[Noisebridge-discuss] Use of Nitrous Oxide in the space on Sunday night

[Rubin Abdi]

Susan Werner wrote, On 2012-10-10 14:01:
> 3. The people using whippits were making noisebridge an actively /hostile/ 
> space for a handful of people.

Susan: People doing anything in the space will make it actively an
unpleasant place for a subsection of people. You framework of guidelines
could be applied to anything, not just substances considered
questionable in the state of California. Audio levels, cooking, choice
of things to teach, the look and cleanliness of the space, simply who is
in the space, the color of the calls, the occupancy level, sleepers,
people playing video games, organizes commercial sports, anything could
drive people away.

I could make the argument that Zach's choice in lyrical live
improvisational music is really disruptive to my ability to work there
and has cause me to on multiple occasions relocate to other parts of the
building where I can't hear him, use headphones if I have them, or
simply leave, which for the most part kills any ability to collaborate
with anyone else in the space.

Do I have a problem with Zach or him using a PA system in the space to
bust flows out like no other? Absolutely not, it's Noisebridge and the
space isn't mission critical for anyone. We share a very experimental
and questionable space with a ton of people, and we're all into
different things and that's ok, Noisebridge harbors all of the things.
If Zach were to pipe fat rhythms and beats into my skull every second of
me being present at Noisebridge, then I would talk with Zach and figure
out a way to coexist where he can do his thing and I can do my thing,
but that hasn't happened and I'm happy to share the space with him.

On the same round of thinking, Mike Kan hates it when there's loud music
in the space (specifically I think he hates anything that sounds like
rap, which some how to him is pretty much all music, but that's for an
entirely different thread), and when I'm in the space and it sounds
stagnant, I tend to play music on the speakers we've got setup. No
matter how soft or loud the music is, if Mike can hear it he gets
annoyed. I've been a total dick to Mike numerous times by either denying
that I'm playing the music, or simply turning it back up after he
requests that I turn it down (we've totally gotten into remote volume
control wars over the network). And Mike has called me out on this shit
before. That's great and Mike is totally right for doing so! And I've
totally respected him in doing so. No frame work needed.

We don't need frameworks or rules, we simply need to remind people that
calling people out for their shit is an acceptable and totally excellent
thing to do, but to also remember the space isn't specifically tailored
for any one person or one grouping of person, other than people who self
identify as hackers.

Zach: I think it was great that you called out people on their actions
making you uncomfortable and it sucks that they weren't as receptive to
you and your concerns that they could have been.

As being someone in the space that night, and pretty much scheduling the
party, I can say that there was a group of folks near the sewing
machines being louder than normal. However I personally didn't have a
problem with their routyness as the space was actively throwing a party
and there were other areas that people could use just as well that
weren't as loud. I can also confirm that a brain scanning device was
used for science and many folks sitting around the table earlier in the
eve were for the most part working on projects while also socializing
with the group. I didn't observe any negative behavior towards anyone
coming from that part of the space (but that isn't to say it hadn't
happened).

With all that being said, I think there's a major difference between
calling someone out for being loud and disruptive in the space, versus
questioning the usage of substances in the space (with second hand usage
aside).

It's great that some folks on this thread are being receptive to Zach's
message and I applaud that and would like to see some resolution to what
sounds like people brushing him off at the party, but I'm really not to
keen on this discussion deteriorating into some new founded necessity to
police users of the space with whatever projects or experiments they
want to conduct on their own bodies.

Thank you and god bless.

-- 
Rubin
rubin at starset.net

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