Meeting Notes 2023 04 04

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These are the notes from the The 719th Meeting of Noisebridge.

• Live notes
  • https://pad.riseup.net/p/nbmeeting
• Virtual Meeting (jitsi mic/cam off by default)
  • https://jitsi.noisebridge.io/hackitorium#config.startWithAudioMuted=true&config.startWithVideoMuted=true&userInfo.displayName=%22n00b%22
  • Backup link: https://meet.jit.si/noisebridge

Date: 2023_04_04

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Note-takers: Sam G, Max O <- Did all the work

Moderators: JD

Meeting Summary

FILL OUT AT END OF MEETING AND SEND TO MAILING LIST

TLDR what happened at the meeting:

• Fundraising Update
• Announcements:
• Finances:
• New members:
• New philanthropists:
• Consensus Items: big equipment dumping, proposal to simplify meetings
• Discussion Items: antiharassment policy updates, requesting permission for mural, discussion about working group

Big C Consensus Items

Nobody likes 3 hour meetings, only explain if people ask. https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Current_Consensus_Items

Demonstrated consensus item to find a good loving home for equipment for disposal. JD reads the proposal aloud

• Loren: would block pending conversation with parties that appear to be involve. Actually make sure it gets handled rather than passive language
• JD: Proposes deleting topic from Wiki. No one objects making a "good faith effort...something... take care of it". Let's table it till Mark shows up
• Nemo: people are paranoid to the right amount to not throw stuff out.

Proposal to simplify meetings

• JD: Summary: set one meeting goal, once a month to welcome new people...
• make agenda items available before meeting. Does anyone have any Qs/concerns?
• Loren: wants to breakout and talk about it with those who are interested. Sounds great
• JD: One concern raised was taking members once a month might be contradictory to our goal to raise moree $$. Monthly meeting w/ members will be long we will just have to deal with it. Someone could miss one meeting and have a whole extra month before an opportunity to join again.
• JVOL: propose every other week for membership apps. bigish meetings once a month. Keep the other three meetings tight, anything that goes over gets pushed to the big monthly meeting.

Discussion

Reworking our Anti-Harassment Policy and Code of Excellence

Elan: This is more of an FYI not a discussion for specific changes to these documents. There have been a previous calls to update these documents. If you have thoughts please check out the thread on the #Bravespace channel in Discord. (PLEASE USE THREADS IF YOU WANT TO DIVE INTO A SPECIFIC TOPIC).

Live-doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/14BlMYh-i1CbzUGj_AaqaF-YI2sL4WNokhJxEbev0G-U/edit?usp=sharing

• JD: removed the 38% of document related to pornography. Dana pointed out that when NB started, there was more of an active community around sex work, and performing arts (max paraphrasing). Walking in to someone watching porn on a computer contributes to a hostile environment

• JD: asking to table, bc this discussion is specifically about the AHP.
• Elan: we can add that as a discussion item
• JVOL: We asked for a group of volunteers to reduce the online footprint of noisebridge, which was never addressed.
• JD: We will add as another discussion item.

Requesting permission for 2 murals in the hackitorium

Mural 1: https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2021/10/01/promo-min_wide-19aa2e137ebf6ec71dd51fcea67585385b64ce8d-s1600-c85.webp From: https://www.npr.org/2021/10/02/1042048780/stop-getting-interrupted-tips

Mural 2: https://www.pabsttheatergroup.com/assets/img/Event-Images-Website-Night-Vale1600-x-556-EVENT-IMAGE-46a7f87830.jpg

Relay: welcome to night vale might not be noisebridge. I understand why people might be opposed Elan: it's old and not noisebridge, but I really like it. JD: is this the first mention of this? Elan: Planning on them both being whiteboard sized, can be put on plywood. Everyone: Yeah go, let's do it Nicole: Amazing to have plywood that can be moved because we won't lose them if we ever move spaces. David: could we line the walls in general? Would keep spray paint off the walls. All art we put up should be on a canvas, because it's more professional, and keeps the space tidy. JD: It was pointed out that there is a long-standing tradition of painting on the walls on noisebridge. Expect it to get painted over if someone doesn't like it. It can be a drain on people who are always painting over inapropiate stuff. Elan should get nothing but respect for asking before hand for approval. It's up to the artist to throw on the wall if they want it to be transient, or take it with us if we move to another space, it would have to be on something removable. Elan: originally envisioning on the wall, but now asking plywood. Max: would Noisebridge be paying for the materials? Elan: Nope! JD: Elan, no one opposes after asking, you have permission to go for it. Elan: \o/

