[Noisebridge-discuss] noisebridge / the door is fucked up

[Al Sweigart]

Kevin: I don't want Noisebridge to become Hacker Dojo or Tech Shop. The bay
area already has a Hacker Dojo and a Tech Shop.

I don't require people to be "normal" (however you want to define that
word). I don't want Noisebridge to be an monocultural club of white male
college-educated twenty-somethings who are unaware of privilege.

Haven't you noticed that the only people I have a problem with are the ones
who steal things (like Pidgeon) or cuss people out/purposefully break
things (like Dan) or monopolize the space to use as their home (like a lot
of people in the past)? Even for those folks, I've stopped pushing to have
them banned from the space.

You're frame this as "Al doesn't like people who are different". That's a
convenient narrative if you want to keep the status quo. But we've all seen
the culture created by "Just be excellent to each other". It has good
parts, but the bad parts are intolerable.

-Al


On Thu, Mar 6, 2014 at 12:11 PM, <bfb at riseup.net> wrote:

> > Jake and all,
> >
> > I understand your frustration, because it's one I've had too. I think
> that
> > there are a few people at Noisebridge who like it being a clubhouse or a
> > place with free rent (but only for their friends, not the general public,
> > of course) and use consensus so that they can prevent anyone from
> changing
> > this. For all the anarchist rhetoric, Noisebridge is the most
> conservative
> > organization I've ever been a part of.
> >
> > People sleeping overnight at the space has been a problem FOR YEARS.
> > People living out of the space and storing their personal things there
> has
> > been a problem FOR YEARS.
> > Being unable to get rid of people who abuse and steal from others or
> > regularly get stoned/drunk/loud/unexcellent has been a problem FOR YEARS.
> >
> > The bylaws of Noisebridge (our Constitution, as it were) state that the
> > board of directors makes all the executive decisions for the
> organization.
> > It's just that the board has deferred to the consensus process in the
> > past.
> > I believe this is precisely why these problems are so hard to fix,
> > including when I served on the board in 2011.
> >
> > Members have gotten tired of this, which is why a board that wants to
> take
> > a more active hand in stopping these abuses has been voted in.
> >
> > Jake, I know we're going to have to start proving ourselves with deeds
> > instead of just words, but you're a great contributor to the space.
> Making
> > Noisebridge more welcoming to hackers like you is exactly what we want to
> > do in 2014.
> >
> >
> > On Wed, Mar 5, 2014 at 11:29 PM, Adrian Chadd
> > <adrian.chadd at gmail.com>wrote:
> >
> >> On 5 March 2014 23:27, Jake <jake at spaz.org> wrote:
> >> > not much, i was just stirred to action by the self-congratulatory
> >> progress
> >> > of electing a meaningless board while the ship that is noisebridge
> >> slowly
> >> > fills with sewage while waiting for a crew.
> >> >
> >> > what was i supposed to do, threaten to hold my breath until changes
> >> are
> >> > made?
> >>
> >> I believe the answer is "grab a plunger" ?
> >>
> >> (which you did, right?)
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> -a
> >> _______________________________________________
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> >> Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
> >> https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
> >>
> > _______________________________________________
> > Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
> > Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
> > https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
> >
>
> Charles and all,
>
> I understand your frustration, because it's one I've had too. I think that
> there are a few people at Noisebridge who like it being a clubhouse (but
> only for their "normal" friends, not the general public, of course) or a
> place to exercise power over others and use policy to maintain this. For
> all the anarchist rhetoric, Noisebridge is the most conservative, and at
> times backwards, organizations I've ever been a part of.
>
> Thank you Al for providing me a pattern to express my thoughts in a way
> that maybe you will hear.
>
> "Seriously" concerned about trying to create culture with policy,
> Kevin
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
> Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
> https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
>
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