Just to put this into a real world perspective. I an a member of the
Labour Party which gives me certain rights to vote. I've never once in
23 years been asked to provide evidence of who I am. In terms of
entryism the Labour Party has had a long history and the problem is
dealt with not with postcards or expensive credit checks or heaven
forbid notorised copies of documents but with a simple acceptence that
you abide by the constitution. If you don't you get kicked out and if
you disagree you take the party to court at your own expense. For a
post that has had so many contributions I haven't seen much
justification for any change in what you do already. The fear of reds
under the bed or freak cabals seems to more important that actually
signing up members and supporters and bogging them down with what if
requirements. Maybe an approach to another charity or the electoral
reform society and ask how they deal with ghost members might be more
enlightening, than throwing it open to a public mailing list.
On 19/11/2012, Katherine Bavage <katherine.bavage(a)wikimedia.org.uk> wrote:
Hi All,
At the board meeting on Saturday a valid point was made that currently the
verification process for membership applications doesn't really prove a
barrier to fraudulent or duplicate applications.
I'd like to look at ways of improving this, so as we aim to expand our
membership numbers we're also making sure fairness is enshrined in a
checking process that means people can only have one vote.
If people pay their membership fee with Paypal, this isn't so much of a
problem, as having a verified paypal account has already required this
person to link their identity to their postal address - but we want to be
as open as possible and so there will be people who give us 'a form and a
fiver'.
What checking processes do we think would be acceptable without being
invasive/onerous? At a basic level, we should be confirming that the
applicant is the named person at the address given.
Please flag up concerns, suggestions for services or resources we can use,
and so on. It may be that we can't completely eliminate the risk of
fraudulent applications, but we can make it more difficult and provide a
measure or reassurance that no individual has more power than any other by
being able to vote twice etc .
Thanks!
--
*Katherine Bavage *
*Fundraising Manager *
*Wikimedia UK*
+44 20 7065 0949
Wikimedia UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and
Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513. Registered
Office 4th Floor, Development House, 56-64 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4LT.
United Kingdom. Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of a global Wikimedia
movement. The Wikimedia projects are run by the Wikimedia Foundation (who
operate Wikipedia, amongst other projects).
*Wikimedia UK is an independent non-profit charity with no legal control
over Wikipedia nor responsibility for its contents.*