[Noisebridge-discuss] "Hack Politics" -- still going on?

[jim]

outstanding reply! 


On Mon, 2011-05-16 at 02:23 -0700, aestetix aestetix wrote:
> Just wanted to point out a few things about that wiki page:
> 
> 
> First, that is *not* a set of rules. That is a set of someone's
> personal boundaries and their interpretation of how things ought to
> be. Noisebridge has one rule: "be excellent to each other."
> 
> 
> Second, most of those guidelines are exceedingly negative in nature.
> They are worded as "don't do this" and "don't do that." I feel it's
> more in Noisebridge's nature to offer guidelines which are enabling
> and positive.
> 
> 
> Third, some of them seem rather fear-mongering. For example, anything
> which hints at "if you do this, we could lose our nonprofit status." I
> don't think someone should not do a cool project because of fear of
> what might happen. The only legal action I'm aware of that has ever
> transpired against Noisebridge was the Cease and Desist against 5MoF,
> and the EFF took care of it for us (thanks EFF!). 
> 
> 
> Finally, that action was regarding a project at Noisebridge, not
> Noisebridge itself. Noisebridge as an organization tends to take an
> extremely neutral stance on things, whereas community members may be
> working on independent projects within the space. If anything bad were
> to happen to someone working on a cool project, in almost every case
> the community would come to their aid. Please note that the guidelines
> saying that the organization shouldn't do anything politically also
> seem to encourage the idea the organization should do as little as
> possible, and have as little power as possible, thereby empowering the
> individual.
> 
> 
> On the other hand, the fact that I felt the need to explain this means
> perhaps the group needs to start up again.
> 
> 
> aestetix
> 
> On Sun, May 15, 2011 at 9:45 PM, Danny Colligan
> <dannycolligan at gmail.com> wrote:
>         Jim,
>         
>         Thanks for the response.  I'm not sure I want to take the lead
>         on
>         this; I want to tread carefully in light of the Noisebridge
>         guidelines:
>         
>         https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Guidelines
>         
>         # Do not do anything at Noisebridge or involving Noisebridge
>         which
>         could affect a political campaign, express or implied,
>         incumbent or
>         not. While not illegal, it is grounds for the IRS to revoke
>         our tax
>         exempt status, no exceptions.
>         # Noisebridge must not be involved in anything which could
>         affect
>         federal legislation, with certain limited exemptions. Talk to
>         the
>         officers of the corporation for guidance if you are unsure
>         whether
>         your proposed activities will be exempt or not.
>         
>         And some of what seems to be suggested on the Hack Politics
>         page seems
>         to come into conflict with these guidelines.
>         
>         (Plus, if someone is taking the lead on the event already, I
>         would
>         like to know.)
>         
>         Danny Colligan
>         
>         
>         On Sun, May 15, 2011 at 9:34 PM, jim <jim at well.com> wrote:
>         >
>         >
>         >    certainly seems promising. looks like somebody got
>         > excited; i wonder who?
>         >    try to resurrect it, blow life into it. show up and
>         > keep showing up; promote it a few days before the
>         > scheduled meeting time.
>         >    that's (sometimes) how things are done at noisebridge.
>         >
>         >
>         >
>         > On Sun, 2011-05-15 at 21:24 -0700, Danny Colligan wrote:
>         >> Hello Noisebridge mailing list,
>         >>
>         >> I was wondering if the "Hack Politics" meetup which is
>         listed as a
>         >> recurring event on the following two wiki pages is still
>         going on.
>         >>
>         >> https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Category:Events
>         >> https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Hack_Politics
>         >>
>         >> I came to the Noisebridge space today at 7pm (when the
>         pages say it
>         >> would be happening) but no one present seemed to know
>         anything about
>         >> it.
>         >>
>         >> Thanks,
>         >>
>         >> Danny Colligan
>         >> _______________________________________________
>         >> Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
>         >> Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
>         >>
>         https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
>         >>
>         >
>         >
>         >
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> 
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