[Noisebridge-discuss] Semantics

Mitchel McAllister xonimmortal at yahoo.com
Mon Apr 1 00:01:39 UTC 2013


"I thought Noisebridge was open for meetings and stuff"

This is the excuse I just heard for a bunch of people, without notice, taking over one of the rooms at Noisebridge. It was obvious that the people involved did not bother to read the Events Hosting Page at all.

I appreciate spontaneity, I really do. For birthdays, anniversaries, picnics on the park, etc. But using a space that many other people also use, without regard for what else is going on, strikes me as violating the first rule.

Especially when there are guidelines (such as putting it on the schedule) to help ensure that any negative impacts are reduced as much as possible.

There have been a few times lately that I have come into Noisebridge, to work, and found that there is little (if any) space to actually work on things (unless I want to have one 24/7 Power User talking in my ear the entire time).

I double-checked the front page of the wiki. There is no mention of this being a "hang-out space". Yet there are a lot of times where a bunch of people (usually that nobody in the space knows) descends on the space and take over mucho square footage (including traffic areas, yay!) in order to stand around and talk about how teh awesome they are, or interrupt conversations with non sequiturs on a plethora of topics.

I'm sure that some of you are aware of how newcomers to the space seem to believe that the table I am sitting at is the Information Table. Quite a few regulars are incapable of looking at the wiki when someone asks about a particular class or event, as well.

It's kind of disturbing to have people come up to me and ask about an event or class, I look it up, and tell them that it's not meeting here. (About as disturbing as telling people that an event is happening here, and have none of the event organizers show up)

I would really like to hear the thoughts of others on the subject. However, I recognize that I am more likely to get a bunch of replies calling me names and telling me to shut up. Maybe three weeks from now, a lone person will reply, as if the entire subject is incomprehensible.

- Reverend Mik McAllister
Purveyor of Subversive Fiction
http://www.prismandink.com
http://www.lunatextpublications.com



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