<div dir="ltr"><div>Thanks Madelynn, I appreciate your post.<br><br></div><div>When the associate member thing came around, I had to make a decision whether to try to become an associate member or capital-M member. I attended a Tuesday meeting, and Hillaire was up for captial-M membership.<br>
<br>I was very surprised and disappointed to see him, or really anyone else, rejected! It really turned me off to Noisebridge's entire membership structure, and made me want to do the absolute minimum to be "accepted" into a community which I've participated in for years. <br>
<br>It doesn't make sense to me for new members to be accepted by consensus. There is obviously a conflict-of-interest in the case where there are opposing viewpoints between an existing member and a new one, and that keeps Noisebridge's membership structure from being inclusive.<br>
</div><div><br> mike<br></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Dec 13, 2013 at 8:32 PM, Madelynn Martiniere <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:mmartiniere@gmail.com" target="_blank">mmartiniere@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">I've been putting thought
into this post for about a week now, and I think it's ready to share.
I've normally tried to keep out of the list, but I think this warrants
everyone hearing, and not in a meeting.<br>
<br>
Disclaimer 1: This is long. But I made it into a numbered list to help.<br>
Disclaimer 2: It's got a lot of strong opinion against consensus, hence
the title.<br>
Disclaimer 3: I've been around hackerspaces for a while, and seen when
it goes right, and also goes very wrong. My wiki page talks more about
why I care about this: <a href="https://noisebridge.net/wiki/User:Creativetaboo" target="_blank">https://noisebridge.net/wiki/User:Creativetaboo</a><br>
<br>
I've been a big dissenter about consensus from the beginning of my time
at Noisebridge (I've been around sporadically for several years). I
understand that at the beginning, it may have worked very well for
Noisebridge, but if it still did, we wouldn't be having as many of the
issues we're having (particularly pertaining to security and
membership). <br>
<br>
Noisebridge is at a critical point in any organization: it can continue
as it was, not accounting for the change in ethos and turnover of
members, pretending that it's the same space it was at the beginning; OR
it can accept that it's time for some change. I don't claim it will be
at all easy, or that it will solve everything, but it's where it starts.<br>
<br>
The idea of consensus was brought up in discussion at the advent of
every hackerspace I've been involved with, and was decided against, for
good reason:<br>
<br>
<span style="font-weight:bold">1. It embraces the states quo.</span><br>
<br>
Every organization, particularly community orbs like hackerspaces are
live organisms, constantly changing and evolving depending on the needs
of the space and it's members. This is why you see spaces that have
specific project focuses, discourages change, which is inevitable in any
organization. Groupthink like consensus stifles innovation and disdains
dissenting opinions (as can be seen by the constant trolling and name
calling on the list, and IRL).<br>
<br>
<span style="font-weight:bold">2. Gives malcontents and politicians
equal weight</span><br>
<br>
The reason people are concerned with the Associate Member versus
Capital-M Member dichotomy is their worried that some individuals can
derail the process. But if you've been to any of the recent meetings or
read the mailing list, it's already happening. Kevin's proposal (and
Al's before that) surrounding re-consensuing on Associate Members is a
perfect example: to get one issue passed through consensus we had to
tack on another, and other members who were not able to attend got
concerned. Furthermore, wee lost a very good person who was trying to
become a "Capital-M" member because of last week's meeting craziness,
after being blocked several weeks in a row for having different views
than another member (Tom). <br>
<br>
Something to note is that by giving all members equal power, doesn't
mean they will use it. Not everyone wants to participate in the
organization of the space, and they shouldn't have to. But every member
should be able to have weight on an issue if they so choose.<br>
<br>
<span style="font-weight:bold">3. It short circuits the most radical
ideas</span><br>
<br>
The most radical ideas often lead to the biggest breakthroughs in the
space. Small, incremental changes (those most likely to pass
consensus) aren't as quantifiable successes/not. Consensus keeps people
in a perpetual middle ground where majority approves
and mediocrity reigns.<br>
<br style="font-weight:bold">
<span style="font-weight:bold">
4. Leaves unresolved conflicts on the table indefinitely</span><br>
<br>
As soon as something is blocked, it leaves an issue unresolved. If
someone wants to block something indefinitely because they're not
comfortable with any of the resolutions, they have the ability to do so.
