Editing Hamakor (section)

== Two levels of membership ==
Most of the points in Hamakor's charter were either fairly straightforward, based on the reasons for forming it, or a result of legal requirements. One point that was largely debated, however, was whether anyone could become a full voting member. Hamakor aimed to represent the community. The concern raised was that the commercial companies would try to take control over the organization. As a result, two restrictions were imposed. The first was that membership was limited to individuals only. The second was the creation of a two-level membership structure. Hamakor has members, who have full voting rights, and friends. A friend is an individual who enjoys all the benefits (such as they are) of a member, except for one—friends cannot vote on charter changes or when electing the board.

To move from friend status to full member status, one has to demonstrate some activity promoting free/open source software. The definition of "some" has changed over time. During some periods, the board required writing non-trivial amounts of code, while at other times, the board deemed helping a friend install Linux on their computer sufficient.

In most cases, almost anyone who wished to become a full member could do so.