Jack has done a lot of work here to revise our group charter and I can not improve on it at all. He has quoted the authority to change our charter and suggested an addition to it. I personally like it and am posting his email to me for you all to read and give your opinions on. If the majority of you feel this is a fair and equitable change to the charter, I will post it per the rules of ebay in an official announcement at a later date. Here it is:
Below is a section taken from eBay groups sections. I read it as there can be special conditions for a member to meet in order to join;
FROM EBAY'S GROUPS SECTION
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/group-guidelines.html#remove
Group Charter
In the Charter, the initial Leader will identify any and all membership terms and conditions specific to the Group. The Charter will include any special conditions that must be met by members in order for them to join the Group, and common rules of conduct expected of all Group members. All Group members, including Leaders and Moderators, must agree to abide by eBay policies, including the eBay User Agreement, the Groups Usage Policy, these Guidelines, and that Group's Charter, if they want to join a Group and remain in that Group.
Charters must be consistent with all eBay policies. For example, a Group Charter cannot require a Group member to publish personal contact information.
Any changes to a Charter must be posted using the Group's Announcements component.
Below is our charter which could be modified to add a blurb about thirty day trial/initiation somewhere along the dotted line in the charter below. See my sample (letters between the long dashes) below of what might be stated
Charter for "Model Railroading Is Fun"
The subjects in this group should originate, if possible, with model railroading; however, going off on a tangent is not frowned upon. Respect everyone's opinion please as this is supposed to be a friendly group where you will get model railroading help with your hobby and yet a poke in the ribs once we get to know you. If you like model trains and good natured fun, this is the place for you. No nit pickers or rivet counters allowed. It's my railroad and I like it that way.-------------------------------------There will be a thirty day initiation period for management to access a new members ability to participate and/or meld into the group. At the end of the thirty days the group management will address the new members (participation) (conduct) (tone) (etc etc) either accepting/rejecting membership------------------------------------------ No profanity please. Pets and spouses or significant others are welcome.
In the last line of eBay's group charter information above it says any changes have to be posted in the groups Announcement section. I see this as authority to add or delete from our charter what we want. As I read this now it appears we can change anything in the charter and eBay is not required to read or approve the changes. If you make a change then put the notice in the announcement section of the left side of the home page, when somebody wants to join they will be asked to make sure they read the charter. If they do not want to go along with it, they do not have to join.
Some food for thought.
Thanks Jack. Now lets hear from the rest of the group.
TheRevisingFadda
