[Noisebridge-discuss] theftiness and donation bins

[Danny O'Brien]

So, I'm personally pretty sure at this point that there's been an
uptick in "things missing" reports, as well as money disappearing from
the donation bins (and not going to Noisebridge).

Usually when we go through a spate of this, it turns out to be some
individual or two who we have to ensure doesn't come back, either by
freezing them in carbonite, or placing their head on a pike outside
the grocery next door.

However there's always the risk though that Noisebridge itself gets an
increasing reputation for being an easy place to lift stuff,
especially money, and that spreads to more than just one person. I
worry a bit that the increase in big things migrating means that it's
a bit more deliberate this time rather than just an opportunistic grab
and run.

The general consensus at the last meeting is that a lot of the sketchy
stuff that happens goes on very late at night. I'm happy to restart
the long-running conversation about dealing with Night Noisebridge,
better guarding at the door,entry systems,  and so on, but I'd like to
propose a few more concrete actions before that:

1) We need to set up a more regular pick-up for the donation bins,
including the t-shirt and plastic box. Usually people do it when the
bins look a bit full. That doesn't work if someone else is liberating
the money. It's not hard to do (you basically just pick up the money,
put it into the account in the bank, ideally record  it on the wiki,
or just paypal it).

Please volunteer to do this. reply to this mail if you want to help so
I can gauge interest.

2) We need to fix the lock and security etc, on the donations box, and
maybe have a better one for the t-shirt donations. Would the fab
people consider thinking about this?
3) We need better warning systems when this is happening. I think we
have a general breakdown in reporting stuff that's been building for a
while -- people really don't know who to tell, and less people get
their Noisebridge info from nb-discuss or use the wiki, so it's much
harder for this stuff to percolate to the meeting or wider audience. I
think we would have spotted this earlier had we been tracking
inventory and our financials more closely.

I'd also really like some people (whether you're members or not) to
start thinking about taking a more direct role in helping out
noisebridge itself. We have a huge and really vibrant community at the
moment (lots of big events, lots of busy meetings), but I think many
of us assume someone else is doing the Noisebridgey stuff while
working on our own projects. And the people who *do* Noisebridgey
stuff need to find others who can help them -- I'm trying to widen out
the secretarial work, Kelly is working with Tom and mct to distribute
the treasuring load, and so on. But there's loads of brilliant people
at Noisebridge right now who could do more of the background stuff,
and don't yet have the knowledge or confidence to do it. If you'd like
to do more, ask. If you're doing too much, ask new people to help you.

Finally, I think we need to start keeping an eye out for this sort of
thing, and being a bit more pro-actively sceptical of people's good
intentions for a while, especially with new people coming in late at
night. It's okay to challenge people. If they are outraged, ask them
to come back on Tuesday meeting, and discuss it more then. If you need
help, get on IRC and ask for help there.

d.