[Noisebridge-discuss] Keeping associate members in their place

[Danny O'Brien]

On Thu, Dec 19, 2013 at 12:12 PM, Al Sweigart <asweigart at gmail.com> wrote:
> Danny, when I ran for board I brought up modifying/replacing our consensus
> process, but no one else chimed in on that topic:
> https://www.noisebridge.net/pipermail/noisebridge-discuss/2011-January/020091.html
> (I didn't follow up on that either in the following months; other NB stuff
> came up.) And the issue of replacing consensus with majority voting hasn't
> come up very often after that (I've done enough trawling through the mailing
> list archive for today.)
>
> There was a huge thread on consensus before that in 2009, which I hadn't
> commented on (it was before I followed the mailing list much):
> https://www.noisebridge.net/pipermail/noisebridge-discuss/2009-October/008547.html
>
> But this is all ancient history on Noisebridge's timeline. Almost no one on
> those threads hacks at the space anymore.
>
> Here's an idea: Instead of me jumping through hoops to find people who
> disagree with making changes at Noisebridge, why don't those people pay
> attention to the mailing list, meeting notes, or Consensus Items wiki page
> and then make their own views known on the list or at a meeting?
>

You're asking for a fairly major and fundamental change; part of
getting that to work is to positively engage with everyone. Whatever
system you're in, if you're pushing for change, it falls on you to try
and engage with others. Sorry!

Maybe I have been soaked in discussion of the pros and cons of
consensus for too long, but I do sort of think that you actually know
a lot of these arguments, but you're adopting a kind of rhetorical
stance of ignorance to try and bait people to debate you within your
own framing. To say that is really to adopt the same stance as I'm
criticising, which is to imply bad faith on your opponents.

Given that you're somewhat pulling me back into doing Noisebridgian
stuff (uhh thanks i guess), I am tempted to do a bunch of talks on
Noisebridge process and thinking. At the very least, it would be fun
to go over the lessons of the last few years and codify them, and I
think it will help disabuse ideas like consensus is a powergrab by
members...

d.



