[Noisebridge-discuss] Lack of due process when Cynthia forced to leave

[Jake]

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Why is Erica no longer feeling welcome?

I have to say,  I have noticed that some people (including Jesse for sure) 
seem to be fulfilling my prediction that we could swing around into the 
reactionary zone after we started dealing with the occupiers.

Please re-read the below and let's not make the same mistakes again.
Calling the police is a LAST RESORT and shows bad judgement on the part of 
the people who did it.

What would Jesse or Will have done if a couple of female members told them 
to leave?

Carl said:
You know I don't post here all that much, but I really felt that I had
to respond to this...

I've read through all of the comments about what transpired with
Cynthia, on the discuss list and the meeting notes.  Although I haven't
been present at Noisebridge during the past week, from what I've read so
far, I am really not pleased about how people involved in this situation
treated her.  (This would include Jesse, Will, and apparently a third
man.)

First of all, calling the police really should not be done unless:

1. Someone is harming or threatening harm to another person, causing
damage to the space, stealing, or otherwise causing trouble or
performing an illegal activity.

2. A person who has been officially banned from the space refuses to
leave.  And by "official", I mean a due process has been followed
whereas a previous discussion and consensus was taken to ban a
particular person.

3. AND ONLY AFTER the Noisebridge community are unable to handle the
situation on our own should we get the police involved.


I find it troubling when individuals take it upon themselves to forcibly
remove people from the space, who by all accounts of what I've read, did
NOT cause any trouble prior to being asked to leave.  I believe it was
wrong for Jesse and Will to have done what they did in this case, prior
to taking it up at a meeting where the members could discuss and make a
decision as to whether to ban Cynthia from the space, AND ONLY AFTER
this discussion and consensus would it be appropriate to ask someone to
not return.  (and as she brought up, informing her of this could have
been done through email prior to her arrival in order to avoid this
confrontation.)

I am also troubled by the flippant and immature responses on this list
about Cynthia being "crazy".  Her past talk of legal actions against
Texas corporations has no bearing on what transpired.  As far as I can
tell, she hasn't forng more people than prior to when the Oogles started
arriving at the space.  The first time Noisebridge ever banned anyone,
it took considerable discussion and a consensus process.  Nowadays it
seems like any member can just ban anyone they don't like.  How and why
did we get to this point?  And I'm not just talking about Cynthia here,
but others as well.  (take Erica for example, who no longer feels
welcome here.)

And lastly, I think we need to stop this witch-hunt non-hacker hate
mentality that we seem to be developing here, which will only drive away
new people who may not be familiar with hacker culture.  If we try to
make an effort to become friends with them, then we can encourage
newcomers to contribute and learn to become hackers by involving them
with our projects.  Instead of rejecting them, we should be trying to
encourage them to become productive participants in our community.


-Carl