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I'd love to offer a guest-perspective of Noisebridge. A few weeks ago<br>
I flew down to San Francisco for Maker Faire. On my offtime I hung out<br>
at Noisebridge, which was quite a bit. I've been on the list/IRC for a<br>
while and have noticed the same "squabbling" you (the OP) notice, but<br>
in reality it's quite a welcoming place. I took the BART to<br>
Noisebridge straight off the plane and was greeted with many "hellos"<br>
and "are you new here? would you like a tour?" type things. It was a<br>
really welcoming environment and I found it easy to both sit down and<br>
chill out on my laptop, or have discussions with others, or build<br>
thing, etc etc. I ended up going out for crepes the first night I was<br>
there with some awesome people I had met.<br>
<br>
While Noisebridge sometimes strays from its "be excellent to one<br>
another" policy on the mailing list etc, it really shines through at<br>
the space itself. Don't form an opinion before you've dropped by.<br>
You're free to leave at any time of course, but it's important that<br>
you see how the space "really is" before you make a judgement about
it.<br>
<br>
On 6/10/10 9:26 PM, Christie Dudley wrote:<br>
<span style="white-space: pre;">> Hm. Interesting perspective.
As one who's been directly involved <br>
> in these squabbles (having offered the "CPA advice" and voiced <br>
> criticism over the Elixir event) I do wish to extend apologies
for <br>
> what seems to be a lot of squabbles.<br>
> <br>
> I think what appears to be an uncomfortable situation stems from
a <br>
> few sources. First, we're all pretty familiar with each other
and <br>
> tend to dispense with a lot of the niceties that you might
expect <br>
> from more formal communications. And yes, this means
occasionally <br>
> we squabble like siblings.<br>
> <br>
> Also, there are a lot of idealists amongst us. We Believe in <br>
> things, and don't always think about the them the way we're told<br>
> to. It's admirable to be amongst people who have dedicated their<br>
> lives to noble causes, but there are sometimes philosophical<br>
> discussions on things associated with non-mainstream convictions<br>
> that seem like criticism from left field.<br>
> <br>
> We recognize lately that the mailing list has become <br>
> less-than-pleasant and we're all thinking of ways we could
improve <br>
> that. That said, for the environment we all support where we <br>
> encourage greater freedoms, the cost is a lot of messiness in<br>
> terms of what is actually done. People will be people and
continue<br>
> to be emotional beings and sometimes allow things to get away
from<br>
> them. I like to think it's because we care about what and how<br>
> things work and emotions get tight when they worry about them.<br>
> <br>
> <br>
> So yes, if you'd like to spend some time hanging out in a space <br>
> where people are connected, yet open, and genuinely care about <br>
> what's going on in the space and world around them, please come<br>
> stop by Noisebridge. We turn no one away and welcome everyone<br>
> equally. If you want an environment a bit more... sanitized, then<br>
> maybe you'd prefer a place with more rules and less chaos. But
I,<br>
> like everyone else here, do strongly encourage you to pop in and<br>
> check it out before judging us too harshly.<br>
> <br>
> Sincerely, Christie<br>
> <br>
> <br>
> _______ "Great spirits have always found violent opposition from
<br>
> mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does
not <br>
> thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and <br>
> courageously uses his intelligence." -- Albert Einstein<br>
> <br>
> <br>
> On Thu, Jun 10, 2010 at 8:35 PM, Jack Perkins <br>
> <<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:jackaperkins@gmail.com">jackaperkins@gmail.com</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:jackaperkins@gmail.com"><mailto:jackaperkins@gmail.com></a>> wrote:<br>
> <br>
> Jim,<br>
> <br>
> I hear your concerns. I see the squabbles and argumentative <br>
> chit-chat on this list too, and I'm not the kind of person who <br>
> enjoys such things.<br>
> <br>
> However, I am also someone who has actually been to the space. I
<br>
> think if you drop by, say on a Monday night, you might find a
very<br>
> different noisebridge than the one you like to imagine.<br>
> <br>
> If you come by on a Monday and find me, I'll be happy to give
you a<br>
> tour and introduce you to some incredible people.<br>
> <br>
> -Jack<br>
> <br>
> <br>
> <br>
