Consistency

[Snake]

I’d do what another club I’m familiar with does. Voting membership cost money, but non-voting membership is free. That way you collect the email addresses of thousands and are able to contact the membership easily for newsletters and online opinion polls etc, but when it comes to elections and big decisions only the paid up members get a vote or can stand for committee.

The system works, and that Trust owns 21% of a Premier League club. It has a total e-membership of around 12,000 but a paid membership of 1,133 at £10 a year.

[Snake]

We have also discussed the stadium again. Daryl Eales has gone on record and said it is one of his main priorities in the first half of 2015. He is having to learn and speak with all the main key stakeholders and that is not just Firoz. OxVox were given a remit to help with the Stadium following last years AGM and it has helped formulate a discussion about Water Eaton. It's now up to the club to take it forward.

Please tell me you don't include Ian Hudspeth in that list.

What's your problem with Hudspeth, Snake? I'm sure last year you were saying how encouraging it was that the Council leader seemed to be on board re the proposed new stadium, and only last month you were telling us of your personal dealings with him and offering to put OxVox's views across when you next met him. Has he recently upset you or something?

Got asked that question earlier but declined to comment.

I can comment now. He's a dead man walking in political terms - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-ox ... e-31649274

[GodalmingYellow]

I'd go for free - make it as easy as possible to get people to sign up, and keep being signed up. Put a fee in it's an extra step and you'll have to remind them again after a year. Would have thought it would be more effort than not to take a nominal fee anyway.

And if you need a vote to change this then so be it.

Its more complicated than that Ty. OxVox is a Trust. Each member is a shareholder. That's how these bodies are structured. To be a shareholder, you have to pay for the share. Each share has a nominal value of £1, therefore every member has to pay £1, or they would not be a shareholder and therefore not a member.

You can't just vote the cost of a shareholding away as it is a fundamental part of the constitution of the trust. Without the shareholding, you do not have a supporters trust.

[GodalmingYellow]

I’d do what another club I’m familiar with does. Voting membership cost money, but non-voting membership is free. That way you collect the email addresses of thousands and are able to contact the membership easily for newsletters and online opinion polls etc, but when it comes to elections and big decisions only the paid up members get a vote or can stand for committee.

The system works, and that Trust owns 21% of a Premier League club. It has a total e-membership of around 12,000 but a paid membership of 1,133 at £10 a year.

The problem with that model is that the trust cannot represent the non voting members where the voting members and non-voting members views differ, even if the non voting members hold a huge majority view. In that case there is little point or benefit in being a non-voting member and the trust ends up having no more weight than without those non-voting members. That leads to a nightmare, having to comply with The Data Protection Act for possibly thousands of people who have no say in how the trust is run, for the "benefit" to the trust of holding their contact details. It's a pointless exercise and logistical leviathan.

[ty cobb]

I'd go for free - make it as easy as possible to get people to sign up, and keep being signed up. Put a fee in it's an extra step and you'll have to remind them again after a year. Would have thought it would be more effort than not to take a nominal fee anyway.

And if you need a vote to change this then so be it.

Its more complicated than that Ty. OxVox is a Trust. Each member is a shareholder. That's how these bodies are structured. To be a shareholder, you have to pay for the share. Each share has a nominal value of £1, therefore every member has to pay £1, or they would not be a shareholder and therefore not a member.

You can't just vote the cost of a shareholding away as it is a fundamental part of the constitution of the trust. Without the shareholding, you do not have a supporters trust.

If this is the case, why do people need to renew every year. Surely if you hold a share you don't lose that share if you don't continue to pay a yearly fee? Do people who have paid subs for 10 years have 10 shares? How many shares did lifetime members get?

By the above does this mean people can pay £1 as a one off payment and be a member for life?

Just wondering!

[GodalmingYellow]

I'd go for free - make it as easy as possible to get people to sign up, and keep being signed up. Put a fee in it's an extra step and you'll have to remind them again after a year. Would have thought it would be more effort than not to take a nominal fee anyway.

And if you need a vote to change this then so be it.

Its more complicated than that Ty. OxVox is a Trust. Each member is a shareholder. That's how these bodies are structured. To be a shareholder, you have to pay for the share. Each share has a nominal value of £1, therefore every member has to pay £1, or they would not be a shareholder and therefore not a member.

You can't just vote the cost of a shareholding away as it is a fundamental part of the constitution of the trust. Without the shareholding, you do not have a supporters trust.

If this is the case, why do people need to renew every year. Surely if you hold a share you don't lose that share if you don't continue to pay a yearly fee? Do people who have paid subs for 10 years have 10 shares? How many shares did lifetime members get?

By the above does this mean people can pay £1 as a one off payment and be a member for life?

Just wondering!

No, because the shares are non-redeemable and each member is limited to one share. If you keep subscribing, you keep your share. If you stop subscribing, you lose your share, and you don't get your money back.

[ty cobb]

Makes shares in Northern Rock look good value!

[Snake]

The point I’m trying (but obviously failing) to make here is that if you have a two tiered membership scheme it means you have a large database of contacts, should things go pear shape, and also to conduct wider electronic opinion polls on not so heavy stuff. Make that free to join for life so long as members provide an email address and you have yourself a counter to any spin the club puts out (as they DO have such a list).

There is no reason why OxVox could not have at least half the fanbase linked up in that way.