IBU

Consol

• We have never had a membership or entry fee, & continue to avoiding needing them:
  • Membership fees would reduce number of members.
  • Administration (bank registration, member additions, deletions, monthly bank statement checking, annual audit) would consume time better spent contributing to BSD.
• We similarly aim to avoid the concomitant time & money required to register, maintain, (& charges for someone one day to de-register) an Eingetragener Verein. Any who want to urge an Eingetragener Verein should first read the German books on how to set one up & run it. This author has purchased such a book & read bits. He will not waste the time that would be necessary !
• If a membership charge later seems necessary, perhaps to pay for essential equipment :
  • It will be discussed first on the mail list.
  • A student/pensioner/unemployed etc discount will not be offered, (to reduce paperwork verification for organisers each year).
  • Instead, a discount for BSD contributing activists may be offered (thus those that can not afford full rate, can contribute time to public BSD work instead).
• Opinions from all members are welcome, in moderation, but BIM has too few Contributors, so the most welcome & important opinions are from those who have first contributed work or resources to Berkeley In Munich. Contributors opinions matter more, in event of disagreement, major contributors & founders opinions being most important.
• BIM requires No contribution of time, equipment, or money from any normal member (though some have contributed time & equipment & others have contributed services of financial worth. We do appreciate efforts & contributions volunteered). Only persistent critics would need to prove they are more than empty vessels making most noise, & the more criticism, the more contributions to BIM would be required to compensate for continued membership.
• Just as individuals need a right to leave an unacceptable club, so a club needs a right to remove unacceptable members.
• Once BIM was targeted (undeclared to us running BIM), as the succesor club to house an influx from a defunct club. The experience was mixed: some hopefully integrated, but some seemed to remain a clique. Some expressed dis-satisfaction with BIM, some wanted BIM things changed to be done their way, (eg fixed rather than roving Stammtisch). Some left sooner. Some left later after stirring more dissent. Lesson: BIM benefits more from individual recruitment, not from a cuckoo influx.
• How BIM Was Formed & Runs