Discussion about working groups

• JVOL: has a refinement, not a solution to the problem. It was pointed out that in the last meeting, our approach to problem solving is ad-hoc...
• JVOL: two meetings ago it was concensed that we would like to see a smaller footprint online bc it's overwhelming and difficult to get things done.
• JD: are we talking about the wiki or online presence more broadly (discord, slack, etc)
• JVOL: it would be a lot better for the community to reduce the footprint. That was agreed and consensed...
• JD: do you have an approach
• JVOL: yes, that's what I was saying. We need a working group of 2-3 people or more with the skills to carry it out. What we need is volunteers, that's where we are now.
• David: what is the problem with the footprint to the outside world?
• JVOL: people are showing up for meetings that don't exist
• JD: things on meetup?
• JVOL: probably. we now have a physical list of things that people are showing up for that don't exist. We have conflicts of use of space. Person A says "this was already shared" and Person B said "Well I didn't know that exists"/
• JD: this is what you want to look at with the group?
• JVOL: yes
• Loren: shared calendar would be good. Disagree with getting rid of things.
• JVOL: That's already been concensed
• Loren: Concensus is a process that is documented on the wiki
• JVOL: We had a meeting and there was an opportunity for people to bring it up
• JD: this was several meetings ago
• Nemo: There definitely wasn't a large C concensus
• Mark: I'm seeing a misunderstanding of big C and small C concensus.
• JVOL: then why did I go to the meeting?
• Loren: NB is a bunch of ppl who choose to show up. If you tell people and they choose to take part, then it happens, it's not telling the president they have to do it.
• JD: it sounds like you want to meet about the online presence. Let's get some bots going for updating scheduled events and notifying people, etc. There are technical solutions, and it sounds like John wants to get together and talk about it.
• JVOL: it's really annoying to me that this is being addressed as "what john wants" it's really starting to piss me off.
• Nicole: is this written down anywhere? The proposal, specifcally the cleanup you wan t to do.
• JVOL: no bc we don't know what we want to do yet.
• Nicole: does anyone want to be involved.
• Mark: will help
• Mark: we are clearly miscommunicating something
• JVOL: yes very much
• Mark: you havee announced the intent. The question is what do you expect to happen at the meeting that isn't happening. It seems like you want more than "this is what you want to do, please join us." I don't think this is closed until we understand what John wants.
• JVOL (john): it's very frustrating that two meetings later I'm being told "well no, it didn't count.
• Loren: I'd like to update my comment. I'm blocking a previous consensus item bc no one is here to advocate for it. I want to force discussion so it gets talked about, rather than push around..,.,
• JVOL: how is this different than the mural?
• Loren: you have our blessing to meet and get volunteers
• JVOL: I don't get why it's not OK to ask for volunteers
• everyone, generally: no that's not it
• Elan: I pasted meeting notes you are referring to. The notes are a little sparse, what I remember is that this is an issue, you want to find people to help work on it. I thought it was an announcement, and you wanted to get together with people to create a proposal. I think the difference btwn this and the mural is that people would be very sad if we lost all our records on the wiki. You don't need a small C consensus to get a group of volunteers together to work on this.
• JVOL: That actually specifcally adressed when proposal was brought up
• JD: what do you want?
• JVOL: it sounds like it was blocked
• Loren: I'm against idea of deleting or erasing things. I'm also confused by the systems I don't have access to and can't help with
• JD: no one is proposing deleting things, I don't think anyone in this room is against meeting and planning.
• Nemo and Mark and Gwen agreed to join the task force
• JVOL: OK good.

A new event

• Nicole: Me and my friend would like to host an event middle of May. We want to benefit founders with Neuroscience... Our plan is to have food, do the assessment that is created, and already being run regularly. Thinking May 11th or 12th (THURS-FRI). What is not very Noisebridge-y is price.
• Natalia: I think we can actually do for free. It's really good at finding matches for professionals. Lots of startups looking for a cofounder, but can't find the right match. Tested at the hacker dojo in Mountain View, seemed good. More testing... This will be fourth time. It's hard to expect a group of twenty people will have a match, so low probability but it helps participants get clarity about what they need, and what they lack on their team. I would like to make it nonprofit. We will have to clarify the details. Encouraging donations, but do not force to pay.
• JD: how much space, how many people, do you need a/v, etc, etc
• Nicole: We won't close off anything, there will be two speakers, one from coffee space, and another from new hacker dojo.
• JD: so in main hackitorium? You can sit about 50 in here. People may cycle through and you are fine with that.
• Nicole: yeah
• JD: would you do an online signup?
• Nicole: we were thinking if we could get enough people, we'd get a food truck
• JD: historically we've had issues, but circumstances were different. Still we ask that sponsor be there until the end of the cleanup
• Mark: (to nicole) will you be the sponsor?
• Nicole: yes
• Natalia: We want to collaborate and network, open up to introduce Noisebridge
• Elan: Nicole could you write out the event pitch on Discord?
• Natalia: I'm not sure who to send description to
• JD: There is an events channel on discord. Nicole, as a person from NB, I'm going to let you find the individual to introduce Noisebridge.
• JD: various ways to charge for event and split btwn noisebridge. The laser classes, for example have a reservation cost, and a greater donation when someone shows up. Can also put out the coffee cans and QR codes, or sell merch.
• Nicole: those are good ideas, yes.

