[hackerspaces] Question regarding member dispute

[Shirley Hicks]

> On Jan 4, 2016, at 10:01 PM, Silence Dogood <matt at nycresistor.com> wrote:
> 
> Frankly, if you are thinking you might need to call the police to deal with a member... that member needs to be gone.  You have no trust in them, and that is not a healthy member of a community.
> 
We’re not at that point. Both members are grown up enough that I don’t think it get that far. The issue for the board and the makerspace is working through our first conflict in a way that is reasonably productive (that we deal with it, learn from it and then get member buy-in to set rules in place to prevent it from happening again). 

— Shirley

Another question about process:

What are your internal steps? Are they to verbally counsel, then go to a written warning, or go to a written caution right away? I saw Dalla’s sample language (thanks Robert). What do you keep confidential and what may be made public as part of board minutes? Am also looking up US legal practice and governing laws re information privacy. 

— Shirley

> -Matt
> 
> On Mon, Jan 4, 2016 at 8:01 PM, Sam Ley <sam.ley at gmail.com <mailto:sam.ley at gmail.com>> wrote:
> On Mon, Jan 4, 2016 at 5:21 PM, Mark Rosenblitt-Janssen <dreamingforward at gmail.com <mailto:dreamingforward at gmail.com>> wrote:
> It's simple, either they behave as the community asks, or they forfeit
> their membership.  You have to bite the bullet and be willing to do
> it.
> 
> This is dead on.
> 
> We had a similar set of disputes with one member who wasn't breaking any of the big on-paper rules, but was very prone to conflict with other members, bad about working things out, always contacting the board with complaints instead of speaking with people directly, playing "mommy said/daddy said" with multiple board members when they didn't get answers the liked, prone to angry outbursts instead of discussion, etc. They managed to drive out one member, then another, over the course of a 6 month period.
> 
> We direct mediated a TON of conflicts over this time (including with other members who are trained mediators), but new issues kept popping up. When the third member (a very long-time and respected member) contacted us and said they were leaving due to this person, we knew we finally had to take action.
> 
> It was tough, but we do have a term in our lease/membership agreement where we can kick someone out immediately for breaking any of the rules, or with 30-days notice for no reason at all (we have a bit of a delay since the members keep large pieces of property and tools at our shop - if it was a more traditional hackerspace model we would have both time frames be "immediately"). We met with the member, gave them notice, and that was that. It was hard to do, and the member said every toxic thing we thought they would about us (I'll call my lawyer, its because of so-and-so isn't it?, its because of my gender, its because you don't respect REAL creatives, etc.).
> 
> But they left, and things have been MUCH better. We cleared the way for some great new members, old members are happier, and I realized that letting things go that long was the worst decision. We were uncomfortable kicking someone out (it was our first one), but after doing it I realize we should have done it much sooner. You aren't calling someone a bad person by kicking them out, you aren't taking their livelihood or anything major. You are just telling them not to show up anymore. Your members trust you to make the space a good one, and sometimes you have to be the bad guy for a day.
> 
> The other local space here gave us some good insight when we discussed the situation with them - they have had to make the same decision a few times, and gave the same advice I'm giving now - if you've tried a few times to get someone to play nice, and they won't - ask them to leave. Just that simple, and once it is done you'll wish you did it sooner.
> 
> Sam Ley
> Phoenix Asylum, Boulder, CO
> 
> 
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