The LDraw Organization
In Feburary 2004, an LDraw community vote was held to ratify the LDraw.org Bylaws drafts. The vote was concluded on February 26, 2004, and the bylaws were ratified with a final vote of 52-4. This decisive move by members of the community ushered in a democratic framework for LDraw.org governance which did not exist prior.

To find out how to join the organization, click here.

Governing Documents

The LDraw Organization is governed under the following documents:

• The LDraw.org Bylaws - This document lays out the rules that govern the organization
• The LDraw.org Policies and Procedures - The bylaws call for certain actions to be accomplished by various members of the organization. This document lays out the method by which these actions will be accomplished

Goals of the Organization

As defined by the LDraw.org Bylaws, the purposes of the organization are to:

• Maintain and distribute the core LDraw properties, the file format and parts library, as free and extendable resources for everyone's benefit, in the spirit of James Jessiman
• Develop and maintain the LDraw format
• Foster communication among people interested in virtual LEGO building
• Promote the virtual LEGO hobby through online resources, events, media exposure, literature, etc
• Support developers of new and innovative LDraw software
• Represent the interests of the LDraw/virtual LEGO builders' community to The LEGO Company, LEGO fan organizations, clubs, educators, organizers of special events, the CAD industry, and the like
• Adapt and respond to other existing and potential future LEGO CAD formats, whether fan developed, existing CAD formats, or formats released by The LEGO Company.

Volunteer Structure
LDraw.org is a completely volunteer organization. It relies on the contributions of community members to function and advance. LDraw.org volunteers serve on the Steering Committee, web team, content team, parts library administration, and other subgroups that allow LDraw.org to function.

Government Structure
The organization is governed by the Steering Committee, a five-member board elected annually by the members of the organization.

The 2007/2008 Steering Committee is:

• Chris Dee
• Tim Gould
• Michael Heidemann
• Orion Pobursky
• Willy Tschager

The positions of Chair, Secretary and Treasurer have yet to be decided by the Steering Committee members

Committees
Focused committees work underneath the Steering Committee as caretakers of the organization's resources.

LDraw.org Standards Committee (LSC) - an elected technical standards board charged with discussing, ratifying, and publishing LDraw.org file format specifications. See the LSC Final Draft for more information. The LSC is defined as a Special Interest Group under the LDraw.org Bylaws.

Tech List - the technical mailing list on LDraw.org is a means for people to coordinate on issues involving the LDraw.org server (hosted by Peeron.com) and on technical implementation of new features on the site. Public archives of the ldraw-tech list are available here. Dan Boger is the server administrator for LDraw.org, if you have skills to offer, and would like to get involved with technical issues please contact Dan (please remove the spamblockers from the address) for more info.

Content List - the content mailing list on LDraw.org is a means for site content volunteers to coordinate efforts and to review each others' work. Orion Pobursky, Willy Tschager and Tim Gould head up the content team as Website Coordinators for LDraw.org. If you would like to get involved creating content for LDraw.org, contact Orion, Willy or Tim (please remove the spamblockers from the addresses) for more info.

Parts Administrators and Parts Reviewers - The Parts Library is under the charge of three parts administrators; Steve Bliss, Chris Dee and Ross Crawford. They organize and release parts updates, and rely on community members who serve as Parts Reviewers to check submitted parts for quality.

Joining the Organization
To become a member of the LDraw Organization, you must have a user account on the LDraw.org website. You can create an account here if you don't already have one.

Once you have created an account and have logged in to the site, you can fill out this form to become a member of the organization.

Once you join the organzation you will be sent a one time email to join the LDraw.org Member mailing list. This list was created to facilitate discussion of organizational topics. It is stongly recommended that you join this mailing list since vital organization information may be passed exclusively through this list. If you declined the invitation but wish to join, simply send an email to ldrawmembers-join(A@T)ldraw(.DOT)org.

The public archives of this list can be found at:
LDraw Member Mailing List archives