible to join FSFE as a member too.
> 
> Is it? 

Yes, it is. Can you ask for becoming a member of FSFE. The usual
procedure is that people who do work for FSFE, and whom the others trust
are added as members. The other way is that you can candidate for the
Fellowship seat, which makes you a member, too. In February are the next
elections, so everybody who is Fellow for more than one year can
candidate.

> I thought that was impossible, but if it is, then it is rather
> well hidden, or at least not really encouraged. 

Yes, that is right. Because a lot of the day to day work is not done by
the members, but it is done by the different working groups. The members
work on the strategic long term decisions.

> Is there a specific reason why people that would like to help FSFE
> financially should do as as “fellows” rather as regular members as in
> any regular association?

The porpose of FSFE's members is not to get financial support. This is
done by donors (mainly companies) and the Fellowship donations.

> How is FSFE different from APRIL, which has something like 6.000 members
> and seems to work rather fine with it? I thought the European status was
> a barrier, but since it is not, what is it?

I don't know APRIL's structures well enough to answer that question.

The structure from FSFE is influenced by FSF's structure before the
start in 2001 and than developed from this point.

Regards,
Matthias

-- 
Matthias Kirschner - FSFE - Fellowship Coordinator, German Coordinator
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