Meeting Notes 2025 12 16

These are the notes from the The 844th Meeting of Noisebridge.

Date	2025 12 16
Note-takers	LX, Ben Kovitz
Moderators	Nthmost

Previous Meeting

Next Meeting

Introductions

• Frank: First weekly meeting. 6 months here. FPGAs.
• Darren: Used to come to 2169. I live in San Rafael now so haven't been back in about 8 years. Hacker superpower would be to be welcome and safe in any building in the world and say "I'm here" and be welcomed.
• Alex: My first day here, never been inside before. My hacker superpower would be something with electronics!
• Felipe: Argentina, here for some months. Superpower would be building things at will!
• Daniel: Been coming reg over a year. Ideal hacker superpower would be understanding CSS layout engine.
• OkZack: Coming couple years. One of the Laser teachers if you have questions. My superpower would be to make all smart phones not work between 10p and 8a because of digital "addiction".
• Adam: Coming last couple weeks, poked head in before that. Superpower conditional mindreading only when they play a game I'm making so I can get their unfiltered opinion.
• Xara: SF. Superpower would be to know the next step to do.
• Ben: Since 2009 about twice a year. Superpower would be knowing where to find everything at NB.
• Daniel: Coming couple weeks alt superpower would be knowing who to ask.
• David: Came a year ago didn't come regularly, first meeting. Superpower would be to make photorealistic pen drawings quick.
• Chris: My hacker superpower would be a cat with powers that could communicate with computers named Jomo whose powers only I could use.
• Trevor: Been coming 1/2 year or less, superpower would relate to the art I'd make like mindreading tech to control Unreal engine to make music videos and films with so I could think of particles and scenes in real time to make it.
• Chris: Moved here 2 days now, superpower would be to hack period.
• Andra: Chris' sister, superpower would be to hack every instrument with my mind.
• Martin: Coming 2 months. ?? robot noises
• Daniel: Coming few years, my superpower would be to procure missing products I forgot to bring for my project.
• JD: JD! Power would be Anticipating when laser filter will break down. Should be here soon.
• Anon: Coming for a while. CNC whisperer power!
• Naomi: Coming since 2009. Took few years off. Being able to externally convert from brain to wiki would be a power.
• LX: Coming for a while and power would be to make copies of people like Noisebridgers to do more awesome stuff.
• Fineline: Coming since 2012ish. My superpower is lurking on NB meetings from sushi restaurants :P

Short announcements and events

• Elan will be out of town for a while and he does lots of infra so out of office autoreply is in effect, DM and I'll eventually see it or msg on Signal be back Jan 12!
• Frank & Filipe: FPGA group or guild starting! Thinking of comp architecture ground up in January like from materials to semiconductors base components up.

Excellence

Our One Rule is to Be Excellent to Each Other. (On first Tuesdays, seek a few definitions. Other Tuesday, give a 1-3 sentence summary.)

• To be able to put yourself in other people's shoes and communicate and understand who they are.
• Think about the impact your actions may have on the people around you before you perform those actions.
• Ask good questions if you see something you don't understand.

What does that mean? Please see our page on excellence https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Excellence!

Brief Kudos

Recent examples of excellent behavior, say 3, unless the passion moves you.

• Ben: Alex on his first day here asked what's one thing he could do to help and learn. He sorted all the Dupont jumpers into MM, FF, and MF bins!
• Jet hosted the anniversary fundraiser and was key at a bunch of moments. Seconded.
• Alex, thanks for telling me the truth about blue cheese!
• Thanks to Felipe for showing around the place!

Zoning, Permitting, & Improvements -- Standing Item

Status this week? Helpful broad asks to the community? NB city bureaucracy WG -- JD & Alice, among others.

• We're done with that for the year. Final inspection early next week that's basically to make sure we have 2 sprinklers installed in hallway we did years ago in anticipation before building walls. As long as we don't have any open complaints we'll be done.

NB16 Status Update - Standing Item

(Brief after action discussion after meeting)

Guilds & WGs

• INFRA WG GUILD: Kubernetes Cluster is up and wants simple jobs running on it. It could track purchasing needs lik snacks and drinks and supplies.
• RUBBER DUCKY GUILD: You find a little duck to talk to about your problem and it helps you stand in for someone to talk to and figure a thing out! Someone can volunteer to be a live person to do it even better than a toy duck can. Made to be a real fake example guild but they have been writing their own duck meeting notes. Duck guild can promote restorative communication with their light hearted examples of good behavior.

   If newbies come in we can direct them to the affiliation group and the people who know about the thing for them to meet and join. Guilds idea came from gaming world.

New Members/Associate Members

What are they? Is anyone trying to become a Member or Associate Member? If not move on. No long discussions. Daniel: There's no price gate; you show up. In some sense everyone at NB is a member but there's trust levels like opening the space 24/7 is called Associate Member and you get access card and if you're the last one here closing you sweep nonmembers out.

• There's also Big M Members who can veto a consensus item to save the space from making a mistake till we talk it out some more.
• It's excellent to donate without being a member.
• David:
• Trevor:

Financial Report (first Tuesday of month only)

Anarchist societies under a capitalist state need money to survive and thrive, yo. DELAYED TILL LATER

• Monthly revenue, expenses. Big projects. Big fundraising events. Reserves in bank.
• Any other details by those participating in handling our financials
• The latest financial reports from the treasurer are available at https://noisebridge.net/wiki/Finances

Spending Needs

Gotta spend money on XYZ (i.e. Gate, wiring etc.). WHO CAN SIGN THE CHECK OR LEND THE CREDIT CARD!?!?! It doesn't matter if we agree to do something and it can’t be paid for.

Fundraising Update

How's it all going AUCTION: nb.wtf/auction

Big C Consensus Items

Nobody likes 3 hour meetings, only explain if new people are present. https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Current_Consensus_Items

Consensus Items

Only for talking about Big C consensus items, small c consensus items should be discussed with people at the space at the time of the change/new item.

• Daniel: New names for types of membership. Trust levels would be named.
• Day 1 donor members would be anyone who wants to donate.
• Associate Member would be access members.
• Big M Member would be Steward Member.
• Current membership
• There's lots of people who are very involved but aren't formally members.
• For someone new they shouldn't need to understand the whole anarchist mindset to feel like members.

New name: "Supporting member" for a member who is doing a recurring donation. Current "Associate member" would become "Access member", since that person controls access to the space. "Big M member" would become "Steward member".

• Nthmost: I like how you let community bang on the words in response to feedback.
• I like that as well so we don't have to explain what associate member is, its basic sales not to have to explain what it means. Thanks for putting forward.
• Trevor: Fan of naming things what they are instead of random words.
• : For new people coming in, wondering how do I plug into this community it gives them a sense of how to plug in.
• JD: sees no downside whatsoever, no reason not to make this change
• Nthmost: Seems like it was discussed well already.
• Loren: Can you repeat.
• Daniel: Supporting, Access, Steward.
• Its useful for people to feel sense of inclusion to encourage people to go to the next tiers.
• Loren: Access member... There's a separate notion of guest like giving people day access for a month. The language could maybe include people who are not yet on the ladder. Want to think more on what the initial steps could

A

• Loren: Our bylaws use the term "member" as the trusted level. We will have to update the bylaws.
• David: What is the business structure that controls the org?
• Nthmost: 501c3 has a board and membership to elect the board. We assign as little power and as much responsibility to the board. We want as much power in the membership and not the board to prevent takeovers. Would the different member types be interchangeable in the bylaws?
• David: Whos exec director?
• Loren: We don't have one we begrudgingly have secretary and treasurer.
• Nthmost: I liked 'policy member'.

LX: the two danger zones that can happen are: board takes over (this has destroyed other hackerspaces), and corrosion of culture until the original spirit gets trampled. Main prevention is whoever elects the board and whoever nominates or sponsors new opeple -- these are keepers of the culture -- if we make all of those people consensus participants we end up with potential disasters. If 51% have the power to vote in something new, they can undo everything--and then we're HackerDojo.

