Discussion:Rename membership tiers(2025)

Date First Discussed	Proposed By	Informal Title	Summary	Author of this Record
10/28/2025	Daniel (Web)	Rename membership tiers	It's a common occurrence at Noisebridge to hear a prospective donor ask about membership on their 1st or 2nd visit only to get shot down. People will say becoming a member requires time and trust. This is a semantic confusion caused by the "associate member" and "big M member" tiers. We want to have a naming scheme that makes it clear what these two tiers are for. Associate membership is a trust level and grants 24/7 door access and the responsibility to close down the space. Big M membership is a higher trust level and grants the power to block "big C consensus items". I want to rename associate membership such that it's clear people without responsibility for our door can be full members and should make a monthly donation to help keep Noisebridge alive if they are able to. It is less important, but a new naming scheme could be applied to "big M" as well for consistency. Proposed changes: All people at Noisebridge are members The title known as "associate member" is changed to "member with door responsibility". When asking if someone can close up Noisebridge you will ask "Do you have Door Responsibility?" instead of "Are you an associate member?" The title known as "Big M Member" is changed to "member with steward responsibility" (still considering "Clerk" or other names) Documentation: Change all references to old trust levels to their new names on Discord, the Wiki, door RFID system, etc. Rewrite the "How to give a great Noisebridge tour" sheet. Update the associate membership form.	Daniel (Web)

Add-ons

• Remove monthly donation requirement for associate-membership.
  • This is already effectively optional as we wouldn't want to deny someone associate membership because they don't have the funds for a monthly donation.
  • Removing the association of money makes it even more clear that associate-membership and big M membership don't exist as the way to become a member and pay dues.

Existing conversations

• Discord threads:
  • Weekly Meeting channel
  • Topic thread
  • Member with Voting Responsibilities
• Thoughtful writeups
• As discussed on 11/11/25 during the weekly meeting we have considered instead pushing to add a new word to the Noisebridge vocabulary - "supporter" or "supporting member". We could have signs up around the space saying "Become a supporter!"

Concerns

1. Encouraging a sense of membership to people on their first few visits to Noisebridge could lead to quicker cultural changes. A group of new people could appear, start donating, and feel a sense of entitlement even if they aren't the kind of people we want to have here.
2. "member with steward responsibility" sounds awkward, everyone and anyone could be considered a steward. If associate is getting changed to “door responsibility”, maybe we can change Big M to “voting responsibility”