[Noisebridge-discuss] I want NoiseBridge to change.

Justin Doerr justinsfca at gmail.com
Wed Feb 22 02:52:32 UTC 2012


I'm actually content with the way things are. Noisebridge had hit its low
point for me about a couple weeks ago, when all the drama went down. Like
everyone else, I am still recuperating. I'm sorry that some people don't
like me, and some people are really mean assholes/jerks about why they
don't like me. I still think the 85 page is a crock of bullshit, and it did
hurt my friend RAYC's feelings, along with many others. Those individuals
have every right to feel hurt. But lately, I've just stopped caring or
allowing people and their bitchfests to get to me, and when a group of
people in the room want to point their index fingers at me in disapproval,
I'll just reply right back with providing them my favorite finger of
disapproval: my middle one. Why? Because I'm fuckin awesome, that's why. :-)
On Feb 21, 2012 4:25 PM, "Al Jigong Billings" <albill at openbuddha.com> wrote:

>  AMT is not a good example of comparison. While we aren't far off in the
> number of dues paying members (around 32 right now), we've got a much
> smaller overall community and we have never committed to running the kind
> of open access space that Noisebridge was founded upon.
>
> All of our *events* and *meetings* are open to the public at AMT but,
> otherwise, you have to be let in by a member and are expected to be
> supervised if you aren't a member. Basically, while people are occasionally
> let in off the street, it is pretty rare and usually they'll be given a
> tour if they are and then expected to go. If people want to hang out and
> hack, we suggest that they come to our Thursday night weekly meeting or one
> of the other weekly or bi-weekly events that we list on the calendar.
> Otherwise, strangers may show up and find no one answering the doorbell.
> AMT committed itself to offering educational events and meeting space to
> the public but always with the requirement that a dues paying member be the
> point person in charge.
>
> If people do want to join AMT, they start paying dues (either standard or
> starving hacker rates normally) and participate. After roughly three
> months, they get voted on by the existing members as to whether they can
> become full AMT members. We've never turned anyone down but people normally
> self-select based on the space and their interactions with folks.
>
> As was mentioned, we don't have a bathroom in the space (there is one just
> outside for our end of the building) nor a kitchen. We actually do have
> couches but have had a "no sleeping in the space" rule since we opened 1
> 1/2 years ago.
>
> Barring an in person interpersonal conflict or two, we've also been
> amazingly drama free since we opened. I generally put it down to our
> smaller size and the lack of complete strangers. Many people that come are
> friends of friends with the exception to people coming to events or who
> hear about our weekly meeting on Meetup.com.
>
> Basically, we have the kinds of rules that many people at NB would just
> hate and don't ever want to see happen at Noisebridge. We are a
> fundamentally different style of organization with voting by members, no
> open access to the public 24/7, and a number of set rules. It works for us
> and I think it is the more common paradigm in American hackerspaces based
> on what I've seen.
>
> Noisebridge has the strengths of community and place that come with being
> completely open but, based on my reading of digests here, there are quite a
> few people struggling with the occasional downsides as well. I do not think
> that NB is likely to change the kind of space it is by closing for the
> night, locking the public out, etc. It is kind of the foundation of the
> group.
>
> Al @ AMT
>
> From: jim <jim at systemateka.com> <jim at systemateka.com>
> Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2012 10:39:16 -0800
> Subject: Re: [Noisebridge-discuss] I want NoiseBridge to change.
> Message: 61
>
>
>
>     There needs a definition of "hacking". The space has
> sewing machines, lots of soldering irons and oscilloscopes,
> various tools in the dirty workshop, and so on. Yet much
> of the email discusses hacking with respect to the software
> domain.
>     A week or so ago some J R hacker stopped by the space
> with an aquatic sailing device that adjusts its shape to
> optimize speed and (I think) expected to be able to do some
> work on it. Some months ago a group of French stopped by
> the space as part of their world tour to study such spaces.
> Tastebridge came out of Czeck Frantisek's persistent
> efforts.
>
>     Making a "structural change" needs clarification,
> probably with respect to the definition of hacking.
>     And probably the use of the equipment in the space ought
> to be considered in defining hacking.
>
>     Note that the AMTD discuss list so far has been devoid
> of the drama component that occasionally explodes on the NB
> discuss list. What about their structure might have a
> filtering affect?
>     For one thing, it seems that no one is sleeping there:
> as I recall, their space has no kitchen and no couches and
> does have locked doors (not easily accessible by the curious).
> Is that what we want?
>
>     Trying to fix things comes with volatility. Maybe we
> don't understand our circumstance well enough. Seems to me
> good to focus on doing things that __are__ hacking as we
> each individually understand it and set a tone by example.
> Be wary of changes that require maintenance.
>     Be patient. Care hard. NB seems a natural community
> space, with the complexities that come with.
>
>
>
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>
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