• Loren: Big M members select board by bylaws. We extended voting to associate members. We might want to write this into our bylaws. Membership could reflect this.
• Nthmost: Interesting to see NB adapt to different times. Feels natural. Policy member is clearer for Big M than steward since access members also steward.
• Daniel: It's a little bit too hierarchical to have "Big M", but that's tongue-in-cheek. You're already at 99% by walking in and its just a matter of taking on some "burdens" by getting more involved.
• Loren: You don't have to be a policy member. I don't like ladder hierarchy. Coming in getting involved in guilds and projects around the space. Not defense industry coding intended but challenge coins for example. We want people to participate in a way that feels good to them.

• Nthmost: It's possible that we'll figure out a way to separate levels from membership types.
• Trevor: You were talking about different activities people had to do to get to Big M? I think that's fun I wanted to add on to that.
• Loren: We want people to come into space and for membership to be a thing that happens through guilds perhaps not sure if thats a direction it needs to go. Both sewing and others have worked on access control solutions. We have worked out ways for that to be as good as the front door access is.
• Trevor: That could be cool if different types of challenges and levels could exist for fun. Not mandatory to use the different rooms and guilds.

• LX: I think the idea of each guild as its own culture, with its own merit badges and that kind of thing--there's a place for that. But the idea of membership is as general as possible.
• LX: We can discuss this a long time and we can tweak the names, but does anyone see a problem with the proposal?
• Alex: I like the idea of making your own badge. As a way of learning things and creating a record of accomplishment. Laser engraved things and the like and specifics can be individual to the person.
• Trevor: When people come in we could have some gamification of things possible here like badges here and a course like woodworking badge electronics badge etc.
• Loren: It sounds like we have rough consensus and we could separate ideas for membership as discussion items.
• Nthmost: Yes.
• Chris: Do these memberships with different responsibilities have different levels of training?
• Nthmost: Daniel, does the proposal as written have any requirements for training?
• Daniel: We're not changing anything that's required for Associate Member. You get a walkthrough of the space. Julius brought up Noisebridge merit badges a couple months ago, and I think it's cool, but it requires work from a lot of people.
• Chris: It's expected that if you've been a member for a long time, people can come to you for information.
• LX: In software, the word "maintainer" often means the people who know about stuff and you can ask them. We'll probably have multiple names for these things.
• Nthmost: I'd like to encourage people to think more creatively about guilds, but now we're getting off the topic.

Discussion Items

(discussion item) 1: January 3 Laser Light Show — Update & Vote Request

From/Raised by: Chris yogi

Seeking: Seeking lowercase-c consensus on January 3, 2026 event

• Chris: The proposal says we want to address the concerns of the neighbors.
• We addressed things from last time and added that we want to see where we're at if anyone had any other concerns and things to discuss about it. It's getting close.
• Chris: I've secured the insurance for the event. I expect $500 guaranteed profit for Noisebridge, plus whatever we get for donations.
• Nthmost: It sounds like $500 guaranteed for use of Noisebridge at a time when it's underutilized anyway.
• We commit to $500 gauranteed to donate to NB night of the event.
• Chris has a license!
• Are lasers shooting up at ceiling? Effects going back and fourth like a show, area 51, aliens props, to get really cool photos and cool atmosphere.
• LX: No lasers being shot off outside?
• Chris: No.
• Are the lasers shooting up on the ceiling? No line of sight?
• Chris: No. It'll be cool-looking stuff, lasers in smoke. These aren't the kind of lasers that can blind your eye, anyway. We're using really low watts.
• Loren: Security concerns seem addressed.
• Nthmost: Last call for comments.
• Start: 10pm ends at 3am. No alcohol. I'd be here setting up and will break down.
• Will there be music with the lasers?
• Chris: Of course.

• Loren: Reminder of member sponsors.
• Chris: Ken and weezy will be here. LX too.
• Naomi: Sold to the raverman!

