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{{PolicyDisclaimer}}
{{PolicyDisclaimer}}
__TOC__
{{TOCright}}
There are many different types of roles that add to the mixture of Simple Machines, and they all
There are many different types of roles that add to the mixture of Simple Machines, and they all
must work together for this organization to thrive. This section highlights the different roles you
must work together for this organization to thrive. This section highlights the different roles you
are likely to encounter, and how they fit into the overall picture of Simple Machines.
are likely to encounter, and how they fit into the overall picture of Simple Machines.
==NPO Members==
==Simple Machines - Organization Members==
All members of the SMF team, once they are accepted by the NPO board of directors, are NPO members.  In addition, the NPO has service teams, including the site, server, and marketing teams. In the future, other software development projects may join the NPO, and their members may become NPO members. In addition, some NPO members do not belong to any of the NPO's service or project teams.
Members of the SMF project may become members of the Simple Machines organization, once they are accepted by the board of directors.  In addition, the organization has service teams, including the site, server, and marketing teams. In the future, other software development projects may join the NPO, and their members may become NPO members. Some NPO members do not belong to any of the NPO's service or project teams.


All regular members of the NPO must pay annual dues, or, in lieu of dues, perform volunteer service for the NPO or its teams. All regular members may vote in the annual elections, and in any other polls the NPO may conduct.   
All regular members of the organization must pay annual dues, or, in lieu of dues, perform volunteer service for the NPO or its teams. All regular members may vote in the annual elections, and in any other polls the organization may conduct.   


If NPO members leave teams, cease performing volunteer service, and/or cease paying dues, they will be converted to emeritus status. These emeritus members may participate in discussions, but may not vote.
If the contributing members leave teams, cease performing volunteer service, and/or cease paying dues, they will become emeritus members. These emeritus members may participate in discussions, but may not vote.


The NPO bylaws stipulate that the ratio of non-team members to team members of the NPO must not exceed 30%.  If the ratio ever exceeds 30%, or if the addition of a non-team member would cause the ratio by 30%, no non-team members may be added until such time as adding a non-team member would not cause this ratio to exceed 30%.
The organization bylaws stipulate that the ratio of non-contributing members to contributing members of the organization must not exceed 30%.  If the ratio ever exceeds 30%, or if the addition of a non-contributing member would cause the ratio by 30%, no non-contributing members may be added until such time as adding a non-contributing member would not cause this ratio to exceed 30%.


==NPO Board of Directors==
==Simple Machines - Board of Directors==
The members of the NPO board of directors are elected to 2-year terms.  Elections for approximately half of the seats are held every year, in June, by a vote of all voting members of the NPO. Once the board has been elected, they decide among themselves who will fulfill the roles of President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer.  The Board of Directors is responsible for making sure that the NPO's bills are paid and other obligations are satisfied.  The Board of Directors may, from time to time, appoint members to carry out some of the duties of the NPO.
The members of the board of directors are elected to 2-year terms.  Elections for approximately half of the seats are held every year, in June, by a vote of all voting members of the organization. Once the board has been elected, they decide among themselves who will fulfill the roles of President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer.  The Board of Directors is responsible for making sure that the organization's bills are paid and other obligations are satisfied.  The Board of Directors may, from time to time, appoint members to carry out some of the duties of the organization.


==Simple Machines LLC==
==Simple Machines LLC==
From October 23rd 2006 until 2011, Simple Machines was a Limited Liability Company that registered in the state of Arizona[3].  During 2010 and 2011, the Simple Machines NPO took on the responsibilities of the LLC, and in 2011, the LLC merged with the NPO and was dissolved. The Simple Machines NPO took on all of the LLC's assets, liabilities, and business responsibilities. The Simple Machines LLC no longer exists.
From October 23rd 2006 until 2011, Simple Machines was a Limited Liability Company registered in the state of Arizona.  During 2010 and 2011, the Simple Machines NPO took on the responsibilities of the LLC, and in 2011, the LLC completed a merge with the NPO and was dissolved. The Simple Machines NPO has taken on all of the LLC's assets, liabilities, and business responsibilities. The Simple Machines LLC no longer exists. Some members of the Simple Machines LLC have become members of the Simple Machines NPO.