> On Thu, Jun 10, 2010 at 8:12 PM, -
<<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:noisebridge@splattercast.com">noisebridge@splattercast.com</a> <br>
> <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:noisebridge@splattercast.com"><mailto:noisebridge@splattercast.com></a>> wrote:<br>
> <br>
> Hi. You don't know me, and at the risk of making enemies of
people<br>
> i've never met, I wanted to say something about this recent<br>
> thread.<br>
> <br>
> I moved to SF in January and have been looking for a good place
to<br>
> hang out, learn more tech skills, and work on "stuff". I checked<br>
> out the Hacker Dojo down in Mountain View - and found it to be<br>
> really cool in its own disorganized ad hoc busy-busy-busy way. I<br>
> would be glad to pay $100/mo to be able to plop onto a couch with<br>
> my laptop and work there, go to the informal classes, meet
people.<br>
> I need to meet people. Good lord, do i need to meet people. But
its<br>
> way too far away. Parisoma and the other places like it are much<br>
> too expensive for my casual needs.<br>
> <br>
> Noisebridge sounded a lot like Hacker Dojo, and that was
exciting,<br>
> especially because other places "like" Hacker Dojo, here in SF,<br>
> seem to have fallen apart and gone away.<br>
> <br>
> And so i write this note only cuz I loves ya, even if i doesn't<br>
> knows ya:<br>
> <br>
> What i've seen on this list is tons of squabbles, people
correcting<br>
> one another in public and not in a happy way, someone accusing<br>
> someone else of "illegally" offering accounting advice while not<br>
> being a CPA (that's not illegal unless you charge for it and/or<br>
> advertise that you're a CPA) and now someone is in trouble for<br>
> trying to raise money for an organization that, in my limited<br>
> experience, is about to face a cash crunch. I have a sense of
who's<br>
> senior and who isn't, and frankly, senior persons, take it from<br>
> someone who has been "senior" in many roles - the most gracious
way<br>
> to be a senior person anywhere is to do it in a way that is not <br>
> noticeable by anyone.<br>
> <br>
> All this grumpiness makes me sad.<br>
> <br>
> I've been involved with a number of nonprofits (formal and <br>
> otherwise) over the years, from grunt to board member to
president,<br>
> with budgets from $-infinity to $millions. Some worked better
than<br>
> others. Some really were not very great at all.<br>
> <br>
> Anyway, I hope you guys can get back to having fun, because what
I<br>
> see (only through this list) is kind of off-putting and a little<br>
> bit intimidating. If I was afraid of saying the wrong thing
before,<br>
> and not sure I'd ever want to enter the space. But i hoped that<br>
> maybe an outsider's perspective might be useful. This is all I'm<br>
> going to say about it. My hunch is that someone who sees this
will<br>
> want to respond with a curt "goodbye" and ejection from the
mailing<br>
> list. I can't do anything about that. I just hope that there is<br>
> some hope for a chill gathering place in bicycle range of SF,
not <br>
> just for my own sake, but for all the people like me, and this
town<br>
> is full of such people...<br>
> <br>
> Best - jim<br>
> <br>
> <br>
> _______________________________________________
Noisebridge-discuss<br>
> mailing list <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:Noisebridge-discuss@lists.noisebridge.net">Noisebridge-discuss@lists.noisebridge.net</a> <br>
> <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:Noisebridge-discuss@lists.noisebridge.net"><mailto:Noisebridge-discuss@lists.noisebridge.net></a> <br>
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> <br>
> <br>
> <br>
> _______________________________________________
Noisebridge-discuss<br>
> mailing list <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:Noisebridge-discuss@lists.noisebridge.net">Noisebridge-discuss@lists.noisebridge.net</a> <br>
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> <br>
> <br>
> <br>
> <br>
> _______________________________________________
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> mailing list <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:Noisebridge-discuss@lists.noisebridge.net">Noisebridge-discuss@lists.noisebridge.net</a> <br>
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- -- <br>
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Public Key: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.gnewt.at/gnewt.key">http://www.gnewt.at/gnewt.key</a><br>
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