[sudo-discuss] Sudo Room's Values, Participation, etc

[Matthew Senate]

Hey all, I've been thinking about some things and wanted to share a few
thoughts:

Reflecting on this: https://sudoroom.org/wiki/Articles_of_Association#Values

I'm of the disposition that sudo room as a collective values "open, public
discourses over closed proprietary processes" and I believe in good faith
that this is held and executed by sudoers generally. I appreciate when
folks want to offer positive acknowledgements, suggestions for improvement,
and support to fellow community members. I also think that sudoers
generally practice "do-ocracy over bureaucracy" with an added element of
"access and transparency over exclusivity" in order to help that do-ocracy
remain accountable and enable us to "solve real problems over
hypotheticals, while respecting visions of the future."

Ultimately, it is my perspective that sudo room's various participants are
interested in acting based on "community and collaboration over isolation
and competition" not the other way around. I do not think things are
perfect, but I think by and large folks do a good job of these things and
everyone is interested in improving.

>From this point of view, I would like to express my excitement and
encouragement for folks to reach out in various ways to add value to sudo
room, and also to share and communicate at appropriate times. I firmly
believe that the work executed on a recent topic, a particular grant
application <http://soex.org/alternativeexposure/>, was appropriate, and
that while a message indeed would have been fine or even nice, ultimately,
it was brought to everyone's attention at the right time--just before it
was due seeking help and when it was confirmed that sudo would actually be
a recipient of funds. I barely even remember working on it--I believe I
gave some feedback or something, or perhaps was distracted by something
else, I don't know. To be honest, applying to grants can feel like a game
of chance, so I didn't put emotional stock into it.

In other words, I personally don't see any problem with folks reaching out
on their own in order to add value to sudo room, especially when
information is brought to light when the value-add is actually feasible or
even confirmed. For instance, I think it's a great efficiency that Marc
found a craigslist post for a free, modern, color printer, reached out to
the poster, confirmed the pickup, picked it up, dropped it off at
noisebridge, returned with a car to retrieve it from noisebridge, hauled it
upstairs, cleaned the walkway area adjacent to the elevator, ran an
ethernet cable, installed shelves, and plugged in the printer itself. It is
unnecessary for him to have said anything about this for it to be a
value-consistent value-add to sudo room. It could be nice, even
advantageous to post it--maybe someone could have picked it up from
noisebridge on their way home?--but in the end, it doesn't matter, and now
this great resources is available for us to share and use.

This to me is do-ocracy, and the minutia of timing the communication is
less important if there is nothing to lose. Applying to grants gives us
absolutely nothing to lose. I say: reach out.

// Matt
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