==Team Members==
==SMF Project==
The people behind Simple Machines are a diverse group of individuals who, in their free time,
put their efforts together to help make Simple Machines Forum what it is today. Many different
uses of skills are expressed within several teams, including a design team, modification team,
development team, documentation team, support team, and a language team. Each team member
is a volunteer who has agreed to donate their time and efforts to help improve Simple Machines’
product and service offerings.


The team members are the people who help make this project a
{{Did you know
reality – and so we must be supportive with of all team members
|text=The book of Unknown is a tome of priceless information that is passed on to only the most worthy and inquisitive people.
and help them grow as team members and as people. This project
Seek and you will find.}}<!--
was founded by people and for people looking to development
their skills as well as themselves. We will always strive to help
and encourage others and to provide opportunity for growth,
development and learning.


{{mbox|text=Did you Know?
-->
The book of Unknown is
The people behind the Simple Machines Forum project are a diverse group of individuals who, in their free time, combine their effort to help make Simple Machines Forum what it is today. Each team member is a volunteer who has agreed to donate their time and efforts to help improve Simple Machines’ products and services. Team members have different skills, and work on different parts of the project.
a tome of priceless
information that is
passed on to only the
most worthy and
inquisitive team
members. Seek and you
will find.}}


The structure of the team is an organized one, as described in  on Page 12. Each team is
This project was founded by and for people looking to develop their skills as well as themselves, and this is reflected in the project's core values. We seek to foster adherence to these core values as we help and encourage others and provide opportunities for growth, development and learning.
responsible for a different area of the project’s success, and as such each position is a crucial
one. Team members are always encouraged to stretch themselves and to try new things; as such,
individuals often help out with other roles as part of their day-to-day activities, and changing
teams is not an unusual occurrence[4]. Such rotations encourage new skills development, and
provide variety.


{{mbox|text=Did you Know?
The SMF project structure is divided into several smaller teams, each responsible for a different area of the project’s success, and they may have additional teams of community contributors they work with. At the time of this writing, these areas are:
SMF Started off as
* Development
“Unknown’s Secret
* Customization
Project”, a side-project
* Documentation
from the original YaBB SE
* Localization
v2 code. This project was
* Support
recognized by the team at
a time of philosophical
shift, and thus SMF was
born.}}
==SMF Friends a.k.a. Old Timers==
- Past team member, or someone who had a lot of influencein the early years of the project. E.g. Zef Hemel.
==Forum Users==
The users of SMF are some of the most important people involved.
They are our customers. Ultimately, we're trying to develop and support a package that will provide value to them.
Please be respectful and patient. Sometimes they don't know what knowledge they are missing. Some are new, some are experienced. Some communicate coherently, while others don't. Some are easy to interact with, while others are not. We can choose to be polite to all of them.


And remember -- most of the Simple Machines team members began their involvement as forum users on simplemachines.org.
==SMF Friends==
Anyone who had a lot of influence in the early years of the project (E.g. Zef Hemel), or any former team member is listed as a friend of SMF. These individuals have a lot of knowledge about the history of SMF, and many of them know a lot about the code. Many of them check in from time to time on the Friends board, and are available and interested in providing experience, knowledge and advice. Some friends have left in order to take on new challenges. Others have left the team because of a lack of time, and may return to the team in the future.


==Charter Members==
==Charter Members==
Charter Members are those members who have signed on to an annual subscription to receive a
Charter Members have signed up for an annual subscription. They have demonstrated that they believe in our success enough to make a financial contribution.  The money they contribute is important to the financial health of the project. Charter members have a private section on the community forums, and are given a higher priority for support, via the HelpDesk system.
number of incentives including priority support, advanced access to betas and access to a closed
section of our Community forums. These members are key contributors to our success, as they
contribute to our financial health, and have demonstrated that they believe in our success enough
to have contributed financially.


