Meeting Notes 2026 05 19

These are the notes from the The 864th Meeting of Noisebridge.

Date	2026-05-19
Note-taker[s]	Nthmost, -
Moderator[s]	Jet

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Meeting Summary

Meeting 864 covered fundraising efforts, space layout for an upcoming event, and ongoing projects including fridge labeling and sewing room reorganization.

• Announcements: Racket meetup first Saturday monthly at 3pm; organ repair day #2 May 30 in music room
• Fundraising Update: Judy seeking 6 volunteers for 10-day creative challenge with NERD prize (novelty, engineering, ridiculousness, discernment); multiple attendees announced donations
• Finances: Zacchae is new treasurer; $500 allocated for downstairs drink station project; forward questions to treasurer@noisebridge.net
• New members: None
• New associates: None
• Consensus Items: None
• Discussion Items:
  1. Event setup: quieting machines by 7pm June 12; post signage on equipment.
  2. Stage placement: clear main area via do-ocracy; mark items for limbolandia; preserve kiln.
  3. Space closure protocol: create switchboard with colored light indicators (green/yellow/red).
  4. Food labeling: print "Do Not Hack, Do Eat" labels for communal items.
  5. Downstairs drink station: $500 budget allocated; location near bathroom drain.
  6. Knitting machine: track usage through September 1; group exploring replacement options.
  7. Sewing room: cleaning overhaul starting Thursday; label all items with names/dates/DNH tags.

Introductions

• Name - Last time you donated to NB, and why you did

• Trevor - Last week, testing out the 420 response + NB is awesome
• Joseph (Jojo) - I believe in NB and intend to donate more
• Judy - has an ongoing donation to noisebridge
• Zacchae - when Daniel was first setting up the consoles i donated am'ts to start the hype train
• Heather - green tea genmaicha, wanted more non-coffee options
• Chaz - some am't of days in the future. invented NoiseQuest
• Jeremy - gonna donate for the laser cutter tonight
• Nthmost - Donated hexagon light in front entrance and other objects and drinks that ppl are buying as donations.
• Dennis - last time was several weeks ago, just started part-time job!
• Ahn - last week just to see the 6-7 animation
• Jet - donated as part of my membership TODAY
• Sophia - to do various CSS injections on the donation TVs
• JD -
• Caitlin -
• Newman -

Short announcements and events

• Sophia:
• - Racket meetup, first saturday per month at 3 in lead-up to racketcon

• Chaz: may 30 time TBD is organ repair day #2 - music room

Excellence

Our One Rule is to Be Excellent to Each Other.

Chaz: leave stuff better than you found it and don't be a dick

What does that mean? Please see our page on excellence https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Excellence!

Anti-Harassment Policy & Community Standards of Excellence

Noisebridge has an Anti-Harassment Policy!

Everyone is expected to follow the Anti-Harassment Policy, please familiarize yourself with it.)

For approachable & specific guidelines see: Community Standards

Please note: https://safespace.noisebridge.net/ is one way to quickly raise issues which will be seen by people in Discord.

Brief Kudos

Heather: to michael newman for briefly getting the sewing room table fully flat before the heat ruined it

Chaz: to Chris + Blue for the woodworking class, witnessed 3 others in the space who also learned a LOT.

Kavya: sewing circle folks for keeping it awesome -- they're always keeping it awesome, really friendly, always doing.

Membership

2nd week read-outs: Newman, Heather (2 more weeks until they become Core Members)

Chaz: been here a month, inspired to help people do more cool stuff

Jeremy: past month and a half, would like to be here more in the mornings, be able to open up the space. Would love to become a laser trainer. Needs a sponsor (Heather would like to sponsor but will wait until they are Core Member)

tell Jeremy to contact the Laser Trainers channel audio is out on Jitsi

Consensus Items

[I don't think there are any --nthmost]

Discussion Items

1: Judy prepping for creative event

On topic	prep for creative event
From/Raised by	Judy
Seeking	discussion

Judy: We're looking for 6 hackers or sewers or carpenters, we'll give you a story at the end of May and you'll have 10 days to make SOMETHING that fits this story. the NERD prize: for novelty, engineering, ridiculousness, and discernment of the story. Be looking for ppl to volunteer, don't need to spend too much time on it, it's for fun. will post this on the discord too.

