Community Standards

Guidelines are suggestions based on what has and hasn't worked in the past. They aren't strict rules and may change over time.

General Guidelines

Talk to people and make friends. Part of the point of Noisebridge is interpersonal interaction, and we want to meet you and learn about whatever cool project you're working on. It's amazing how often random discussions between people at Noisebridge have turned into things that show up on the world stage.
On the other hand, do be sensitive to people's desire to stop talking and start hacking. If someone starts looking away, returning to their laptop or project, or begins walking away, consider that you might be the Nth person to strike up a conversation with them, and they may want to actually get something done.
If you see someone being awesome or something which is awesome, it's awesome in turn to sing its praises. Motivation is a rare commodity among us and a compliment here and there can work wonders in terms of creating more of it. We have a Noticeboard of Excellence by the door which is a good place to leave a semi-permanent thankyou.
Don't talk about politics or religion in a way that may be considered trolling within the community. If you push peoples' buttons, it is considered very excellent to consider that you, at least in part, responsible.
Try to keep infodumps to new acquaintances to under a few minutes. Many people at Noisebridge are walking libraries on their field of expertise, but people rarely like being fed a textbook through their ears.

Please ask before playing music through the public audio systems, especially if people are quietly enjoying the space.

Taking stuff from the space, even very temporarily is a surefire way to cause problems. Taking stuff permanently is definitely unexcellent.
Everything in Noisebridge is hackable. If you don't want something taken apart and turned into a giant robot the moment your back is turned, leave it on your shelf, or mark it clearly with your name, a way to contact you, the date, and what you're doing. Even then there are no guarantees -- it's just mildly rude to hack on a labelled thing unannounced, as opposed to positively encouraged.

Noisebridge is your hackerspace, not your home. Living here is definitely an anti-pattern, so don't even try to do this! If money is a problem, have a look at our page of starving hacker resources for ways to get around and crash if you're short on cash.
Pull your own weight. We don't have housekeeping service, so clean up after yourself and put things away when you're done. In fact, you're going to get a lot of good karma by tidying up twice the amount of space you use on a regular basis.

If you find yourself having to explain something in the space more than once, you should probably label it.
If you can't throw something away in a full garbage can, you should probably empty it.

People of all ages are welcome at Noisebridge. But, please know that bringing minors to Noisebridge might result in them being exposed to ideas outside of your control. This is worth considering before deciding to bring minors (or anyone) to Noisebridge.
Bringing pets hasn't historically been a serious problem, but it not always considered excellent. If you bring a pet to Noisebridge, please ask others in the space if it is OK with them, and please do not stay with your pet if anyone objects.
Don't BiTTorrent from the space. It causes lots of problems for other people trying to use the network. We've also gotten DMCA notices about people snarfing copyrighted content using our links, and these notices are very annoying and unexcellent. Please don't download copyrighted content illegally using our Internet links.

If you're going to smoke, smoke downstairs on the sidewalk, away from our doorway. This includes all substances, including tobacco and marijuana. Do not smoke on the fire escape -- it affects everyone in the space, plus the ash falls down onto the fruit below, and the fire service gets mad at us.

Going on the roof is, except in narrow conditions that you almost certainly aren't covered by, a violation of our lease agreement. It also causes leaks, and in the past a leak destroyed some irreplaceable artwork belonging to a member. Don't go up there without talking to someone who knows about the lease details.

Noisebridge must not be involved in any activities which could affect legislation or political campaigns, with certain limited exemptions. While not illegal, these activities may be grounds for the IRS to revoke our tax exempt status. Talk to the officers of the corporation for guidance if you are unsure whether your proposed activities will be exempt or not.