Hi There:
I got involved with NXT recently (transferred btc in, tried some account leasing, found the asset exchange) and then stumbled onto NEM...wow! Spent all day reading the forums...lot's of reading and interesting stresses for the community.
Anyway, it's not clear to me whether the only way onto a NEMStake is through purchase on the NXT AE or if I can contribute some way to the community in exchange for a stake.
Thanks,
km356
hi Km356,
firstly welcome to nem!

there are 2 ways at the moment to obtain nem.
buy it on the AE the way you did.
there will be an auction, after alpha/beta, not sure what the devs have decided yet, but there will be an auction.
aswell as this, there is a third way, development/ecosystem(promotion) fstakes, but theres a catch
The basis of NEM is reward following contribution (not for money invested).
"any stake holder that goes the extra mile will be compensated based on what they have done". as far as i know this would fall under "promotional stakes".
there are many people who work very hard on nem, and still to this day do not have a clue how much they could get, if anything. its just one of those things you do because you love the job, not because of the money. soon, if you follow nem, you will see that those working on nem are truly passionate about what they are doing. and it shows in there work.
any other questions, just ask!

kod
Thanks kod.
I would expect there is a bounty list or community signup somewhere; is the google form linked at the top of the NEM official thread the only signup mechanism?