http://blogs.ubuntu-nl.org/dennis/2009/05/13/how-to-become-an-ubuntu-member-the-easy-way/

How to become an Ubuntu member, the easy way
Posted on May 13, 2009 ¬ 00:03h. Dennis Kaarsemaker

I joined the Ubuntu community in 2004, shortly before the first version was released. Was co-founder of the dutch locoteam in that same year and became member in 2005. Since then I’ve been on many meetings of the community council, as a spectator and later as their secretary. I am currently part of the EMEA membership board, which is responsible for approving Ubuntu members in that region.

What I want to say is: I know what the hell I am talking about here, and if you want to become Ubuntu member, it’s good to read this page and listen to what I am saying :) Too many people show up to our meetings ill-prepared and that costs a lot of our valuable volunteer time. Yes, surprise, the membership boards are volunteers, like most of the Ubuntu community. They have become Ubuntu members by following this same procedure.

With that message out of the way, here’s the highway to Ubuntu membership. Just cruise along, try not to speed and watch out for any weird community managers who fancy waterfowl.

Update 2009-05-13: Emphasize the importance of working within a team
Step zero: learn what Ubuntu means

Ubuntu is not just a buch of software on a cd and some servers. The most important bit about the Ubuntu project is its unique and huge community. One of the many unique things (well, not unique anymore as more and more free software projects are adopting this) about the Ubuntu community is its code of conduct. Whenever you participate in the Ubuntu community, you are expected to follow this code which basically says: be respectful to each other. Read the code, sign it with GPG (manual) and become an ubuntero. In all the steps that follow below, you should always keep this all-important step in mind. Ubuntu is a community where everyone is welcome and where we all collaborate to make Ubuntu and its community better.
Step one: contribute to Ubuntu and its community

This is the easy bit. It will take more time than any of the other steps, but the beuaty is: you can do whatever you want! There are a lot of ways you can contribute to Ubuntu. Everybody can guess that it is possible to write code to help out the project, but that’s just one of the many ways. Here are some good ones, that I think should be done by more people:

    * Translate. Unless your native language is english, there will always be some things in Ubuntu that are not translated. If your english is good and you are not afraid of technical terms, translate some untranslated software and send your translations to its owner and/or the Ubuntu project. You will help many people near you and far away who do not speak english very well and want to use Ubuntu in their own language.
    * Support. Without users there will be no Ubuntu. Even though I like to think Ubuntu is the easiest-to-use operating system, people still need help with it. Hell, even if it really is the easiest to use operating system people will need help. Computers are just annoying things that never do exactly what you want. So help people and make them happy Ubuntu users. There are forums, mailinglists, irc channels, social network groups and most important: local events all over the world where new Ubuntu users meet experienced once and information and experience is shared.
    * Advocacy. Let people know Ubuntu exists. Explain its benefits, but don’t forget to tell about its downsides. `Sell’ Ubuntu as an alternative to proprietary software, explain about the benefits of open source and free software. Awareness is half the battle, when you can convince someone to give Ubuntu an honest try you’re almost there. Tell them about the warm and welcoming community and make that community grow!

Of course there are a lot of other ways (really, read that page too) to contribute to Ubuntu. As I said: do whatever you want to do and can do to make the Ubuntu community a happier place. But don’t go off and do things on your own, make sure you work with the rest of the community. The Ubuntu community is not just a bunch of people each doing their own thing, there are many teams focusing on all kinds of things. When you figure out what you want to do, find the team you can join and work with them. If there is no team yet for what you want (for instance a new LoCo team), make sure you work with related teams to get this set up. Other members are more than willing to get you started and make you feel right at home in our community.

So I lied a bit, you cannot really do whatever you want. But you didn’t really expect that either, did you? As long as you work with the community and for the community, you still have an awful lot of freedom though. For me, it is pretty close to doing exactly what I want and for most people it is not far away from that either.
Step two: documentation

Ok, this is the important one, well it is for me and my colleagues of the membership boards. You will probably not like this step but this is just something you must go through. It’s not as fun as a toothache, but less painful than a root canal. This is the bit that many people get wrong, so pay close attention and you’ll get it right. This makes the difference between being accepted in a 5-minute meeting and being rejected twice even though you do an awesome job.