Additionally, Charter Members are our primary advocates outside of SMF circles, and thus
Charter Members are our primary advocates outside of SMF circles, and some of our charter members are competent installers and programmers. Others are website owners who understand that they don’t have the skills to built their site, and who appreciate our technical expertise and our experience with the software. In all cases, their feedback is relevant for the project growth.
providing them with exceptional support is important to our continued success.
In terms of approaches, many of our charter members are competent installers and programmers,
however the vast majority of them are website owners who understand that they don’t have the
skills to built their site, and who appreciate our technical expertise and our experience with the
software. They are a great source of support, and a great source of honest feedback.


==Advertisers==
==Advertisers==
Most advertisers on the SMF site are owners of hosting companies or software companies who
Most advertisers on the SMF site are owners of hosting companies or software companies who
advertise to web masters and website owners. If you come across an advertiser using our
advertise to web masters and website owners.
community, please be considerate and helpful – if we can help their business grow, then they will
be able to afford more advertising in the future.


If you ever elect to use an advertiser’s products or services, please take the time to provide them
If you ever elect to use an advertiser’s products or services, please take the time to provide them
with a testimonial and a comment to let them know that their contributions to SMF yielded them
with a testimonial and a comment to let them know that their contributions to SMF yielded them
new business, and to help them understand we appreciate their patronage.
new business, and to help them understand we appreciate their patronage.
The Simple Machines marketing team handles all requests from advertisers.
==Competitors==
==Competitors==
- Don’t flame competitors<br/>
There should be friendly competition between us and the developers of other forum software. We should all be able to learn from the good points of other team's designs and implementation. And we should be able to keep the conversation productive and civil.
- Assume no privacy – anything you post, even in the team boards will eventually become
public knowledge and our competitors will hear about them.  
==Redistributors==
==Bots/Crawlers==


With the new license adopted for SMF 2.0, we have a new kind of competition -- forks of SMF. These modified versions of the Simple Machines forum are written by developers who are looking for a challenge, or who want to try taking the SMF code in a direction different from what the project has chosen. Discussions of pros and cons of these choices and implementations could grow heated, but should remain civil and friendly. Some of the best SMF talent will choose to do some work on a fork at some point, and the project can learn from the experiments of fork authors.


==Redistributors==
Anyone is permitted to redistribute SMF 2.0, as long as they follow the licensing agreement. Any requests for interpretation of the license agreement should be directed to the SMF project manager, developers, or Simple Machines marketing team.


<hr/>
Anyone who wishes to distribute earlier versions of SMF must have written permission from the Simple Machines organization. All inquiries about redistributing earlier versions of SMF should be directed to the organization.
[3] Don’t forget to mark that date in your calendar to wish everyone Happy Anniversary!
 
[4] Although trying new things is encouraged, please remember that helping a team member switch teams does
involve administrative overhead and may lead to confusion on the boards. Switching teams frivolously is not
recommended

Latest revision as of 17:28, 8 December 2011

This is a work in progress, based on early work on a policy document. The contents have not been accepted by the organization, and may or may not represent actual policies of the SMF team or the SimpleMachines NPO

There are many different types of roles that add to the mixture of Simple Machines, and they all must work together for this organization to thrive. This section highlights the different roles you are likely to encounter, and how they fit into the overall picture of Simple Machines.

Simple Machines - Organization Members

Members of the SMF project may become members of the Simple Machines organization, once they are accepted by the board of directors. In addition, the organization has service teams, including the site, server, and marketing teams. In the future, other software development projects may join the NPO, and their members may become NPO members. Some NPO members do not belong to any of the NPO's service or project teams.

All regular members of the organization must pay annual dues, or, in lieu of dues, perform volunteer service for the NPO or its teams. All regular members may vote in the annual elections, and in any other polls the organization may conduct.

If the contributing members leave teams, cease performing volunteer service, and/or cease paying dues, they will become emeritus members. These emeritus members may participate in discussions, but may not vote.

The organization bylaws stipulate that the ratio of non-contributing members to contributing members of the organization must not exceed 30%. If the ratio ever exceeds 30%, or if the addition of a non-contributing member would cause the ratio by 30%, no non-contributing members may be added until such time as adding a non-contributing member would not cause this ratio to exceed 30%.

