THE RIVER Planning Report 20April95

The River

Conferencing System

The River is a service mark of The River Cooperative Corporation

Planning Committee Report

Thanks for your interest in our soon-to-be computer conferencing system, The River, aka river.org.

To obtain an email copy of this report, send empty email to: report@river.org.

Browse our Frequently Asked Questions document on the web (or get a copy emailed to you via faq@river.org).

To become a member of The River, send email to: pledges@river.org.

Questions, comments or corrections to support08@river.org.

This is the planning committee's April 20, 1995 report on The River.

Preface:

The Octopod [explanatory note: the eight-member planning group, five of whom were elected by participants in the private conference, three appointed by those elected) recommends that The River be built in stages. This document describes the first phase, which we anticipate will take three to six months and will constitute, in effect, a shakedown cruise, or alpha phase.

The business will be structured as a co-op. Anyone who wants to become a member in advance of the formal opening will have access to the system during this alpha phase period, free of monthly usage charges.

We propose launching The River as a Pico/Yapp-like conferencing environment. It will run, at least initially, on leased hardware with basic maintenance and support included in the lease contract.

Section 1 -- Mission

The River is an open, self-governing, uncensored, economically sustainable, computer conferencing system. The central missions of the River are to maintain a medium for conversations among a group of diverse people, and to foster virtual communities which control their own destiny. The River Community is owned and governed by the people who create the high-quality conversations which are the source of the River's value. The River is dedicated to experimentation, and welcomes newcomers.

Section 2 -- Organization and Governance

The River is a member-owned, member-governed co-op. Any River account holder can become a member by paying the annual membership fee of $100.

Recommendation 2.1 -- Members shall have three powers:
1. To adopt bylaws and amendments;
2. To elect the five-member Board of Directors
3. Upon petition of two-thirds of the members, to call a special meeting to conduct any legal business, including, but not limited to, adoption of amendments to the bylaws, recall and reelection of directors, approval of mergers, conversions, and dissolution of the co-op.

Recommendation 2.2 -- Directors shall be elected to a two-year term. In the first regular election, the top three vote-getters shall be elected to two- year terms; the next two vote-getters shall be elected to one-year terms.

Recommendation 2.3 -- Cumulative voting is allowed. Each member has as many votes as the number of open seats, and can allot those votes among one or more candidates. For example, if there are 3 seats up for election, a member may cast all three votes for the same person, two for one and one for another person, or each vote for a different person.

Section 3 -- Financing

A substantial amount of permanent investment capital is essential for The River's ability to sustain itself.

The River Community needs $30,000 cash, according to our estimates, to open its doors. This sum has already been pledged.

Recommendation 3.1 -- Working capital will be generated from membership fees and usage charges.

Recommendation 3.2 -- Since $30,000 in pledges for membership fees has been committed, the implementation committee is authorized to go forward as soon as elected.

Recommendation 3.3 -- Initially, membership fees will be paid in one lump sum of $100. After the alpha phase, the Board of Directors may decide to make membership fees payable over the course of a year. Members can pay more than one year's membership fee in advance if they wish to do so.

Recommendation 3.4 -- Dividends, if any, or any liquidation or conversion of the co-op will be distributed pro rata based on the cumulated amounts of membership fees paid by each member.

Recommendation 3.5 -- Membership fees are non-refundable.

Recommendation 3.6 -- Usage fees will be set initially at $20/month.

Section 4 -- Operations

The River will have both short-term and long-term software solutions. We believe emphasis should be placed on flexibility and choice.

Recommendation 4.1 -- Initially The River will provide, in this priority: conferencing, email, and shell access.

Recommendation 4.2 -- The River should be co-housed with an existing concern which offers net access during its startup phase. The River would, in effect, be administered remotely and would pay minimal expenses for network bandwidth and equipment storage.

Recommendation 4.3 -- To facilitate startup, The River will be initially available via the network. There will be no direct dialin access.

Recommendation 4.4 -- We strongly urge that options for low-cost direct dialin should be investigated during the startup phase

Recommendation 4.5 -- The River should begin using the familiar Pico/Yapp conferencing software, on a Unix system.

Section 5 -- What's Next

With the presentation of this report, the charter of the committee has been completed and the committee, as such, will disband.

Recommendation 5.1 -- The membership should vote for an implementation committee to carry out this plan.

Recommendation 5.2 -- The membership should grant the implementation committee authority to act without advance approval to implement the recommendations in the final report. Much slack should be granted, especially for decisions that should be regarded as preliminary.

Recommendation 5.3 -- In order to preserve some continuity between the thinking of the Octopod and the implementation committee, we suggest that at least one member of the former serve on the latter. Of the Octopod, Shannon and Earl are available and willing to work on the implementation team. All Octopod members are willing to act in a consulting capacity.

Recommendation 5.4 -- The implementation team shall create the corporation, and shall serve as the initial Board of Directors of that corporation through the alpha phase period and for at least the two months following imposition of usage fees.

Recommendation 5.5 -- Once usage fees have been in effect for that two months, (a) as soon as there are 300 members, or (b) two more months have elapsed, whichever occurs first, an election shall be held for a regular board.

Recommendation 5.6 -- Timetable for action is:

4/10-4/30 -- pledges of capital will continue to be solicited

4/17-4/22 -- solicit nominees for the implementation team

4/23-4/27 -- vote for members of implementation team

4/28 -- announce results and turn control over to implementation team

4/28 -- move further planning and discussion over to river.org