By the way, did I say this is the important part? Good!

Whatever you do, document it! This is especially true for offline things that do not log themselves (such as forum posts, wiki edits and packaging work), but no less important for people who exclusively do things like editing those wiki pages. When you apply for Ubuntu membership, there are between four and eight people who will decide whether your actions so far have been a sustained and significant contribution to the Ubuntu community. The easier you make their job, the quicker you get accepted.

You will need to tell us about yourself. You do this by creating a page for yourself on the Ubuntu wiki that tells us who you are and what you do. Not just Ubuntu, we want to know our members so besidies saying what brought you to this community and why you like it, tell us about yourself as well.

Then tell us what you did so far. Give links to forum profiles, forum posts that you did, wikipages you wrote, launchpad information about yourself. When you do lots of promotional activities, make photos and publish them somewhere. When you do artwork or documentation, summarize what you did and link to things you are proud of. When you do packaging, tell us about your experience. Make sure we know what you did. Convince us that it has been a sustained and significant contribution.

And tell us about your plans. You have obviously tried to make a commitment and you want to be recognized for this. But your involvement with Ubuntu does not stop here! Why do you want to become Ubuntu member and what are you going to do in the future?

Okay, so that sucks. You will need to write that page, just deal with it. I hated it myself, and my wikipage definitely wasn’t the best. Still, I got accepted on my first try, because I did one thing right: there were people cheering for me! This is as important as the writing, if not more important. You can write down anything you want in your wikipage, but we must be sure it is true.

So get people to cheer for you and make them leave testimonials!

This makes all the difference in a meeting! Make people write their support for you on your wikipage and make them support you during meetings. When you do good work, you will have no problems in getting testimonials. But make sure you also get them from recognized Ubuntu members. This might make Ubuntu sound like a friends-only club, but that is definitely not true! Everyone is welcome, but it sure helps us decide a lot quicker if people we know and whose opinion we value highly tell us that they like what you are doing and should become an Ubuntu member.
Step 3: come to a meeting

With the easy (doing) and difficult (writing) bits out of the way, it is time to meet with one of the governance bodies that decide on Ubuntu membership. If you focus mostly on packaging, you should become a MOTU, and with that an Ubuntu member. For all other applicants (which is most of you), there are three regional membership boards: North & South America, Europe, Middle East and Africa and Asia and Oceania. These boards meet regularly on IRC, and in these meetings you can become Ubuntu member.

Put yourself on the agenda of a meeting for which you have time, you do not necessarily have to go to the board in your region if the schedule of another board fits your schedule better. Make sure you show up at the meeting (surprisingly enough, some get this bit wrong). Prepare a short summary of your wikipage (about 3 lines). You will be asked to introduce yourself, paste these three lines into the channel as introduction.

And then you wait, and wait… The board members will be reading your wikipage, launchpad profile and all the things you link to. We will ask you some questions about your work, make sure you answer them as correct as possible. This is not an exam, but we are trying to get to know you. This is also the point where we make people tell us about you. You did remember to bring some supporters, didn’t you? The more the better, especially people we know.

And then we vote. Each board member will say +1, 0 or -1 (or a creative variant if the situation requires it). There is hardly ever a non-unanymous vote, we all want the same from people. If you’ve prepared well, you will see all +1’s. If you’re ill-prepared, it’ll be -1’s. But the latter should not happen if you followed my advise.
Conclusion

It is really not that difficult to become Ubuntu member, and it of course should not be. The biggest hurdle in recent months is that the membership boards sometimes forget about meetings :) So if you contribute to the Ubuntu community and want to be recognized as Ubuntu member, come to the next meeting and see how it works. Then maybe apply for membership a few meetings after that. Good luck!