[Noisebridge-discuss] A test of Excellence

[Martin Bogomolni]

Any good experiment needs a hypothesis, and a way of testing that
hypothesis with an experiment and a control.

My hypothesis is that the operating principles of Noisebridge are not
serving to increase, but rather to decrease, the average level of
honesty and 'Excellence' in the space.   Specifically the current way
things are set up socially inside of Noisebridge, with insufficient
negative feedback/pressure on people to reinforce the social values
that promote that kind of honest behavior.

I have had two people leave five valuable things in Noisebridge.
These things are useful to different people for different reasons.

Five identical items have been left at the Dallas Makerspace, as a
second social group with different rules.   Also at UC Santa Cruz'
workshop as a control, as they have a strongly reinforced discipline
of object ownership and storage.

All are items a Hacker/Maker would have.

One of them contains something intrinsically valuable if disassembled.
  It will cease to work if that happens.

All are clearly labeled as 'do not hack', with a name and identifying
label for which member shelf they should be on.

All have been placed in logical places, but not on a material or
'hack' shelf.   None are in their 'correct' location.

None are worth less than $50.

None of those labels has my name on it.

The location of the items will be checked after a day, a week, two
weeks, a month, and two months.

I will publish the results after three months.

-M