Simple Machines - Board of Directors

The members of the board of directors are elected to 2-year terms. Elections for approximately half of the seats are held every year, in June, by a vote of all voting members of the organization. Once the board has been elected, they decide among themselves who will fulfill the roles of President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer. The Board of Directors is responsible for making sure that the organization's bills are paid and other obligations are satisfied. The Board of Directors may, from time to time, appoint members to carry out some of the duties of the organization.

Simple Machines LLC

From October 23rd 2006 until 2011, Simple Machines was a Limited Liability Company registered in the state of Arizona. During 2010 and 2011, the Simple Machines NPO took on the responsibilities of the LLC, and in 2011, the LLC completed a merge with the NPO and was dissolved. The Simple Machines NPO has taken on all of the LLC's assets, liabilities, and business responsibilities. The Simple Machines LLC no longer exists. Some members of the Simple Machines LLC have become members of the Simple Machines NPO.

SMF Project

Did You Know?
The book of Unknown is a tome of priceless information that is passed on to only the most worthy and inquisitive people. Seek and you will find.

The people behind the Simple Machines Forum project are a diverse group of individuals who, in their free time, combine their effort to help make Simple Machines Forum what it is today. Each team member is a volunteer who has agreed to donate their time and efforts to help improve Simple Machines’ products and services. Team members have different skills, and work on different parts of the project.

This project was founded by and for people looking to develop their skills as well as themselves, and this is reflected in the project's core values. We seek to foster adherence to these core values as we help and encourage others and provide opportunities for growth, development and learning.

The SMF project structure is divided into several smaller teams, each responsible for a different area of the project’s success, and they may have additional teams of community contributors they work with. At the time of this writing, these areas are:

  • Development
  • Customization
  • Documentation
  • Localization
  • Support

SMF Friends

Anyone who had a lot of influence in the early years of the project (E.g. Zef Hemel), or any former team member is listed as a friend of SMF. These individuals have a lot of knowledge about the history of SMF, and many of them know a lot about the code. Many of them check in from time to time on the Friends board, and are available and interested in providing experience, knowledge and advice. Some friends have left in order to take on new challenges. Others have left the team because of a lack of time, and may return to the team in the future.

Charter Members

Charter Members have signed up for an annual subscription. They have demonstrated that they believe in our success enough to make a financial contribution. The money they contribute is important to the financial health of the project. Charter members have a private section on the community forums, and are given a higher priority for support, via the HelpDesk system.

Charter Members are our primary advocates outside of SMF circles, and some of our charter members are competent installers and programmers. Others are website owners who understand that they don’t have the skills to built their site, and who appreciate our technical expertise and our experience with the software. In all cases, their feedback is relevant for the project growth.

Advertisers

Most advertisers on the SMF site are owners of hosting companies or software companies who advertise to web masters and website owners.

If you ever elect to use an advertiser’s products or services, please take the time to provide them with a testimonial and a comment to let them know that their contributions to SMF yielded them new business, and to help them understand we appreciate their patronage.

The Simple Machines marketing team handles all requests from advertisers.

Competitors

There should be friendly competition between us and the developers of other forum software. We should all be able to learn from the good points of other team's designs and implementation. And we should be able to keep the conversation productive and civil.

With the new license adopted for SMF 2.0, we have a new kind of competition -- forks of SMF. These modified versions of the Simple Machines forum are written by developers who are looking for a challenge, or who want to try taking the SMF code in a direction different from what the project has chosen. Discussions of pros and cons of these choices and implementations could grow heated, but should remain civil and friendly. Some of the best SMF talent will choose to do some work on a fork at some point, and the project can learn from the experiments of fork authors.

Redistributors

Anyone is permitted to redistribute SMF 2.0, as long as they follow the licensing agreement. Any requests for interpretation of the license agreement should be directed to the SMF project manager, developers, or Simple Machines marketing team.

Anyone who wishes to distribute earlier versions of SMF must have written permission from the Simple Machines organization. All inquiries about redistributing earlier versions of SMF should be directed to the organization.

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