Layer 1 · Membership
2 Onboarding Protocol
- Layer: 1 — Membership System
- Status: Stub — not yet adopted
- RCOS reference: §3.2, §3.3, §3.8
Admission Criteria
RCOS definition3.2.3, 3.2.4
- 3.2.3 Admission criteria MUST be explicit and documented.
- 3.2.4 Informal, implicit, or retroactive membership MUST NOT be permitted.
Why write down who gets in?
Admission is the moment a stranger becomes bound by — and protected by — the community’s rules. If the criteria are informal, the decision collapses into whoever happens to like the applicant. Written criteria make admission a governance act, not a social favor, and make rejection defensible on grounds the community can point to.
<Admission criteria — to be defined.>
Onboarding Steps
RCOS definition3.2.1, 3.2.2
- 3.2.1 Entry into the community MUST follow an explicit onboarding process.
- 3.2.2 The onboarding process MUST include:
Why make the process a fixed sequence?
Consent to governance only means something if the member has actually seen the governance. A fixed sequence — review, consent, technical setup — ensures every Full Member crossed the same threshold in the same order, so nobody slips into full rights without having encountered the constraints that come with them.
<Onboarding steps — to be defined.>
Initial Membership State
RCOS definition3.1.2, 3.1.4
- 3.1.2 At minimum, the following membership states MUST exist:
- 3.1.4 No individual MAY hold multiple membership states simultaneously.
Why assign a state at the end of onboarding?
Between “applicant approved” and “fully integrated” there is a real gap — permissions, access, and expectations all change. Declaring the exact state a new member holds at each step removes ambiguity about what they can do right now, and prevents unintentional grants of rights before onboarding is complete.
<Initial membership state on approval and on completion — to be defined.>
Trial and Evaluation
RCOS definition3.3.1, 3.3.2, 3.3.3, 3.3.4
- 3.3.1 The community MUST define a probationary period for new members.
- 3.3.2 The probationary period MUST have:
- 3.3.3 During probation, rights MAY be limited but obligations MUST be explicit.
- 3.3.4 Failure to transition from probation MUST trigger a defined exit or extension process.
Why bound the trial period?
An unbounded trial is a second-class membership that never ends — all obligations, fewer rights. Fixing the duration, the criteria, and the failure path forces a decision point: either the new member transitions into full standing or a defined exit runs. It prevents the trial state from becoming a permanent holding pen.
<Trial period duration, evaluation criteria, transition and failure conditions — to be defined.>
Completion Record
RCOS definition3.8.2
- 3.8.2 Layer 1 artifacts MUST be:
Why keep the record permanent?
The completion record is the evidence that a member consented to a specific version of the rules on a specific date. Losing or editing it would make it impossible to answer, months or years later, “what exactly did they agree to?” — which is the only question that matters when a dispute arrives.
<How and where onboarding completion is recorded — to be defined.>
Ratification Record
- Adopted:
- Decision type: Strategic
- Version:
- Decision record: