<html>
<head>
<meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"
http-equiv="Content-Type">
</head>
<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">This isn't off topic at all. <i>Thank
you. </i>Forwarding email to our PR dude. To #4, I'd like to
mention this to help other spaces. We have a safe space agreement
that could be copied.
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://wiki.pumpingstationone.org/Safe_space_agreement_proposal">http://wiki.pumpingstationone.org/Safe_space_agreement_proposal</a><br>
<br>
As long as your board gets the ideas of openness, we put them out
(could be more prominent) that if you have a problem with the
space feeling uncomfortable, or anything say something to someone.
It gets back to someone on the board and they will try to fix it,
talk to people who need talking to. These act as behind the scenes
course corrections. Big suggestion, ours had to be passed by a
membership vote and there was a big bullshit debate over it. <b>Don't
be afraid to give your safe space agreement teeth.</b> Removing
people who are assholes most likely will not pass a full
membership vote, and is draining on everyone to have to deal with.
Trust in your board, make sure they reflect your ideas, and give
them the power to bar people. As inclusive as we are, the ability
to be selective fixes the 1% who inevitably will show up. <br>
<br>
On 01/18/2013 07:27 AM, Melissa Hall wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:CAF34_6b+sOuRZp9uijCy+A_7YRx2vbhnX8aXoZX8VLG+j4etEw@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">I don't think we can really have this conversation
without talking about feelings because being welcome, belonging,
comfort, these are all feelings. Still I respect that that
discussion seems to make some members feel uncomfortable and
powerless.
<div>
<br>
</div>
<div>Several people have asked for suggestions for actions. The
truth is I don't know your communities, so I can't
offer intelligent suggestions for your situation. But I can
suggest some things to think about-</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>1) Is Ravelry part of your social media strategy? If not why
not?</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>2) Is your space part of the art community and is the art
community part of your space? Artists made things before
technologists and do enjoy good tools. (The art community being
a part of the space from the beginning is one of the things I
think my space got right)</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>3) When you do outreach to promote your space, where do you
go? Are there other community organizations you might be
overlooking? For example in my community I would love to see
the maker space do some cross-promotion with the local roller
derby team (they do a monthly craft night we could host) and
the local edge theater group. And promoting in say, the local
LGBT center as well as the local game store might make more of
a difference than you expect.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>4) If someone is being made uncomfortable or unwelcome in
your space, what can they do about it? Are the choices to suck
it up, confront them directly or leave? Are those really the
options you want to offer? </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>If someone has trouble using tools, we train them. If
someone has trouble using the community (and abuses it as a
result) we shrug and act like nothing can be done. Maybe you
should consider the community of your space another one of your
spaces resources and treat it like you would a CNC router. You
get trained on how it works, and if you mess up the tool there
are consequences. Maybe we should treat the people in our
community as well as we treat our tools.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>And let me stress "nice" is a terrible standard of behavior.
Nice is just not upsetting anyone. I prefer people be polite
and that means sometimes people might get upset, but what
matters is that everyone behave in a way that allows for
comfortable social discourse, even when tempers are high or
things are distressing.</div>
<div><br>
<div class="gmail_quote">If this is declared off topic I will
drop it. If it is sent to a ghetto I will not follow.
However if we are not ready to talk about making
a community that is designed to include women, I wonder if we
will ever be ready to talk about making a community that is
designed to include other, less powerful, groups. </div>
</div>
<br>
<fieldset class="mimeAttachmentHeader"></fieldset>
<br>
<pre wrap="">_______________________________________________
Discuss mailing list
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:Discuss@lists.hackerspaces.org">Discuss@lists.hackerspaces.org</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss">http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss</a>
</pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
</body>
</html>