This leads to a division of power and opinion, which destroys
community. We need to give people an opportunity for heathy debate with a
common end goal: find a resolution and move on to the next topic. This
builds community and trust, and discourages drawn-out drama.<br>
<br>
<span style="font-weight:bold">5. Kills the hacker spirit </span><br>
<br>
Hackers and creatives are not about status-quo, we're bigger than that.
Try to get creative people to unanimously agree on something, and you'll
lose them. We've lost so many great people through this process
already, and will continue to do so, leaving the politicians and the
leechers (those who choose to use and abuse the space and not contribute
monetarily or otherwise). <br>
<br style="font-weight:bold">
<span style="font-weight:bold">
So, now what?</span><br>
<br>
I don't want to do a long post like this and not propose an alternative.
I've made it clear that I don't care for consensus, and I'm not the
only one. Very few similar organizations that are successful choose
consensus, and there's good reason most hackerspaces don't use it either
(NESIT is the only one I know of that uses consensus currently, anyone
else who has in the past has since moved to a voting system...and also
have membership dues (another post for another day). Rather, I want to
paint a not-scary example of how voting works in another hackerspace,
and successfully:<br>
<br style="font-weight:bold">
<span style="font-weight:bold">
The Freeside Voting Model (Beer and Camaraderie Included)</span><br>
<br>
Both Freeside and PS: One use majority rule. Yes, both have their own
issues, but neither to the extreme that Noisebridge has. Both value a
quick voting process, to focus more on projects and collaboration rather
than organizational politics and drama.<br>
<br>
Freeside was my first fores in starting a hackerspace, and they're still
going strong. Here's hour our Tuesday meetings went:<br>
<br>
<div style="margin-left:40px">
1. Intro new guests and those interested in becoming members. Asked two
questions to those interested in becoming members "What do you want to
get out of the space, and what can you contribute?"<br>
<br>
2. Discuss any concerns "I'm noticing a bunch of sleepers in the space,
how do we address this?" to begin crafting well thought out proposal on
the topic. Usually a few people passionate about an issue would then
meet separately to create a proposal (rather than just one person and
their opinion)<br>
<br>
3. Bring up well-thought out proposals for policies and procedures,
pointing people to a Google survey link where members would have a week
to vote<br>
<br>
4. Bring up results of any past vote<br>
<br>
5. Spend last 30-45 minutes of the meeting talking about cool projects,
classes, and events people are working on and looking for
co-collaborators and conspirators. <br>
<br>
6. Drink beer and enjoy mostly drama-free hacking and camaraderie. <br>
</div>
<br>
See? It works. While Freeside and PS: One both have board of directors
that are more engaged, it's not necessary for this to work. We need to
stop talking circles around how to make Noisebridge a safer, more
collaborative and inclusive place to hack (not crash, live, or steal
from) for all involved and start acting on it. Theory without action is
little more than useless.
<span></span><br>
<br>
If anyone wants to discuss further with me off the list, feel free to
email me or say hi when I'm at the space (most evenings). Happy to
provide reference materials (and all around good reads) on the subject
as well.<br>
<br>
Happy hacking!<span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><br>
<br>
<span></span>
<div>-- <br><span><span><div><small><font color="#000000"><big>Madelynn Martiniere<br>
Community Engineer. Entrepreneur. Geek.</big><big><br>
</big></font></small></div><div><font color="#000000"><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/madelynnmartiniere" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a> </font>| <a style="color:rgb(0,0,153)" href="http://www.twitter.com/creativetaboo" target="_blank">Twitter </a>|
<a href="mailto:madelynn@women2.com" target="_blank">Email</a></div><big>
</big><div><font color="#000000"><br></font></div></span> </span></div>
</font></span></div>
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