Merge pull request #484 from ddemaio/master

openlounge hackweek

Author: ddemaio

_posts/2025/2025-11-26-hw-project-takes-aim-improving-membership.md

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+---
+author: Douglas DeMaio 
+date: 2025-11-26 08:00:00+01:00
+layout: post
+image: /wp-content/uploads/2025/10/hack.png
+license: CC-BY-SA-3.0
+title: Hack Week Project Takes Aim at Improving Membership Management
+categories:
+- Announcements
+- openSUSE
+- Community
+- Hack Week
+- Membership
+tags:
+- openSUSE
+- Contribution
+- Community
+- Developers
+- Project
+- Linux 
+- Hack Week
+- Membership
+- Lounge
+
+---
+
+A [Hack Week 25](https://hackweek.opensuse.org/) project is looking to simplify how the openSUSE community manages memberships through a new platform called openSUSE Lounge.
+
+The [openSUSE Lounge project](https://hackweek.opensuse.org/25/projects/opensuse-lounge) proposes a centralized system for maintaining member records, tracking membership status and supporting election-related tasks, all while reducing the manual workload placed on membership and election officials.
+
+The platform is designed to give [Member Officials](https://en.opensuse.org/openSUSE:Membership_officials) a clearer, more efficient way to keep the member database accurate. [Election officials](https://en.opensuse.org/openSUSE:Board_election) could use the tool to export up-to-date voter lists, detect issues such as bounced credential emails and flag outdated or inactive accounts earlier in the process.
+
+Longer-term plans may include allowing contributors to apply for membership directly through the interface, which could streamline onboarding and increase transparency for those seeking membership.
+
+The prototype currently uses a [Laravel](https://github.com/laravel/laravel) backend paired with [Tailwind CSS](https://github.com/tailwindlabs/tailwindcss) and [Alpine.js](https://github.com/alpinejs/alpine) for a lightweight interface. [MariaDB](https://mariadb.org/) powers the underlying data layer. A preview of the user interface was shared with the project through a [pull request](https://github.com/ishwon/opensuse-lounge/pull/23). More functionality is planned as Hack Week continues.
+
+![openlounge](/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/openlounge.png)
+
+The project could provide a step toward modernizing membership management for the project and improve how the community maintains this data.
+
+Hack Week, which began in 2007, has become a cornerstone of the project’s open-source culture. Hack Week has produced tools that are now integral to the openSUSE ecosystem, such as [openQA](https://open.qa/), [Weblate](https://weblate.org/) and [Aeon Desktop](https://aeondesktop.github.io/). Hack Week has also seeded projects that later grew into widely used products; the origins of [ownCloud](https://owncloud.com/) and its fork [Nextcloud](https://nextcloud.com/) derive from a Hack Week project started more than a decade ago.
+
+For more information, visit [hackweek.opensuse.org](https://hackweek.opensuse.org/).
+
+<meta name="openSUSE, Open Source, development, Linux, secure operating systems, Membership" content="HTML,CSS,XML,JavaScript">