I am not sure it is something that Canonical will consider doing but I think if they offered a cloud service like dropbox but better for members so we can easily backup and restore files of all types that would be an awesome incentive, however not sure it is cost effective given server space and the cost of maintaining servers.
They had free storage for Music with Ubuntu One, and Keybase offers free small private storage. I’d like to see a Ubuntu option for free storage!
There was for everyone, but they eliminated it I think because of cost
Maybe only for members would be sustainable
@Wild_Man I’m not sure “perks” would encourage more applications.
Perhaps extending the lifespan of membership would be more appropriate. But I see there have already been discussions on this subject.
Well, there is:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PeopleUbuntuCom
Not sure how well this is still used by members and there is indeed a quota so backup/restore might be a bit limited
I last used it when I put up a Lubuntu 24.04 LTS manual in PDF format; as we had requests for a manual that could be used offline.
I’m aware of other Ubuntu members who’ve used it too, though I’m also aware of Ubuntu members who didn’t know it existed (until told). It is listed as one of the perks of membership, but it does specify usage as to Ubuntu related files.
My own belief though is some free cloud storage won’t draw extra membership applications.
I would discourage any tangible perks, as that’d simply draw up more unwanted attentions. There has already been such cases explained by me before with Hacktoberfest, MLH etc. I don’t want Ubuntu Membership to be the next hacktoberfest.
This is pure pessimism…
Would somebody please explain the responsibilities of a Ubuntu Member? What does such a person do?
If there are perks to Ubuntu Membership then there are really a show of appreciation rather than an attraction to obtaining a badge.
Regards
@graymech , please see https://ubuntu.com/community/membership for Ubuntu Membership benefits, requirements, and application process.
Their only explicit responsibility is to uphold the Code of Conduct.
Many members additionally take on self-imposed responsibilities to better Ubuntu and the community. The perks are a recognition of their contribution.
I don’t not see the reasoning in your statement but maybe I am messing something can you please explain I am just trying to understand your point of view, is this any different then any of the other perks we have?
I wanted to mean, that giving members perks that are usable or involves almost a direct monetary transaction, for ex: lwn subscription, is a bad idea IMO. Because, these channels then can be misused, and we might not be able to notice it. Let’s say, someone is using their Ubuntu membership to create an RSS feed for LWN with latest news that are still under paywall. That’s bad faith, but, is it a direct breach of Ubuntu COC? If it’s, will we be able to take action against it? Rather, perks like allowing members to publish blogs related to ubuntu in Planet Ubuntu, voting rights on various topics are better option. Things like ubuntu pastebin with more quota for members also look very viable. I think these kinds of things are intangible, and doesn’t require a third party access, thus are better to be given as a perk.
Also, I would also like to point, membership should not be to encourage more application, rather to encourage more contribution to Ubuntu.
This could be off-topic, But to just share some of my thoughts, rather adding new perks, why don’t we outreach Non Ubuntu Members who’ve been already contributing to Ubuntu in many ways then encourage them to apply for membership?
I’m already encouraging one of our Korean LoCo member who’ve been doing some bunch of advocacy here for 10+ years to apply for membership.
I have never seen much point to putting my Documents etc, on someone else’s computer.
Local storage no longer costs the earth.
For people who need to access info from a variety of places, or make info available to a number of users, then perhaps.
Yes this is important which we have discussed and will further I am sure, I have encouraged people to become members for more then 10 years now and helped them during the application process so this is very important but adding or improving perks and encouraging people to become members are not mutually exclusive and I believe they actually compliment each other nicely.
I absolutely agree with this. Rather than the perks, outreach will surely increase the membership applications. Though I am not an ubuntu member ( I just got to know about the ubuntu member thing some month before ). There are many contributors like us who doesn’t know much about the membership thing existing.
I am a GNOME Foundation member myself and I guessed that Ubuntu might also have something like this, but still there hasn’t been much outreach on this stuff for the contributors to know.