[Noisebridge-discuss] A modest proposal.

[Martin Bogomolni]

Here is a typical scenario for me, on a Monday or Tuesday early
morning on a week when I fly in from Austin.

My red-eye flights tend to arrive at SFO at 4'ish in the morning, and
tend to leave late around 11pm.

I like to try to make my first and last stop of a trip coming into
noisebridge to unwind, get some last minute hacking in, make a cup of
tea or coffee, and spend it in the company of other hackerly-minded
people.     Work starts for me in San Mateo around 9am, so I take
advantage of BART to get me to NB, and then back to the Millbrae
station to carshare my way to work.

Coming in that early, especially after not particularly sleeping on an
airplane, is rough.   I'm choosing to rest in a space I know is safe,
in good company, as opposed to driving when tired all the way down to
Santa Cruz.   Before coming over, I always make sure to groom and
clean up at the airport, make myself presentable and clean.

Occasionally, I've put on a pair of headphones, put down my laptop and
stopped coding or doing my ops/sysdamin work and nodded off.    I'm
choosing to rest in one of the only places I have nearby as opposed to
driving when tired all the way down to Santa Cruz.   Sure, it's a
power nap as opposed to crashing hard at the space, but I think the
distinction is important, and I take into account what people are
doing around me.   I have been gently shaken awake once, and the
person who did so in my opinion had every right to do so.

It's easy to get embroiled in the "NO SLEEP"/"sleep" argument, but to
me it still all boils down to "Am I being bad/rude and getting in the
way of someone's hack?"   Generally not .. and I think the being
clean, and accepting of someone waking me up if I am blocking their
hack, is part of being respectful of other people at NB.

Is it right to turn NB into a kind of second home?  No! of course not.
  But common sense says that the other extreme isn't right either.

So to me the question of "When is it okay to sleep at Noisebridge?" is
answered by "When it is the consensus of the people around you that
you're not imposing on them by doing so."

As soon as you're in the way hacking, I'm betting a wake-up call isn't
far behind.   If your hygiene is poor, if you impose on the resources
of NB without giving back, if you aren't engaged in an activity
related to being in the NB community, and not being respectful of
those around you?   I think you'll get a whole different kind of
wake-up call as well .. likely the kind that the community gives when
they would rather not see you there at all.