Follow-up on AHP policy at JVOL's request

• JVOL: didn't quite get to all my discussion items
• JD: We're about bringing forward proposals, getting them concensed, and getting on with our lives
• JVOL: That's the opposite of what just happened, but yeah.
• Mark: Does this have to do with changing the AHP?
• JVOL: didn't see it. I was told this should be a separate item. I'm bringing it back up. It was brought up a few meetings ago. Mentioned we deal with things ad-hoc, either fixing leaky window, or problem with a member. If the problem is a leaky window, there is no controversy. If the problem is a person, or behavior, you don't get to skip the step of defining, you are the problem. There needs to be more of a step here, because if you create an ad-hoc group, the people who don't like that person show up, outvote him, and it's done. There needs to be more than whoever doesn't like them shows up and tells them to go to hell. I've seen it elsewhere, and I've seen it here.
• Sam: the recollection of the events two weeks ago, no one got voted out, and no one was acted to leave. there was no secret cabal. I want to make sure we are clear on that.
• Mark: My comment is somewhat related but more general. It should be clear to both the community and individual about why they are being asked to step back from the space. NB is an ever changing organism, sometimes this happens more often than other times. We have a clear AHP which outlines grounds for removal. In every case, where there was harassment, we default to the view that someone believes the policy is being broken and needs to be taken care of. Maybe sometimes things slip through the cracks and we need to do a better job of that.
• JVOL: to say the least
• Mark: The messaging might not be clear until lots of investigation is done. It still can and should happen afterwards, examination is never off the table, but that should probably not... we shouldn't overburden ourselves with unnnesesary noise from the community. Someone might disagree with the recounting of the events, and we need to resolve that. We can't just bring it to every meeting and make a big discussion about it (working groups wink, wink) to clarify what is going on, whether there were mistakes made, etc. Relevant and interested parties can be brought in.
• David: it's really simple, get a member involved to get someone to leave, and same for you if someone asks you to leave. It might not be the season for a particular person, but they can leave, take a break, and come back. I've had to remove myself to take a break from people at NB before. In some cases you should remove yourself, the world does not revolve around noisebridge.
• Mark: to give some context, this particularity is more complicated than an "Ask to Leave". It was a messy, long drawn out affair. We can fill you in if you want, but I don't think it's needed. While I agree with you (david), what did happen is not a mutual separation, it's more of a kicking out. Several people feel it may not be handled the best.
• JVOL: My objection is not to taking it to a smaller group. Not worth addressing in multiple meetings. The meetings are a lot smaller when there are less controversial things to say. I'm concerned about how the small group is formed. When there's a conflict, someone initiates, and people gather against them and they form the working group. There's a reason this country finds 12 disinterested people.
• Mark: I would like to pick your brain more on that later.

Expensive Equipment rehash (See consensus items)

Mark, JD: The topic is dead. Mark put it up in place of someone else, and it hasn't been raised again.

Changing the Slack status to Dues-Paying members only

• Mark: The idea was brought up that Discord could have channel only members can talk in, but everyone can see. Another option is booting everyone on Slack that is not a dues-paying member.
• Nemo: what's the reason
• JD: we are getting spamming by trolls
• JVOL: might also satisfy some of the simplification drive.
• Mark: I want people to chew on that, think about downsides and upsides so we can discuss it later. I don't want to put words in Farley's mouth, but I want to put the idea out there.
• Loren: is icked out by both ideas, but a members only talking spaces, I'd be more on the side of the viewable discord channel. We already have the freedom to message whoever whenever, and I don't want to enshrine a class difference.
• Nemo: what happens if we need to move btwn public and private forum.
• Mark: Wants less noise and less signal
• JVOL: if that were to go forward, I'd propose 30 day access people also be included.

Can we sell painting rights on the fence as a NB fundraiser?

Joyce made a triangle-based design for the front gate to allow people to slot in their own art in triangle/hex pieces. Can we sell paint-rights to triangles as a fundraiser? https://discord.com/channels/720514857094348840/991541988337909780/1087789142219423754

no one opposes.

Do-ocratic Task Board

Participation also means doing stuff to contribute to the space. Propose new tasks or pick some tasks from Github, from what needs to be done around you, or whatever, and see if someone will sign up to work on that task. Anyone can sign up and it's a great way to show you are contributing!

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