> So far, I have Kevin as being against replacing consensus (side note: Kevin,
> I'll follow up on our off-list emails, I think a lot of this is a
> misunderstanding that I can clarify my aims) and you down as
> "christ-I-don't-know-maybe". I'll work with Kevin on this, but I'm not a
> mind reader. The best I can do is go on the list and at the meetings and
> ask, "Who has a problem with this and what are those problems?"
>
> -Al
>
>
> On Wed, Dec 18, 2013 at 9:34 PM, Danny O'Brien <danny at spesh.com> wrote:
>>
>> On Wed, Dec 18, 2013 at 8:18 PM, Al Sweigart <asweigart at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > Every other time I've proposed this? I've never proposed this before,
>> > Danny.
>> > And checking the Consensus Items History wiki page which goes back three
>> > years, no one else has either.
>> >
>>
>> You got me! I sort of meant more "proposed" in the sense of talking a
>> lot about how consensus is the death knell of Noisebridge.
>>
>> You also stood for the board on the platform that you thought the
>> board should do things (as opposed to the default board position,
>> which is to cede its power to the meeting's consensus). I have always
>> seen you as the main proponent of solutions to Noisebridge that
>> involve doing everything the way everyone else does it. i hope that's
>> flattering rather than damning.
>>
>> > People have been grumbling about consensus for a long time, but no one
>> > has
>> > ever actually brought up the issue.
>> >
>> > I did write one email to you and Mitch and couple others like two years
>> > ago
>> > about this, and you replied that you didn't think getting rid of
>> > consensus
>> > would solve any of Noisebridge's problem.
>> > Actually, I'm still unsure what
>> > your position on this is to begin with: Would you yourself block
>> > replacing
>> > consensus with majority voting?
>> >
>>
>> Christ, I don't know. Maybe? Like I said earlier, I'd rather
>> Noisebridge try some other radical experimental system instead of just
>> doing what everybody else does. I'd rather we had some mad condorcet
>> voting system tied to liquid democracy with a future's market
>> denominated in bitcoins than Robert's Rules of Order. My interest in
>> Noisebridge is to hack on interesting things, and that includes its
>> operational structure.
>>
>> One of the things I like about Noisebridge's current set-up is that it
>> attracts all the political dweebs like me and Tom and you and Johny
>> Radio, who would otherwise potentially turn it into some sort of of
>> high-school debating society, and ties them so much in consensus-based
>> knots that they can't get anything rule-based done  apart from honk on
>> to each other at Meeting -- in theory leaving everyone else to just
>> hack, and maintain the place. The *theory* is that this encourages
>> everyone else (like to do-acractically do whatever they want, without
>> suddenly the political dweebs coming down from on high and going "uhh
>> excuse me I don't think you've filled in the lasercutting chit form
>> 32ZB! Membership demerit point!"
>>
>> I think people like Jim and Maestro would say that our current system
>> hasn't really been effective enough at preventing that from happening,
>> so I don't know. I don't see your current proposal as fixing *that*
>> problem, or even seeing it as a problem, opening up the risk that  you
>> would end up with the election of the board going to a bunch of
>> political dweebs who would also be too asocially dysfunctional to
>> *not* put in a bunch of overarching rules, but maybe I'm wrong about
>> that. I also note that every time we've set up anything like a power
>> structure like the redshirts or the rooster brigade, the creepy people
>> that everyone else is freaked by make an absolute beeline for it, and
>> I'm a little worried about that too. The intersection of "people who
>> like alternative hackerspaces" and "people who think they might be
>> quite good at running things" seems me much more full of
>> organizational incompetence and creepiness than in other sectors.
>>
>> Again I guess I would prefer to experiment with something more
>> hackerish before putting on our grown-up NGO trousers.
>>
>> Also, to be consistent with what I told you a million years ago, I see
>> fixing consensus as being a distraction from the main challenge, which
>> is shifting the present culture from being a dark mildly smelly room
>> full of slightly shifty looking unshaven young men reading youtube
>> between naps and stealing copper, to a laughing clean space cubicle
>> full of people riding robot unicorns showing each other the wonders of
>> the 21st century.
>>
>> In conclusion, as I said in the meeting, I would not be the last
>> holdout on a consensus proposal to remove consensus. That therefore
>> makes my opinion, like everyone apart from the voter who shifts a
>> majority, rather irrelevant. It's other people you have to convince.
>> (And I do mean convince, as opposed to "write them an email saying BUT
>> WILL YOU BLOCK" and then bemoaning their intransigence when they say
>> yes.
>>
>> d.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> >
>> > On Wed, Dec 18, 2013 at 7:58 PM, Danny O'Brien <danny at spesh.com> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> On Wed, Dec 18, 2013 at 7:06 PM, Al Sweigart <asweigart at gmail.com>
>> >> wrote:
>> >> > It's in the meeting notes:
>> >> > https://noisebridge.net/wiki/Meeting_Notes_2013_12_17
>> >> >
>> >> > Basically, Danny blocks because other people would block. Kevin
>> >> > blocks
>> >> > because Noisebridge is a collaborative space and majority voting
>> >> > would
>> >> > undo
>> >> > or impinge on that. I encourage them (or anyone else) to correct this
>> >> > description, but it's what I came away from the meeting with. (And,
>> >> > of
>> >> > course, if Danny and Kevin don't have time to reply to the list, that
>> >> > doesn't mean they implicitly agree with my description.)
>> >> >
>> >>
>> >> Al, I didn't block. It's the first week. You can't block then. You're
>> >> just supposed to mull things around a bit, and chew a hay stalk while
>> >> you do so. I am, however, allowed to express my opinion that this
>> >> would not go anywhere. I may be wrong.
>> >>
>> >> > The "other people who would block" I can only take a guess at, and
>> >> > half
>> >> > of
>> >> > them aren't even living in SF anymore. If I try to read people's
>> >> > minds
>> >> > about
>> >> > this issue I'm going to fail; I'd rather have them chime in on the
>> >> > mailing
>> >> > list or show up at a meeting if they have strong feelings about this.
>> >>
>> >> Maybe a good way of finding out people's feelings is by going through
>> >> the mailing list and reading people's replies every other time you've
>> >> proposed this?
>> >>
>> >> d.
>> >>
>> >> >
>> >> > -Al
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> > On Wed, Dec 18, 2013 at 6:49 PM, Rubin Abdi <rubin at starset.net>
>> >> > wrote:
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Al Sweigart wrote, On 2013-12-18 18:44:
>> >> >> > The most common tactic in Noisebridge politics is to get people to
>> >> >> > stop
>> >> >> > speaking up about issues.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Then that sounds like an entirely different issue that needs
>> >> >> attention.
>> >> >> Don't cut off the finger when all that is needed is a bandage.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> If I were you I would call out those members.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> --
>> >> >> Rubin
>> >> >> rubin at starset.net
>> >> >>
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> > _______________________________________________
>> >> > Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
>> >> > Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
>> >> > https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
>> >> >
>> >
>> >
>
>