Questions we have: the QR code upstairs goes to entering credit cards and we found paypal and stripe, but not VEnmo -- is there any reason NB doesn't have Venmo

Zacchae: i am now the treasurer, i'm still working w/ Loren to get the ability to do things, he still has access. best way, fwd any questions to treasurer@noisebridge.net and Loren and I will put ourheads together and figure that out.

Judy: cool

Zacchae: yeah we don't have a Venmo right now

Judy: what do ppl like to use?

Zacchae: a lot of Stripe, credit cards, whatever. can also use Apple Pay on Stripe.

Nthmost: the more acc'ts we have the more complicated it is for NB to manage -- i'm not sure ppl are struggling to donate for lack of Venmo

Judy: question 2, i love how this all looks down here, the screens are great. we know teh limit for an audience is 49.

Zacchae: we can move stuff

Jet: recommend to talk to Julius

Zacchae: could also talk to Alex (LX) on discord

Nthmost: i think this is worth a separate standalone discussion topic

Judy: Starting at 5:30pm and by 7pm we need it quiet. Friday June 12th.

Zacchae: so no big machine noises -- we'll keep ppl from cutting, running the laser cutter filter.

Heather: we should put signage on the machines to let ppl know we wanted quiet

Frank: can we silence the doorbell?

Judy: I think it's OK, not a big deal. someone can stand by the gate.

Jet: advise against propping the door open, it's resulted in a lot of bad stuff happening.

2: the Stage, where's it gonna go

On topic	the Stage, where's it gonna go
From/Raised by	Naomi
Seeking	consensus building

Naomi: We want to lay things out with the stage under teh dragon prefereably. and the stuff like the lounge and crt louge are hard to move and we just set it up.

Chaz: all of those shelves --

Naomi: nope, those are bolted to the ground

Chaz: uh, ok, n/m! but aren't we gonna hit our heads on the dragon

Newman: nah not really. but the electronics living here downstairs is an open question, a lot of clutter just building up here.

Judy: the NGALAC doesn't have wheels... if that's not functional, then we'll have to move that too

Jet: far as i'm aware, most of these things are planned for removal, idea is to have this entire section from this lounge area to the bare wall + knitting machine, this whole area will be basically empty. tables move out of the way, the projection stuff will be moved, etc. Wish Julius was here but yeah we just need to keep going with this. DUMPSTER RUN

Chaz: let's coordinate a get-it-done time

Heather: what ppl tend to do is get a cpl ppl together and do-ocracy it, then ppl can pull things back if they think it needs saving

Naomi: chaz, after a meeting a is a good time to grab people and get started clearing stuff in the main area

JD: if we're gonna meet and then decide, can we publicize the hell out of that so ppl are aware... a lot of stuff has disappeared that shouldn't have

Jet: we'll makr everything we're going to remove, make sure it goes through the limbolandia process. Limbolandia is basically a proxy for the dumpster.

JD: can we keep the kiln, please?

3: shutting down the space

On topic	cultural practices on shutting down the space vis-a-vis automated lights
From/Raised by	naomi
Seeking	decision

naomi: mostly for people who are here late at night. and some people who leave the place and proactively close down the space with the lever before the last person actually leaves. We might not have the right group of people to talk about that.

Chaz: status light at the front door. green yellow red

Heather: i was under the impression it was basically open as long as there were ppl willing to give a tour

Naomi: yep

Jet: i made the system on the door, the automation w/ Naomi, etc - part of the reason we have the discord status aren't disappointed when they come to find that it's actually closed. that usually applies for early afternoons ... but 10pm it's almost certainly open, then after that it's less likely, understood why ppl would want to close it down, but it's a literal sign of when there's litereally no one left

Zacchae: sounds like: 1. there's ppl in NB and 2> when is NB open to the public. problem there is that the automations shouldn't be tied to the OPEN/CLOSE thing.

Heather: that pt about warning ppl in advance.. if i expect to leave the space at a diff't time than i normally would, i'll post int he discord channel, maybe that's a useful pattern -- for access members to say when they're about to leave the space earlier than expected --

Jet: clarifying heathers point that they leave in the middle of the day sometimes

Naomi: There is a tech solution as in a colored light to signify open(green) closed (red) and yellow.

Chaz: yeah, 2nding Zacchae and Naomi, have two different switches, one that's the BIG close and one that's like the "yellow"

Naomi: just want something to control the internals of the space.

