[Noisebridge-discuss] All I want is 51% :)

[Naomi Most]

The ideal of consensus functions very well in situations where
individuals actually give a shit about what the community thinks of
them.

The people who tend to block "for no reason", or to try to prolong an
antisocial activity they're already doing (like sleeping at the
space), they do so because they have nothing to lose.

At its core, Consensus is a functionality constructed around the
concept that there's shame in blocking for no reason, or for appearing
to be intransigent.

When the intransigent and the transient collide...

--Naomi


On Fri, Mar 28, 2014 at 2:37 PM, Dana <dana-lists at sonic.net> wrote:
> Al, I appreciate you laying out your thought process on this. I wish a
> conversation about how Noisebridge can move forward could have started from
> here instead of from unilateral actions on the part of the board.
>
> What is called consensus at Noisebridge is broken, I think many Members and
> community members agree. When I learned about consensus I was told blocking
> was something serious and rare, reserved for circumstances when you
> fundamentally believe a proposal undermines the integrity of an
> organization's values or there is improper process. If you don't like
> something you articulate your objection, dissent with a stand-aside.
>
> In January I shared alternative consensus model we used at student co-ops.
> At the meeting, on-list and privately I received an exceptional amount of
> positive feedback (then, I got busy and did a poor job at following up). I
> don't think end-point but another option worth working from:
>
> Weekly meetings - 1 block or Math.round(Members*.1) stand-asides stop a
> proposal. Those blocking have a responsibility to try to work with
> proponents towards something mutually agreeable (outside of the meeting)
>
> If an issue can't be resolved it can be brought up at a quarterly membership
> meeting where it goes to majority or super-majority:
>
> https://www.noisebridge.net/pipermail/noisebridge-discuss/2014-January/041803.html
>
> - dana
>
> p.s. Running something at the intersection of hacker culture & public space,
> with a funny decision-making model, in a city under a lot of social and
> economic pressures is not easy. I think it's ENTIRELY REASONABLE to just
> want to hack without all that, a more 'normal' model would thrive in this
> city too, maybe even eclipse NB in popularity or equipment or technical
> accomplishment (oh, what I'd give for a nice laser cutter that wasn't (a) at
> Tech Shop, (b) in the East Bay, but I digress).
>
>
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-- 
Naomi Theora Most
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