[sudo-discuss] jake's idea for sudoroom membership structure

[Jake]

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i confess i have no idea how to properly edit the membership wiki to add 
my ideas.

So i will just type them here, and maybe someone can help me put them into 
the wiki properly.

Sudo room/membership
Do we have it?

I think sudoroom does not currently have a membership structure in place. 
We are currently existing in a (most of the time) benevolent anarchy, 
resulting from equal parts luck, hard work by caring people, and security 
by obscurity.

I think we SHOULD have membership, which is clearly defined and binary 
(either you are a member in good standing, or a nonmember for whatever 
reason).  There should be a list of members which can be publicly 
accessed, with enough information about each member that they can be 
identified by any member (a description or picture provided by the member 
themselves) since we don't all "know" each other.

I think membership should be something that is in exchange for ONGOING
contribution to the community, as defined (continually) by the membership, 
on a person by person basis.  For example, $10 per month might be accepted 
by one person as sufficient, but another person might be required to pay 
$40 per month.  Or the group can decide that a persons offer to "clear and 
sweep the floor once a week" is sufficient.

Also the community should be able to refuse someone's membership, even if 
they are a current member who has been making their required contribution. 
Also the community should be able to change the requirement from a person 
based on information from them or anyone, to a higher or lower or 
different requirement.  The community should be able to declare that a 
person has not fulfilled their requirement and is, until they return to 
that requirement, temporarily not a member.

Does it [membership] confer special privelages?

I think that membership should confer special privelages including access 
to the space even if it is closed, for any community-approved uses.  A 
member can be there when no one else is there if they want to be.  Also 
while anyone can participate in discussions at meetings, only members can 
vote (or block consensus items).

I think a member should be able to "sponsor" a nonmember (or multiple of 
them) WHILE they are present in the space.  This way nonmembers can use 
the space any time a member who supports them is present, which should be 
easy for nonmembers who use the space properly in a cooperative way.  And 
for all nonmembers wanting to use the space, their sponsor can help them 
use the space properly.

I think that nonmembers should be nominally granted up to 24 added-up 
hours of access to the space without a specific sponsor.  This part is 
subtle and I urge people to think about the total effect of this "pseudo 
policy" before objecting.  If a nonmember behaves badly before they have 
used up 24 hours they can be asked to leave by a member, of course.  And 
if a nonmember behaves well it is likely that no one will even point out 
when their "24 hours" appears to have expired.

are there expectations of members, do they have responsibilities?

I think that all members should promise not to leave the space open 
without a member present.  This means that when an awesome nonmember is 
working on a project and you're the last member and you want to leave, you 
have to decide between staying to help them or asking them to return when 
the space is open.  It is also a good time to remind them that by 
contributing in a community-approved way, they can have 24-7 access.

One reason for members making this promise to each other is because 
members have accountability to one another, and were approved at a 
meeting, and can be contacted with questions by other members, and can be 
trusted.  However that trust does not extend to strangers and we must 
respect the process of meetings and accountability when we are not present 
to act as an advocate or translator for a nonmember we want to support.

Some practical reasons for not allowing nonmembers in the space alone 
include security of property and materials, projects and tools.  But also, 
the organization of the space and functionality of it is tied to human 
effort to make it a usable space.  People who are members are contributors 
to the space in one way or another, and they contribute toward the 
usability of the space.  It isn't fair to our fellow contributors to allow 
others to use and take from that space when we ourselves are not willing 
to supervise our own guests' use of the space.

How do you become a member?

People who want to become a member of the space must meet members of the 
space and learn about membership and the space.  They need to announce to 
the membership, through the discuss list, that they want to become a 
member and answer responses to their post so that members who might come 
to a meeting will be satisfied with their reasons for wanting to join. 
Also, use of the mailinglist demonstrates a basic ability to communicate 
and be accountable to other members in case they are accepted.

After making their desires known, they will come to meetings to get to 
know people, and announce that they would like to become a member.  They 
can discuss with the group what kind of contribution they feel comfortable 
making, based on their income or free time levels, and in the case of 
nonmonetary contributions, how they propose their contributions be tracked 
(could be an email declaring that they cleaned the space at 3PM today and 
saw certain members there who saw it happen)

I think that we should not do like noisebridge and expect a secret 
discussion, or expect a specific timeline for consideration of membership. 
If a person makes their bid for membership on the list and shows up to the 
nearest meeting after that, they should not expect to achieve membership 
for at least another week while the possiblity for objections is there. 
At their first meeting the announcement having been made, one week should 
be sufficient time for the membership to bring out any uncertainties.

If a person is a member of the space, they should not have any less 
accountability to the space than a nonmember (on the contrary).  This 
means that a member can be discussed at a meeting for questionable 
behavior and if necessary, have their membership revoked by the group. 
Consensus Minus One would be nice for this purpose but is too limiting in 
practice, because we hackers tend to be contrary and side with the 
underdog to a fault.  If a large portion of the membership agrees that a 
person is not a good fit for the space, the minority should not ask them 
to put aside their discomfort without convincing them of the reasons in 
dialogue.

Why is this necessary?

As I said in the beginning, i feel that sudoroom is riding on a streak of 
luck and hard work at the moment, and that we can't expect this to 
continue in the face of entropy.  We already have and will continue to see 
abuse of the space by people who have no feelings of accountability, and 
our members have no recourse or policy to address anything like that.  I 
know from experience what results from this, and it is sad.  The failure 
of Sudoroom would not be a sufficiently educational experience to justify 
allowing it to happen, when the lessons we would learn have been offered 
so many times in other places.

We talk about the challenge of diversity in a hackerspace like ours.  One 
thing we don't seek is diversity of people who are good and bad for what 
we're trying to do.  We do not invite drug dealers to sudoroom to sell 
meth to people from the street outside, even though it would please them 
greatly if they could use our space.  We don't invite meth addicts to 
browse our hacking materials shelves to find copper and aluminum to 
recycle so they can buy more drugs.

We also should not invite people to the space who are unwilling to behave 
in a way that is respectful to the members and guests whose interests we 
share, and want to share.  That means that, despite our aversion to 
exclusion, we need to choose between excluding some or excluding others.

For example, if we refuse abusive or disrespectful behavior and those who 
insist on it, we create an accessible space for people who avoid that 
behavior.  If we maintain an atmosphere of cooperation and care for each 
other and the hardware that is our space, we invite people from all 
backgrounds who seek to do the same things.  On the other hand, if we 
refuse this responsibility, we allow the tone to be set by those with the 
loudest voice, and the least to lose, and the quiet and self-respecting 
people will go elsewhere.

I ask that we look to the future to envision the challenges we can expect 
as we continue to grow and do more awesome things, and think about what we 
hope to achieve.  That is why we need to protect ourselves, each other, 
and our hackerspace, from complacency and entropy as best we can.

well, I feel that i have said more than enough about it for now, but if 
anyone has opinions on this i look forward to continuing the discussion.

- -jake
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