• Jan 3 Laser Light Show — Update Proposal: I wanted to share an update on the January 3rd laser light show and address the items that were raised at the last meeting. Since then, we have: Secured event insurance for the night Contracted two harm-reduction staff who will be present to monitor activity and help keep things safe and calm outside the space, as requested Refined the event plan to ensure it aligns with Noisebridge’s safety and community expectations With these updates in place, we’d like to move forward and request a vote tonight to approve the January 3rd event. Happy to answer any questions or make clarifications as needed. Thank you. An update was provided regarding the proposed January 3 Laser Light Show, addressing concerns raised at the previous meeting.
• Since the last discussion, the following actions have been completed:
• Event insurance has been secured for the night.
• Two harm-reduction staff have been contracted and will be present to support safety, including outside the space.
• The event plan has been refined to align with Noisebridge’s safety practices and community standards.
• With these updates in place, the organizers requested a vote tonight to approve moving forward with the January 3 event.

Template... [num]: [topic-short]

From/Raised by: Trevor Seeking: decision/outcome/advice/[?] On topic: more C-base style areas, people interested?

• Felipe, nthmost, LX
• Trevor: I couldn't find a good video of CBase but there was a 360 camera tour of it that was inspiring. I thought I wish our space was like this. Set building in a way. It's a hackerspace in Berlin that's one of the most famous cool spaces themed like a space ship or station inside. It has walls with metal designs and LEDs and cool shit everywhere and tech stuff. Archways and nice lounge areas retro cool scifi.
• Fineline: cbase was def an inspiration for Noisebridge.(also they just banned smoking in the upper more public area, which is nice for various ppl.)
• Nthmost: Been, if you go to Berlin you should go check it out. The reason they can have nice things is because a lot of things is locked behind a door. That's not really the way we do things here isn't as locked but habits we need to have as a community to clear shelves and not cover things with crap.
• Trevor: My second idea is to have a space that's nice clean and scifi and that means getting rid of some junk. We could get some experts together who know what stuff is to go through stuff.
• Loren: In practice the way we get stuff out of the space is we find better uses like finding events and parties and do cleanups for those and it makes the space cleaner afterwards. I would encourage you to volunteer to coordinate instead of "Someone should".

• LX: I've long that we have so many cool things that are sprawling out in every direction. We could get a large quantity of sizable boxes and shelves. If you find a table with a whole bunch of stuff on it, that should not happen. The stuff should go into boxes with a self-destruct data.
• Date with name, phone number, and email. If you don't have that, don't expect your thing to stay.
• LX: What do you tag the stuff when it's a mess? We get a whole lot of trays, and everything goes in one.
• Erik: We had a limbo-land. Some people had a big project, taking up a lot of space, and it got moved to limbo-land--that got their attention.
• Naomi: Direct reponses to you both: There is so much executive function energy drain in making decisions about tings. I made decision to clear stuff out upstairs and a 5x5' cube takes all night to figure out who is using a thing for something. We should get rid of a whole bunch of crap. There's always going to be more crap. We don't need to save it. We don't have a shortage of stuff. There's always going to be more stuff.

There's going to be a few gems once in a while but we will see something again it will be fine. One way is to have positive reason to use that section and that thing becomes more valuable than accumulating jnk. We should organize jnk? That sucks. Dump it in limbolandia. Having a fun aesthetic purpose for things, becomes motive to get rid of stuff.

• Trevor: I would love to help start organizing this but I would like a list of experts.
• Naomi: Everybody here could help get it done.
• Trevor: How should we coordinate?
• Loren: Discord guild channels. Best to post pictures of things on the seeming related guild channels.
• Over at ACE monster toys they have the red tag and when someone leaves something it goes for a week till it goes to limboland then timeline to getting thrown away. Anyone can nominate something for garbaging.
• Naomi: The ACE people were former NBs who are way more strict. We used to have a red tag system.
• Trevor: Can we have a channel for people to join and post things to be thrown away.
• Loren: I think we have a channel like that. #limbolandia?

• LX: Let's form the limbolandia research committee to research this further. It doesn't have to be the rest of the meeting.

• One last kudo to Nthmost, LX, and Daniel: the 3-day fundraising 16th would not have worked at all without you.