[Noisebridge-discuss] proposal to increase membership at noisebridge by changing the rules

Jake jake at spaz.org
Mon Oct 14 20:19:28 UTC 2013


G,

I believe we are entering a period of post-capitalism in the hacker 
community.  This is a condition that is not new to humanity by any means, 
having been practiced by clans and villages and communities since before 
the epoch.  But it is the direction we're moving and we should be.

I want to disconnect the act of payment from the act of being an excellent 
member.  The two are not the same.  Plenty of people have given money to 
noisebridge without having the time to come to the space and help maintain 
it.  Even more people come to noisebridge and make it an excellent 
hackerspace, but are between jobs or without the ability to pay.

I am not bothered at all by people who do have the ability to pay and 
choose not to.  If you are bothered by that i suggest you instead direct 
your energy toward the tea party and fatcats on wall street, who have a 
lot more to give and resist helping to fund the great society that made 
their success possible.

-jake

On Sun, 13 Oct 2013, GtwoG PublicOhOne wrote:

>
> In your proposal you said "ability or willingness" to pay.
>
> These aren't the same thing.  Inability to pay = "can't," and
> unwillingness = "can but won't."
>
> What do you think of people whose attitude is, "I can afford to pay but
> I won't"...?
>
> Is "can but won't" fair to people who honestly can't afford to pay, and
> to people who over-pay in order to cover costs for those who can't
> afford to pay?
>
> Seems to me that "can but won't" is an exploitative attitude, that
> doesn't deserve to be supported, much less written into the membership
> agreement.
>
> -G.
>
>
> =====
>
>
> On 13-10-13-Sun 5:38 PM, Jake wrote:
>> currently noisebridge is used by 99% non-Members, 1% Members.
>>
>> currently, 99% of noisebridge Members do not use noisebridge.
>>
>> currently, Membership at noisebridge requires ongoing cash flow into
>> noisebridge either by tradition or rules, it is not clear which.
>>
>> I think this is not working out.  Noisebridge's rent gets paid but the
>> people who come to noisebridge have zero motivation to become a
>> member, and so they don't bother.  We should be adding several new
>> members weekly.
>> Membership at Noisebridge should be a valuable tool to encourage
>> cooperation and a sense of belonging, while reinforcing accountability
>> and support between users of the space (including Members and Guests)
>>
>> There is no reason for membership to be tied to giving money to
>> noisebridge.  If someone is excellent and wants to be a part of
>> noisebridge, and no Member blocks them, they should be allowed to
>> join. Members should remain in good standing regardless of their
>> financial contributions as long as they are remaining excellent and
>> accountable for their actions, and those of their guests.
>>
>> I propose that Noisebridge change the rules of Membership to do away
>> with the cash flow requirement, and to expressly do away with the
>> informal and inappropriate "bribe", which defeats the purpose of
>> asking the potential member to step out while their membership is
>> consensed upon _or_not_.
>>
>> We agreed last week to close noisebridge to non-Members from 23:00 to
>> 10:00 every day, with the exception of guests of Members and
>> Members-in-Application who have two signatures.  We will be able to
>> take advantage of this policy by encouraging more SUPPORTERS of
>> noisebridge to become Members.  We can do this by removing the payment
>> requirement.
>>
>> If people want to support Noisebridge with money, they should feel
>> free to do so, whether they are Members or not.  If people want to
>> support Noisebridge with their presence, excellence, and
>> accountability to one another, they should feel free to do so, whether
>> they are in a position to supply cash or not.  I think this should be
>> obvious.
>>
>> I ask that absentee Members, who have been unable or unmotivated to
>> offer their support in the form of their presence, excellence, and
>> accountability, please stand aside from this proposal if they have
>> objections (or offer friendly amendments in the spirit of problem
>> solving).  People who are not regularly using the space should not
>> stand in the way of improvements to be made by those who do use and
>> contribute to the space regularly.
>>
>> The proposal should be worded as follows:
>>
>> Membership to Noisebridge should no longer be dependant on a person's
>> ability or willingness to pay money to noisebridge, or to bring food
>> or beer to a meeting, but only on their ability to acquire sponsorship
>> signatures and be consensed upon at a meeting, after leaving the
>> meeting to give opportunity for any objections to be discussed before
>> they return.
>> Members will thus enter and remain in good standing without regard to
>> any financial contributions they do or do not make in that time.
>>
>> -jake
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>> http://lists.sudoroom.org/listinfo/sudo-discuss
>>
>



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