[Noisebridge-discuss] missing IBM model M keyboard from my shelf

[Corey McGuire]

Your idealism is amusing, but expecting a large group of people to suddenly
change their habits for someone elses ideals is as, if not more, farfetched
than all the other solutions, especially when you consider the constituent
peoples who are they, themselves, the thieves.

This idealism is why NoiseBridge can't have nice things...like doctor
Footes...

What I hear is a bunch of good ideas getting shot down by idealists who have
a greater respect for human nature than it deserves.

I say let the most do-a-cratic among us wow us with their solutions and that
which is the most cost effective wins.
On Sep 18, 2011 2:57 PM, "Rubin Abdi" <rubin at starset.net> wrote:
> $0.02
>
> At the old space, 83c, we had a front door. This door was always locked
> on the outside. If someone rang the doorbell it was up to someone inside
> to get up and let them in. In doing so they would meet the person. It
> was great, until people didn't want to get up every 5 minutes to let
> people in. Some of us started handing out keys to those who seemed smart
> and would come by often. Some of us gave out keys to people we would
> meet traveling and seemed smart. This system worked well, until we moved.
>
> In another life I worked at a video game store. Anyone who's done retail
> knows the rule about greeting people. You try to say hi to every single
> person who comes in through the front door before they can have a chance
> to look at any merchandise or get to the front counter, create dialog
> with them. All this not to help them with finding whatever crap it was
> that they want, but to make them understand that people working in the
> shop know they're present. It's the first step in loss prevention, if
> you know someone's already spotted you coming through the front door,
> the chances of you stealing something drastically goes down. Think about
> it the next couple of times you walk into a retail store, even the big
> ones will tend to have someone right at the door to say hi to you.
>
> We're now at a new space. None of our doors really have locks. We've got
> this crazy system that buzzes people in without ever really having
> someone greet them, might as well just leave the gate open 24/7. We are
> a public space. You walk in, make no social connection to anyone there,
> the things in the space have no ties to anyone you've met, they're up
> for the picking, you take what you want, you leave.
>
> Those of us here who've stolen goods (in a past life) know this, this is
> how we think. It's harder to steal from an individual than it is to
> steal from a faceless entity.
>
> In my opinion, lockers acknowledge that some people feel there's a theft
> problem at Noisebridge, and they have to keep their own personal crown
> jewels in a safe, much in the same way the good liquor and cigarets are
> locked inside a glass case. They know theft is going to happen, they
> just don't want it to happen to those things. Stuff will still get stolen.
>
> I feel the right solution to this is to make thieves understand what the
> space is, what people are doing in the space, and that if they are here
> for theft, they are stealing from good people, people active in the
> space. That they're aren't simply walking into a nameless department
> store, they're walking into a community space filled with people similar
> to them.
>
> My suggestion for a long while has been to get rid of the automatic buzz
> in system, and to put in place locks to the door at the top of the
> stairs and to door off the elevator room. Part of being in the space is
> helping it out right? If people want to come in you have to let them in.
> If you don't feel like letting people in, don't. The notion of gifting a
> key to someone becomes more worth while again (the act is very much a
> symbol outside of The Bay Area to people who still haven't been to the
> space it's like gold, but since we buzz in everyone, locals don't give a
> shit), because you trust that person enough to give him/her a copy. When
> you hold a key, you understand who hold access to a place that's
> accepted you to share it.
>
> In my experience, fixing social problems tend to last longer and work
> stronger than creating physical workaround (which are easier to break
> and hack, like lockers).
>
> But then again I've been preaching this fucking idea for so long with no
> one really biting due to laziness to not really want to getup and answer
> the door and a lack of social backbone to greet new people coming into a
> space you share with your community, at this point I suppose that I must
> be the one with the wrong ideas and concepts here and that I really
> don't have any comprehension on how the mind of thief works...
>
> --
> Rubin
> rubin at starset.net
>
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