I lit up at the mention of cooperative charters. Not because I know what they are, but because I have next to no idea. I have the time and desire to get involved with something radical and experimental in the dimension of online community. I want to do something weird, in the Austin, Texas sense of the word. But that is just me. I would get involved for reasons of personal growth. I understand that this may be a livelihood-of-the-organization conversation, in which case the issue is that sweat equity isn't unlimited, not what is it that I think is neat. But if this post is a survey of how users would like to see the site grow, count me in the crowd of those who want a community ownership driven site.
I like you and your mindset. "I don't know a lot about this, thus I must learn about this! How do I learn about it? By doing it! But what if its radical and weird? All the better! I've got nothing but time and motivation!" I agree with everything you said. I want to get involved with something revolutionary and forward thinking... it just feels so hard with the current state of things in the world. We have this amazing tool in the internet, yet we haven't realized its full potential yet. And every time we seem to be getting close to realizing that potential, financial problems or greed seems to drag us all back to reality. Having a completely untainted community sounds amazing; and community ownership seems like the way to do it. Count me in as well!
I also think I want this but I don't know what it is. Count me in unless it's a terrible idea!
edit: upon research my only concern about this plan is to have a strategy for getting out of the coop if necessary.