So this has to be a membership site right?
Well I think so. A space to build conversation and trust serving fellow users in a way that might not be possible on a public site. This leaves the question of who membership is open to. I guess that has to be proven.
Is it by invitation only?
Payment.
Initially it may be free – as we build to a place of value. Fees would be charged for membership – to keep the service running and also reflecting the value that we would bring.
Initally people may have no idea why this might be worth paying for so the aim would be to demonstrate. Add value. Something to be proven.
Also how open it is, is something which would be understood as this thing evolves.
Members would bring value also – in their interactions, support, reviews and overall reliability as a contributor and support of others. Just reviewing a service received in an honest and fair way would add a lot of value. Especially if that service was found on this directory.
There are other ways that this service would be able to support members – transaction management, webinars, events, knowledge base for example. Something to be developed I feel.
Membership Types and Levels
While different membership levels will offer different levels of service and support, there is also the case of member types. Suppliers may advertise, list and use the site for referrals. They will need a type of membership to interact with the site – listings, reviews, customers, bookings etc. Are they Members also? Certainly both are customers.
Conflicts of Interest
It is inevitable that there might arise a conflict of interest between members/customers. While one of them may be paying us more than an other for various services, the overall guiding principle will have to be fairness and transparency. This, trust rather a lucrative relationship is what would have to come first.
In the long run, this has to be a place where contributors can be Trusted!
So rather than nobbling reviews or leaning on reviewers, we would be guided by right of reply, honest conversation, fairness, balance, evidence and mutual respect.
Such values are easy to express but not so easy to execute. Don’t mean we can’t try though. Let these be guiding aims –
So Membership development itself will guide us on how best to structure these levels and how to define the agreements.
Exciting and Challenging am sure.
Survey
Please check out the survey to let know where you need support or can offer it. The link will take you to memaps.net and a Lime Survey. The link is https://memaps.net/survey