[Noisebridge-discuss] Charging for classes at Noisebridge

[jim]

   the idea of charging for classes is okay with 
me if the money goes to noisebridge and, as leif 
describes, is asked in the name of supporting 
the class, not in the name of one person getting 
an education or fraction thereof. 

:wq 



On Fri, 2010-07-16 at 19:59 -0700, Leif Ryge wrote:
> On 07/16/2010 04:47 PM, Josh Myer wrote:
> > That said, one of my goals in running for-pay classes is to ensure that
> > (most of) the people attending are invested in the material.
> 
> I expect that free classes funded via a threshold pledge will often end 
> up with a majority of the students being the same people who pledged, in 
> which case you'd still have that commitment of investment.
> 
> Conversely, a difference to consider between a free class where most 
> students have actually donated in advance versus a class where students 
> are paying for their attendance is what happens with dropouts' money -- 
> you mentioned being willing to refund people who change their mind 
> partway through your class; if the payments were explicitly *not* for 
> the payer's own education, but instead for everyone's, then it would be 
> clear that refunds are not required or appropriate.
> 
> (I say conversely because I think viewing it from this perspective might 
> slightly reduce the connotation of commitment from their investment, but 
> hopefully not too much. On the otherother hand, if there are refunds 
> offered, one could actually perceive there to be an incentive for 
> struggling students to drop out...)
> 
> > Another big motivation for me is simplifying governance.  Not adding a rule
> > forbidding for-pay classes fits in with our current governance model.
> 
> I think that having classes and events be free is a very important part 
> of Noisebridge. I feel strongly that if Noisebridge becomes a place 
> where there are regularly classes being charged for, it will be much 
> less awesome, it will reduce the number of free classes, and ultimately 
> it will make Noisebridge something that I am significantly less proud to 
> be a part of. I am asking you to please not charge for classes.
> 
> I certainly wouldn't support any sort of rule about this, because, as 
> with most of the proposed rules which we've discussed, in my view the 
> one rule we have already covers this! My definition of Noisebridge 
> excellence precludes holding events which exclude people unnecessarily, 
> and I think even a "suggested donation" does that to a degree if it is 
> strongly suggested. (As a reminder, violators of the anyone's 
> interpretation of our one rule are placing themselves at risk of being 
> dressed down and/or written up.)
> 
> I think it would be fantastic if people could get paid to lead free 
> classes at Noisebridge. I think the threshold pledge model can 
> accomplish this, and could also even cover material costs sometimes. 
> Another idea is that perhaps Noisebridge official funds could be used to 
> match these threshold pledges up to some certain amount. (Spending 
> official funds requires consensus; any immediate objections? I'll make a 
> proposal with some specifics to discuss at next week's meeting.)
> 
> >   Roughly, I understand it as "There's one rule, be excellent. There are also
> > guidelines: when you see something that's clearly unexcellent, talk to the
> > person about it; if it continues to be a problem, bring it up with others/on
> > Tuesday."  The last time I was involved in a rules meeting, I was on the
> > side of "We need rules."  Sure, we wanted rules to deal with something that
> > hadn't happened yet, but it was going to.  In the end, we continued on with
> > "Be excellent, speak up," and it's worked astonishingly well**.  I used to
> > think this was a recipe for unmitigated irresponsible disaster, but I've
> > watched how things have unfolded in the last year, and I'm convinced:
> > noisebridgers are a reasonable lot of people.  There have been rough
> > patches, but I don't see how having rules would have helped much at all,
> > certainly not as much as they could have made things worse.
> > --
> > /jbm
> 
> QFT! :)
> 
> ~leif
> _______________________________________________
> Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
> Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
> https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
>