[Noisebridge-discuss] call for action - Mr. Salvador/Salvator Dalajlama is back

Meredith L. Patterson mlp at thesmartpolitenerd.com
Sat Oct 30 22:40:34 UTC 2010


On Sat, Oct 30, 2010 at 02:57:26PM -0700, Christie Dudley wrote:
> HOWEVER I'd be willing to bet that this guy is NOT getting in via any QR
> code, rotating or non-rotating keys, or any other sorts of technical
> trickery, but rather he's either coming in when people are leaving or he has
> his own physical key.  I'd put money on him waiting outside so he can enter
> as others are leaving.  That's a pretty common trick amongst the homeless.

Or just coming up to the door like any other human being. I let him in about a week and a half ago while I was downstairs having a smoke; I only know who he is because he introduced himself. Sounds like this won't work for him anymore, since people know that he's a problem and to look out for him, but ignorance is always a possibility.

I generally assume that someone coming to Noisebridge is interested in Noisebridge, and I think the fact that the space is open to member and non-member hackers alike, day and night, is really one of its strongest assets. I've had a hard time really getting involved with the Brussels hackerspace largely because my schedule is weird and HSB is only open for scheduled events; Noisebridge was a lot easier to become involved with because it isn't so constrained.

So it occurs to me that one possible way to address situations like this one -- with a neat side benefit of making Noisebridge even more welcoming to newcomer hackers -- is to be a little more outgoing. If you're letting someone in who you don't recognise, introduce yourself and ask "Have you been here before?" It's not an insult to oldbies, and for a newbie, it provides a chance to offer to show them around the space (or find someone who has the time to do so). Chat them up, find out what kind of stuff they're interested in, point them at groups that might be relevant to their interests. A short, friendly conversation ought to be plenty sufficient to determine whether someone's looking for a place to hack or a place to sponge.

tl,dr: if you can solve a problem through more suspicion or more friendliness, I prefer more friendliness

Cheers,
--mlp 



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