[Noisebridge-discuss] policies and procedures (more things you don't want to hear)

Mon Jan 3 19:10:50 UTC 2011

While the board inherently has no power, it does have the awesome role of
taking the blame in the event of any such seriousness.

But take a second to think about it. We encourage people to be independent,
and it follows that if you do hurt yourself, you figure out how to make it
better. I mean, there is definitely cause to reach for a higher power in
some rare cases: for example, during one of the 5MoF events last year,
someone had a serious medical issue and we had to bring the paramedics in to
save her life (she is ok now).

On the flipside, there is an inherent danger in citing "what ifs?" We tend
to be sort of edge exploring folks who are interested in exploring life, and
setting artificial labels and boundaries to attempt to control the learning
of others will only serve to discourage that exploration. Further, it will
drive people away faster than anything else.

Rather than saying "don't do this", I suggest asking "Why are things done
this way?." And then listen to people's responses, and consider why they
respond the way they do. We can get around the fear the 1990s instilled in
us by growing strong interpersonal ties and having a community that supports
people who fall by the wayside.

On Mon, Jan 3, 2011 at 6:30 AM, Patrick Keys <citizenkeys at gmail.com> wrote:

> If nothing else, they need to be called "policies and procedures" for
> legal reasons.
>
> The first time somebody gets a serious injury and decides to file a
> lawsuit, the first question that will be asked is "did noisebridge have
> any policy or procedure intended to prevent this?"
>
> Likewise, noisebridge legally needs a policy to prevent taking
> noisebridge property because noisebridge is a non-profit. taking
> noisebridge property is considered an illegal transfer of assets.
> legally, assets at a non-profit can only be transferred to another
> non-profit.  taking something from a non-profit for personal use can
> easily cause noisebridge to lose its tax-exempt status.
>
>
> Patrick
>
>
>
> On 1/2/2011 8:43 PM, Christie Dudley wrote:
> > I admit that the OP was tl;dr.
> >
> > The biggest problem with any "rule" at Noisebridge is that it's
> > ultimately unenforceable.
> >
> > Remember the time we tried to keep the dirty hippy out and he climbed
> > the fire escape to get in?
> > Think of all the sleeping people!
> >
> > Until we have a 24x7 hall monitor that we trust with real power and
> > authority, it just makes people who try to make rules look dumb to have
> > the rules flagrantly disregarded.  There are sometimes trolls amongst us
> > who will deliberately flagrantly disregard rules for the purpose of
> > making the rule-maker look stupid.
> >
> > While generally, it's a good idea to do or not do certain things, and
> > often it may even be necessary to write those certain things down, we've
> > kinda stuck with the "be excellent" as a catch-all for hopefully not
> > having to tell people that being hurtful to the space or others who use
> > it is bad.
> >
> > Christie
> > _______
> > "It is the time you have lost for your rose that makes your rose so
> > important."
> > Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
> >
> > "Too long a sacrifice can make a stone of the heart."
> > William Butler Yeats
> >
> >
> >
> > On Sun, Jan 2, 2011 at 9:19 AM, jim <jim at systemateka.com
> > <mailto:jim at systemateka.com>> wrote:
> >
> >
> >     these seem like reasonable tho'ts.
> >
> >
> >     On Sat, 2011-01-01 at 21:25 -0800, Patrick Keys wrote:
> >      > Since nobody wants to hear it from me, I'll try to keep this
> short:
> >      >
> >      > Going into this new year, Noisebridge should (needs!) do things
> >     like the
> >      > rest of the world and formally acknowledge some policies and
> >     procedures.
> >      >   You can read more about these types of things at:
> >      > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Policies_and_procedures
> >      >
> >      > There are both legal and practical requirements for policies and
> >      > procedures.  While it sounds cool to claim there's no policies,
> I'm
> >      > certain Noisebridge has at least some general policies. "Be
> >     excellent to
> >      > each other", wear shoes while in the space, don't use bittorrent
> >     on the
> >      > noisebridge network, clean up after yourself, don't sleep here
> >     overnight
> >      > are just a few policies that I know exist.
> >      >
> >      > As for procedures, Noisebridge has some of those as well.  Post
> >      > something to the rack list if you modify a server, put money into
> the
> >      > drink donations bin if you take a drink from the fridge, etc.  A
> few
> >      > more that should seriously be considered are providing a real
> >     receipt to
> >      > the treasurer/bookkeeper if you spend noisebridge money, a
> >     procedure to
> >      > reserve certain resources for a specific date/time (a classroom,
> >     use of
> >      > a projector, etc.), and accepting packages delivered to
> >     noisebridge and
> >      > notifying the recipient.
> >      >
> >      > All policies and procedures should be kept in a location that
> >     guests and
> >      > members alike can easily locate.  I recommend:
> >      > https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Policies_and_procedures
> >      >
> >      > Policies and procedures prevent petty disputes and allow people
> that
> >      > don't know each other very well and don't particularly like each
> >     other
> >      > very much to at least sorta get along with each other.
> >       Noisebridge has
> >      > too many members and visitors at this point to not have any
> general
> >      > policies and procedures.
> >      >
> >      > Hopefully this posting will not start a flame war.
> >      >
> >      >
> >      > Happy New Year!
> >      >
> >      >
> >      > Patrick
> >      > _______________________________________________
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> >      > Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
> >     <mailto:Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net>
> >      > https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
> >
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> >
> >
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