[Noisebridge-discuss] A potential space - the No Starch Press building (and how we can handle voting)

[Marc Powell]

sorry for not sending this email earlier, but i sat on it for a bit while
out of the country--

On Sat, 22 Dec 2007, ryan wrote:

> Regarding internet connectivity at the space, we might want to talk
> with Monkeybrains since they are also very close to the NSP space and
> at least used to run internet to customer locations like that. I've
> been in pretty close contact with them over the past year, I'll ask
> about that.

i contract for monkeybrains, we don't offer direct internet like that
anymore, but rudy says he could get us deal on a T1 which would still be
way more expensive than phat cable or DSL (which he recommends we do). if
we want to go the flaky network route, we could possibly try and do some
line of sight to monkeybrains' office at 6th/folsom. i think cable/dsl is
the best option for a reliable, cheap network connection.

> Does this sound alright to everyone? I wouldn't mind taking the lead
> on making sure things progress on the list until the interim process
> is over. I've got a lot of experience in doing that, having actively
> participated in groups that organize on mailing lists for well over a
> decade.

I am excited that Ryan is involved with this project.

I would strongly protest if he was involved as a bottom-liner or lead for
any potentially restrictive logistical concern (name on a lease, name on
the internet connection, name on bills, sysadmin).

I and other friends at the san francisco bay area IMC have had issues with
him in the past with locking out people from their own machines, sniffing
peoples' irc while having operator access to the irc server, refusing to
relinquish control over an internet domain after a mediated arbitration
process, and clever process-control-over-email-list-and-irc jockeying.

This resulted in the indybay.org / sf.indymedia.org schism where ryan and
the tech collective for SF IMC locked out many non-tech reporters.
Mediation was requested, and ryan's team still did not relinquish DNS
control and machine access, in non-compliance with the mediators' split
agreement. Four years later, and sf.indymedia.org still lays fallow while
indybay.org is a thriving collective.

http://archives.lists.indymedia.org/new-imc/2004-January/004805.html

If you'd like more URLs and explanations, I can provide.

This is by way of explanation of my concerns- we should trust the people
who are in control of our collective resources! Ryan should not be a
bottom-liner for any resource that could potentially schism/screw over
noisebridge.

> Another question I'd like to float to the community of people we have
> so far is: does anyone happen to know a lucky dot-commer who was in
> the right place at the right time who would donate start-up capital?
> Things would be a hell of a lot easier if we started with $10k or
> something in a bank account.

What would we do with this $10k? I think there was some positive
discussion at the last meeting about concentrating on getting a
space/collective going first, then concentrating on the money if required.

best,
marc