[hackerspaces] Member Polices/Agreements

[Far McKon]

Yes, people want to know the norms of the spaces. Frankly, Rules are
just one way of communicating a baseline standard of how to deal with
the space, people in the space, etc.  Why they have a bad association
for people is a big topic, which I won't touch here.

One way or another people need to know how to interact. I've seen
(from housing co-op experience) that often not having rules is a
bigger barrier to creating a good culture, than having them is. IE,
people don't know what is good/bad/normal, and sometimes rules are a
good way to communicate a baseline.

> more of "what is the API for accomplishing things"

2 points! I think that is an amazingly keen way to put it (for
hacker/developer) types.

hack on,
- Far McKon

On Wed, Oct 6, 2010 at 7:59 PM, Carlyn Maw <carlynorama at gmail.com> wrote:
> we're
> slooowwly trying to think less in terms of "what are the rules" and
> more of "what is the API for accomplishing things"
>
> How to empower good behavior rather having to go around shaking
> fingers at people...
>
> On Mon, Oct 4, 2010 at 12:58 PM, punkin3.14 <punkin at mag3.14159.ca> wrote:
>> On 10-10-04 1:02 PM, Matthew Forr wrote:
>>> I think our first rule is 'Don't make us make a rule',
>>
>> Although that's not an official rule at KwartzLab, our Board does try
>> very hard NOT to make rules. We'd much rather influence behavior through
>> social pressures and culture, than through law.
>>
>> Right now, the only rule we have that would explicitly result in a
>> somebody being stripped of their membership is chronic failure to pay
>> dues. In any other circumstance, the Board doesn't even have the
>> authority to strip somebody of their membership; its up to the
>> membership as whole.
>>
>> Most of the conflicts we've had have been related to mis-communication,
>> so that's what we've been focusing on lately: encouraging members to
>> keep each other in the loop of what happens in the space, and with
>> member property in the space. This ties in strongly with what Nate had
>> to say about labeling :) I like that word "connectocracy".
>>
>> We are a not-for-profit Corporation in the province of Ontario, so we do
>> have a Board of Directors who assume ultimate liability in the event of
>> catastrophic horror. As such, we have been discussing whether or not we
>> need actual rules governing the use of heavy machinery, and if so, what
>> they might be. But even there, we'll be keeping them as minimal as
>> possible, and likely won't have penalties built in. If something does go
>> wrong, we want to talk about the actual problem, and not some rule that
>> was broken. Rules don't keep people safe, and don't absolve Directors of
>> liability.
>>
>>
>> --
>>
>>    |\___/|   Punkin3.14
>>    )     (
>>   =\     /=     punkin at mag3.14159.ca | http://punkin3.14159.ca
>>     )===(
>>    /     \          Relaxen,
>>    |     |            und watschen der blinkenlichten
>>   /       \
>>   \       /
>> /\_/\__  _/_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\
>>  |  |( (  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
>>  |  | ) ) |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
>>  |  |(_(  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
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