[chapter-delegates] New Membership Level

Fri Mar 4 14:21:27 PST 2005

[ Please read carefully - important fundamental economic ideas are shown
below. ]

Dear Jacek and Fellow ISOC Chapter Delegates:

I definitely share your concerns.  For those unaware, we have met three
times with the members of ISOC-Polska during some of the annual Christmas
trips I make to bring my lovely Polish wife back home to Warsaw to spend the
holidays with her parents.  Keep in mind that my wife and her family have
spent a lot of time discussing and educating me on important issues like
politics, economics, and history in that part of the world.

During my first trip to Poland, during which I fell in love with the people,
the country, the history etc., my father-in-law told me about the relative
economic disparities between east and west.  He explained it this way:
Typically, for every $1 a Pole makes, a average American makes $7.  But for
every $1 an average Russian or an average Ukrainian makes, an average Pole
makes $7.  Those comparisons were mind-boggling and a real revelation to me.
And among the former communist coountries of the former Soviet Union and its
old allies, Poland is considered the "Poster Child" for having made the most
succesful transition to a capitalist, western-style democratic republic and
economy.  Yet, their unemployment is still about 18%.  This really woke me
up and helped me realize just how ignorant I was about economics and
geopolitics.

So in summary, I share your concerns, Jacek.  Just because someone at ISOC
Central can easily go to a currency conversion website and perform currency
conversion converting U.S.$75 to Polish Zloties, doesn't reflect the same
amount of effort and sacrifice that went in to earning and contributing that
money.  I don't think it is fair to have members from other countries make a
bigger comparative sacrifice.  Having said that, I, myself, will continue to
support ISOC as a paying member as long as I can personally afford it.  Yet,
if I were in another country, where the relative economic scale was that
much different, i.e. 1:7, I would definitely think twice.

And finally, please give my regards to Sylvie, Wladek, and your other
ISOC-Polska members.  We enjoy meeting with you each year, and consider you,
along with Dr. Alejandro Pisanty (ISOC-Mexico), James Galvin and Terry
Weigler, as our most cherished ISOC colleagues.  By the way since returning
to the U.S. in January I have been swamped with work and other activities,
but will soon take time this weekend to send the digital pictures of our
2005 ISOC-Polska - ISOC-Chicago Summit.

See you in January 2006!

With great friendship and affection,

Bill
William F. Slater, III
ISOC Supporting Member
ISOC-Chicago
IT Consultant / Data Center Manager
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-----Original Message-----
From: Jacek Gajewski [mailto:gajewski at ceenet.org]
Sent: Friday, March 04, 2005 2:32 PM
To: chapter-delegates at lists.isoc.org; zarzad at isoc.org.pl
Subject: Re: [chapter-delegates] New Membership Level

Dear Chapter Delegates,

      let me inform you that in a situation created by the recent
announcment of introduction of $75 membership,  which is regarded as
posing a serious thread for the integrity of ISOC, the Board of Polish
ISOC Chapter called today its extraordinary meeting. During this
meeting  the Board has taken unanimously the following decisions:

1. to inform its membership about the recent discussion trigerred by the
introduction of paid membership and the fact that they are no longer the
members of ISOC but only its 'Associate Members'
2. to take part in the redaction of a joint protest statement with other
chapters
3. to encourage its members to send the text of the joint protest (if
they agree with it) directly to the ISOC CEO with the cc to VP of
Chapters and Director of Chapters
4. to encourage its members to take part in a survey of the opinions re.
paid membership, if ISOC HQ decides to poll the opinion of its
world-wide membership

With the best regards,

Jacek Gajewski
ISOC-PL

Narelle Clark wrote:

>>From: James M Galvin [mailto:galvin at elistx.com]
>>Sent: Friday, 4 March 2005 8:28 AM
>>
>>I am concerned that some people believe that we
>>have some expectation of the Chapters with
>>respect to the availability of the new membership
>>level.  So, I want to say clearly that the new
>>membership level is a benefit that ISOC is
>>offering and it is completely separate from the
>>benefits that Chapters offer.  In fact, we do not
>>expect Chapters to actively sell ISOC memberships.
>>
>>
>
>This "new" membership class poses a few problems for our
>chapter (Australia). Our board is yet to discuss it so
>the following points are my assessment of the sorts of
>things that our chapter will have to wrestle with.
>
>- what are the benefits of this paying class?
>As yet, it seems that this class is to get the
>benefits that existing members are not properly
>getting - voting access, standards participation -
>mainly for us due to the tyranny of distance, or
>mailbox overflow when our nominations disappear.
>I rather liked the list of specials someone
>came up with as an alternative to making
>voting exclusively paid (sheesh folks!).
>
>- will our members see this as another example
>of the rest of the world paying for the US
>Internet access?
>The fibre links across the Pacific have been
>paid for by the people on this side of the
>Pacific. Thus we pay for US access to content
>in Japan, China, India, Australia, the Pacific
>nations etc etc. Now we are to pay for the
>privelige of participating in standards
>development? Hmmm.
>
>- will consideration be given to better
>chaper representation in this new way?
>I'm still wondering.
>
>- why the name change?
>With existing members turning into "associate"
>and the "new" ones becoming [real] "members"
>it is difficult to not to see a dubious intent.
>
>- how does this fit with our own charge?
>Our chapter currently charges an approximately
>equivalent fee, with student and pensioner rates.
>I assume we will have to recognise the ISOC
>members as local members with a nominal local
>fee on top. This represents a loss of revenue
>for us.
>
>- why no chapter consultation?
>This seems to have been a less than diplomatic
>approach IMHO. The free membership approach was
>a sudden and underconsulted change also if my
>memory is correct.
>
>- why not a 'capitation fee' from the chapters?
>We could possibly have funded some amount as
>was done in the past.
>
>- why such a large fee?
>An Australian joiing both the local chapter and
>this new class will be paying something of
>the order of an IEEE fee. Only Internet
>professionals are likely to do that, and many
>of them will have to look at the comparative
>benefits and join the better value one.
>
>- who joins what?
>An Australian wanting to join ISOC may do that
>and ignore the local chapter (which happens
>now) but will we be informed of people
>joining this new class? With this paid class
>there is now competition for members with
>our chapter.
>
>- status of chapter members vs ISOC members
>The international affiliation is very important
>to our chapter members. Is there going to be
>a cost effective way for chapter members to
>join this new _special_ class and get what
>they want ISOC for? Is there a genuine way
>for our members to participate in Internet
>standards development, when frankly it's hard
>enough now?
>
>These are just a few issues on top of the other
>ones people have mentioned. I also personally
>agree that the fee is a massive impost on
>many people!
>
>
>All the best
>
>
>Narelle
>vice-president at isoc-au.org.au
>
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