[Noisebridge-discuss] proposal for noisebridge membership changes

[Jake]

if you see people pushing for improvement and change, and you push back in 
the opposite direction, the result is that nothing will happen except 
entropy.

as the objector it is your responsibility to make the changes to the 
proposal according to your concerns.  otherwise you're just throwing cold 
water on the work other people are doing.

On Tue, 1 Oct 2013, Dan Cote wrote:

> I'm sorry, but I see all of this as an intrusion of unnecessary hierarchy and rules into a space that doesn't
> need them. First of all, I respect you Jake, and this isn't directed towards you, but towards a recent trend.
> Everyone, I am not attacking your actions. I am very happy that you care enough about our community to get
> involved. I am simply trying to explain a valuable part of our culture which you may have overlooked, or may
> not even particularly like. I support your intentions and I assure you that we are allies. Unfortunately I may
> be acting as a temporary roadblock to your consensus items. I hope that you will be patient and work through
> the process to reach a mutually beneficial result.
> The primary motivator behind all of this "rules" push is that people wish to avoid accountability. Many
> Noisebridgers are uncomfortable making decisions for themselves and kicking out people who shouldn't be at
> Noisebridge. They seek to create written rules to avoid making a judgement call.
> From https://noisebridge.net/wiki/Vision:
> "Noisebridge takes a positive approach, and avoids the practice of officially enumerating the myriad potential
> special cases; "be excellent" is enough."
> 
> and from https://noisebridge.net/wiki/Community_Standards:
> "The only hard and fast rule of Noisebridge is be excellent to each other. Everything else is dicta."
> 
> and from https://noisebridge.net/wiki/Guidelines:
> "Noisebridge's Vision eschews the use of rules, which is why these are guidelines."
> 
> Everyone please stop proposing consensus items with the words "rule" or "policy." Please stop proposing
> consensus items that promote hierarchies and specific reasons to kick someone out. Before you counter this,
> Yes I want Noisebridge to be safe and accessible to our community and members. No, I don't want Noisebridge's
> culture to end and be replaced with numerous cases of what "unexcellent" means. It seems like I am citing
> written procedural mumbo jumbo while simultaneously trashing on that exact practice. I am open to modifying my
> opinion, and even stepping out of the way. I am trying to communicate a part of our culture which I enjoy very
> much. 
> 
> Please instead re-word your intention to fit into our Vision, Community Standards, and Guidelines. You can
> speak with the community and strengthen your position. Then simply edit those documents. You may choose to get
> consensus, or just edit the document. Getting consensus will help defend your edits against future edits. 
> 
> None of this is really as important as action. All of our consensus items, community standards, and guidelines
> are enforced by no-one and everyone. If you are passionate about something, team up with the others who are
> passionate about it, and spread it into our culture! Because when push comes to shove, the space is run by the
> people who are in the space at the time.
> Maybe you have stuff to do, and can't be in the space all the time, but you can make the best of the time you
> do spend here to reinforce positive actions (like hacking) with positivity. When someone is doing something
> overwhelmingly negative, or even doing nothing positive, we need to do "something." Caring, compassionate
> intervention by the whole community comes to mind. Often our community does nothing. This is why we have
> problems. No amount of mailing list bs, meetings, or rules will ever change that. When I see our members
> having an all night heart to heart with a new visitor who is going through a tough spot in life, it makes me
> proud of our community. Some people who pass through our doors are just so far away from anything to do with
> us, that the best response is to tell them to go somewhere else. If nobody does that, then they will be in our
> space. No amount of rules is going to change that. 
> 
> Maybe I am wrong about all this, but there are numerous hackerspaces, co-working spaces, and other places to
> hack in the bay. There is only one Noisebridge. None of those other places are anything like us. Thanks, Jake
> for setting up the new front door access system. Thanks everyone who has been at the space lately, explaining
> our culture to the noobs and holding down the fort. Thanks to everyone who is working on our problems with
> permanent residents, harassment, cleanliness, infrastructure, and making Noisebridge excellent.
> 
> Sorry about the TLDR.
> 
>