Editing Meeting Notes 2013 04 09

These are the notes from the [https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Category:Meeting_Notes The 260th Meeting of Noisebridge]. Note-taker: [[User:Kenhaggerty|Ken]]; Moderator: [[User:Leif|Leif]].

Kyle explains what Noisebridge is. [[User:Kenhaggerty|Ken]] explains consensus. [[User:Leif|Leif]] explains blocking.
* '''Consensus decision on HTML front page has been tabled to next week.'''
* '''Finances are going well! Let's keep it going so that we have 3 full months of funds in the bank.'''
* '''Talking about banks, should we switch to SF Fire Credit Union?'''

 
= Short announcements and events =
== Announcements ==
* Kevin: Has questionnaires for his project studying Noisebridge! They are anonymous and 1 page long and about Noisebridge as a space. Results of the study will be shared openly on the Noisebridge Wiki
* [[User:Malaclyps|Danny]]: Will hold "Noisebridge 101" classes, mainly on Mondays at 6:00pm for 1 hour, starting soon! Stop by to learn more about Noisebridge and its history and culture and operating style and tools / resources.
== Events ==
* [[Frontend_Web_Development|Frontend Web Development]] resumes again next Monday, April 15th!
* [[5mof]] is next week, April 18th!

= [[ Membership Binder ]] =
* Richard Bottoms (Week 1): no sponsors
* Joseph Edward Martin (Week 2) – No sponsors
* [[User:Saizai|Sai]] (Week 3) - 1 sponsor ([[User:Malaclyps|Danny]])
* Nick Shapiro (Week 2) - 1 sponsor ([[User:Carl|Carl]]); last week I think [[User:Miloh|Miloh]] also offered to sponsor, but no signature on form

= Financial Report =
* [[User:Malaclyps|Danny]] wrote a Python script to go through Mint.com and parse all of our transactions into a spreadsheet and sum total
** (obvious violation of Mint.com's TOS and he is a naughty criminal according to CFAA)
* Funds in bank: '''$20,112.92''', hoorah!
* We need to pay May rent, but April rent has been paid!
* '''(NOT DISCUSSED: WHAT IS GOING ON WITH THE IRS?!?!?)'''
* Our 3 month operating budget is $18K, so let's still aim to get our reserve fund up to that
* Recurring monthly donations are now at a sustainable level
* We did not discuss Noisetor finances.

= Consensus items =

== [[ Consensus Items History | Proposals from last week ]] ==
* [[User:Flamsmark|Tom]]: "We add a new plain HTML front page to the Noisebridge domain, to allow for a design more amenable to newcomers. The system for managing this content should have the property that a small number can push changes live, while many folks can produce designs and stage/suggest them."
** Decision to discuss & postpone consensus decision because [[User:Flamsmark|Tom]] is not present and, in contrast to last week, most people present are pro-MediaWiki
** [[User:Malaclyps|Danny]] has friends over at MediaWiki, so if there are things we need or don't like we should get in touch
** [[User:SuperQ|Ben]] has friends who may be able to rewrite MediaWiki in not-PHP
** Many present agree that their favorite language is not-PHP
** '''Images for MediaWiki should be SMALLER! ([[User:Kenhaggerty|Ken]] is dumb) since we pay to host large files!'''
** [[User:SuperQ|Ben]]: [[User:Dr_jesus|Dr. Jesus]] needs to stop pinging Noisebridge; claims 80% (90%?) of all visits to Noisebridge.net are from [[User:Dr_jesus|Dr. Jesus]] pinging us
** Proposed alternatives for image hosting:
*** [http://fuckyeahnoisebridge.tumblr.com fuckyeahnoisebridge] (Tumblr)
*** [http://www.flickr.com/groups/noisebridge Flickr Noisebridge group]
* Ken will make a wiki page to coordinate the Wiki redesign

== [[ Current Consensus Items | Proposals for next week ]] ==
* [[User:Leif|Leif]] is writing one new consensus proposal regarding creating a new account at SFFireCU.

= Discussion Notes =
== Hell's Cargo (i.e., Wells Fargo) ==
* Kevin: Currently Noisebridge's bank account is Hell's Cargo, which is an evil bank. Let's switch to something less evil, like a local credit union. Maybe [http://www.sffirecu.org San Francisco Fire Credit Union]? They have an education business account(?) and pay 2.5% interest and invest locally.
** Why do we have Hell's Cargo…? Apparently last time Noisebridge proposed a switch away we didn't because it's just a bit of a pain, and a few people had direct deposits set up into our account.
** [[User:Malaclyps|Danny]]: People have pledged to donate so long as we switch from PayPal
** [[User:SuperQ|Ben]]: SFFireCU has terrible IT but great customer service, while most banks have decent IT but terrible customer service...so while their tech is bad, at least they will fix it?
** Additional credit union suggestions: Self-Pay ([[User:Malaclyps|Danny]]), Redwood Credit Union (Dan #2)
* General consensus seems to be in favor of at least creating a new account with SFFireCU and keeping the Hell's Cargo account until it is obsolete.
* Someone ([[User:Malaclyps|Danny]]? [[User:Leif|Leif]]?) will write a consensus proposal for next week's meeting

= Attendance =
* [[User:Leif|Leif]]: Has been here for quite a while; currently interested in [https://tahoe-lafs.org tahoe-lafs]; started tahoe grid with tor hidden services
* Angel: New to Noisebridge; does graphic design, video; wants to get more into coding
* [[User:Thex|JC]]: Does hacking in general; working on creating more hackerspace in the North Bay
* Joe Black: Does security, Unix, web development; first heard of Noisebridge via Mitch; has been here a couple months
* Nick Shapiro: Makes games; is hiring!
* Kyle: Architecture student studying Noisebridge as a community and as a space; has been here for a few months
* Dan: Does any programming, web services, ...
* Dan #2: Has been coming for few months; first heard of Noisebridge via a radio interview with Mitch a few years ago; has been programming so long that he is temporarily bored with it, but still gets his hands dirty with code
* Dana: Likes to work on LED stuff; is today working on wearable electronics
* Kevin: Has been coming for a couple months as well; does a bunch of things on the computer; works in the wood shop every once in a while; also works in kitchen; is doing well
* [[User:Malaclyps|Danny]]: Has been coming to Noisebridge for 3-4 years; thinks a lot and tries to write about technological culture
* [[User:Kenhaggerty|Ken]]: Is taking notes
* Joe: Third time here; has known about Noisebridge an embarrassingly long time but lived in Mountain View so he went to Hacker Dojo instead; tricked into being a computer guy; writes code, looking to build a stove
* Rupert: Visting from Montreal (greetings from FooLab!); first time at Noisebridge but has known about Noisebridge for a long time (we're pretty famous :p); glad to be here and see what's going on; does hardware and software and woodshop
* Luke: Also visiting from Montreal; Noisebridge is impressive, enjoys it very much; into computer vision and machine learning
* Lassl: Visiting from Norway! Here for 3 days; came to Noisebridge today because he was looking for fruit but saw the Noisebridge banner and went in; electrical engineer but got bored of organized 90 degree lines, so he started doing graphic design and font and web development

[[Category:Meeting Notes]]