Michael: what if someone just walks through

Jet: if you're at NB you're in no obligation to let ppl in - so for ppl saying "I don't want anyone coming in after a certain time", you don't have to technically close down the space to make that possible.

Ken: previously what it boiled down to w/ close/open, the rule of thumb esp when dark outside, we close the door so it's not wide open. and last person just turned off the lights.

Newman: push for more centralized controls unit at the bottom of the stairwell? still keep the automation, invest more of a centralized unit in the front entrance

Chaz: thinking about diff between literally open/closed versus displaying open/closed so we have an indicator

Naomi: GREAT i will create a switchboard and redo the animations.

Jet: sweet

4: labelling food

On topic	labelling food
From/Raised by	Heather
Seeking	decision/outcome/advice/[?]

our body's got dehydration issues, some food is in communal areas, just wondering how best to label so it's clear it's teheref or a reason -- and check in accessibility channel before discarding.

Newman: i think no one's really stewarding the fridge,

Jet: a Do Not Hack tag?

Heather: "do not hack, do eat?"

• a lot of assent

Judy: print a bunch of labels and then pop them on each item

Newman: that fridge is notorious for abandoned stuff, so if someone goes thru and clears it out they may have ahd the best intensions

Heather: it was a nonperishable chicken soup mix that would have been good for years

Chaz: an org system for the fridge, ppl do try to be cognizant of old food in the fridge

Frank: put dates, write what it is, etc

Jet: cool, great plan

5: downstairs drink station

On topic	downstairs drink station
From/Raised by	Chaz, Heather
Seeking	decision

Chaz: talked about putting a sink downstairs w/ Heather... potable water that looks potable

Newman: try asking a company to donate a water fountain

Naomi: we've already allocated $500 to this project

Jet: so SOMEBODY will spend up to $500 towards this and then you'll say "i would like a reimbursement" and then Zacchae will reimburse you (with provided receipts)

Heather: i was expecting a sink but if we can do a drinking fountain let's make sure it's one that

Ken: what about Farley water?

Jet: the Farley water setup is there

Naomi:

Zacchae:

JD: where will it go, is it near an existing drain?

Ken: near the bathroom in the back area, there's already a drain in the floor

JD: great, make the new patio into a new kitchen

Frank: if the biggest concern is drinkable water, we just order as a subscription...

• general dissent against subscriptions to water

Judy: sometimes it's the pipes...

• a whole bunch more popcorn back and forth about this

Jet: ok we're cutting this here

6: knitting machine

On topic	knitting machine
From/Raised by	Jet
Seeking	accountability check

Jet: quick recap, we have talked about getting rid of this machine, we have ppl who want to keep the machine. we've made an agreement to track its usage until Sept 1.It has to be able to give itself justification for being here.

Naomi: expectation is by sept 1st, there is a group that wants to do something with it

Newman: I think it should be used and if not, then get rid of it.

[No one has seen anyone using this machine in the past week.]

Frank: when is it that someone is around to train how to use this

Naomi: that's part of the problem

Newman: Loren is the main person who knows how to make something with it

Jojo: no matter how much i research it, there's no inxtructions-- if this machine is to be sold can we use some of those funds to get a cheaper easier to use machine, easier to understand

Ken: there's a manual one upstairs...

Zacchae: in theory... sure

Jet: if the idea is to sell that machine and buy a diff't kitting machine...

Zacchae: someone's gonna have to put their name on this

Chaz: tying into what Zacchae said, when ppl bring something in that they don't have a plan for... should we have some kind of ledger for it?

Naomi: we have the #donations channel that's a decent enough ledger

Frank: what if we can't sell it, can we donate it somewhere?

Jet: it's expensive to move it out of here

7: sewing room

On topic	sewing room
From/Raised by	Newman
Seeking	heads up

Newman: Cleaning overhaul going on in there, if you have items you care about, put your name and a date on it and a proper DNH tag -- we're gonna organize that space in the coming weeks. Fabric and machinery, all of it. STARTING THURSDAY.

Heather: so ppl should probably update bags w/ newer DNH tags

Zacchae: go look at tags now, message them to see if they still want their stuff, then

Newman: Oh and me and Loren went to Discount Fabrics and bought material to make a new awning for the front patio -- we need an artist to do a NB logo, we got this burgundy material

Jet: yep plenty of artists wanting to do murals here, just keep asking around

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!