[Noisebridge-discuss] i object to lockers for noisebridge

[Jake]

I have stated before and i'll say again that I think that there are plenty 
of shelves which are not currently in use, and can be re-assigned by a 
team of non-contraversial members in order to clear up shelf spaces.

I think it has been decided in the past that Noisebridge is not a place 
for people to securely store their stuff, and that the most someone can 
expect is a shelf upon which they can deposit their items with their name 
upon the shelf.  To diverge from this would be fundamental enough that it 
would have to be discussed at a meeting, and in the interest of informed 
consent, announced as an agenda topic ahead of time so that people could 
participate.

Personally I feel that use of publicly available space at noisebridge for 
the private storage of peoples' property is not only a negative use of the 
space, but subtracts from the magic of communalism that has been achieved.

Regarding the decay of civility and reason in threads leading to this, I 
remind everyone that our most important rule is BE EXCELLENT TO EACH 
OTHER.  This is a rule.  If what you're saying is intended to fuck with 
someone, you are BREAKING the ONLY RULE.  It is up to each and every 
person to follow that rule.  Do not fuck with the only rule we have.

And as a reminder, I want to say explicitly, that I feel strongly enough 
about the lockers and have observed enough other people expressing similar 
feelings about them, that if someone wants to get lockers they should put 
that topic on the agenda of the next meeting (by posting so to the list) 
so that we can discuss it properly as a group.

Thank you for reading.  Also, +1 on what Snail says below.
-jake

Patrick Keys <citizenkeys at gmail.com> wrote:

> The lockers would be opaque.  I think everybody at Noisebridge values
> their right of anonymity.  Not worrying about other people seeing what's
> on your personal shelf or messing with it seems like a benefit.
>
>

Snail snailtsunami at gmail.com wrote:

What do people want to store at noisebridge that they really need to keep
hidden, which can't be stored on a harddrive? That's kind of worrisome.

Maybe an open, public space is not the best place to keep private, 
personal possessions. -- People need to keep their tools and whatknot for 
hacking in the space, but need they be SECRET? If you're going to use it 
in the space, where it will be seen by everyone, why does it have to be 
STORED in secrecy? -- And if it's not going to be used in the space, why 
is it there, taking up space in a locker?

Plus, this is about right to privacy, not anonymity -- a shelf is 
anonymous but not private, unless you put your name on your belongings (or 
someone dusts for fingerprints and has a copy of yours to match; DNA 
TESTS!!). If you don't believe me, just look at the fact that there are 
constantly tons of possessions swirling around the space whose owners are 
unknown, sometimes resulting to e-mails asking who has borrowed their 
stuff, even though everything is in plain view. This is very much not 
about valuing peoples anonymity and more about concern that people are 
doing secret things in an open space. You won't necessarily reveal 
someone's secret identity by stealing their wire cutters or PS2.

I don't think anyone has a guarantee of privacy at noisebridge -- if you 
are there, someone will drop by and look over your shoulder and ask what's 
going on, because that's why you are there (to have people talk to you and 
get an excuse to talk about your project). Lockers wouldn't really 
guarantee privacy unless everyone TRUSTED the person using the locker. We 
only have what privacy we do when people are considerate AND trust we are 
not doing something unsavory; but if people were concerned someone was 
storing something unsavory in a locker, it wouldn't be long before someone 
picked the lock or forced it open just to be safe.

Most importantly, to me, locked lockers would make me feel less safe 
because suddenly part of the open space is not open. I feel safe at 
noisebridge because EVERYTHING is open (save the bathrooms, for ~15 
minutes at a time), and anything bad that could happen to someone or 
anything unsafe which would be stored could be found by the community, as 
people eventually wade through the piles and piles of junk.

(To be honest, you're probably guaranteed a good amount of privacy if you 
leave something under a pile of junk and people are too APATHETIC to check 
-- but it still gives people the option of securing their own surroundings 
and safety.)


Plus, people tend to leave a lot of crap at the space and never throw it 
out, so periodically the locks would just have to be broken so the 
contents could be tossed as the lockers just give people a chance to 
exercise even more of their packrat tendencies.


You know, if anything, I would describe noisebridge as a hole for packrats
>_> maybe giving people the chance to store even MORE things at the space 
is the opposite of what the community needs. I feel like half of the space 
is already consumed by objects: the members' shelves area, the area behind 
those shelves (is that more members' shelves?), the entire wall with the 
windows facing Mission St., the full wall of bikes, the construction 
things in the kitchen, more shelves in the not-Turing classroom, stuff by 
the tea room storing things for the kitchen (because right beside the 
kitchen is storing construction things).... Now that I think about it, 
where the hell are these lockers going to stand among all this other 
stuff?

Of course, it's been a month or so since I've been in the space, so maybe 
some of this is cleared up or organized by now (hahaha yeah right, I will 
buy everyone BEER* if you can make me eat those words).

*Not guaranteed to be expensive or good-tasting beer. I'm on a budget.