Community Values

Rule Zero

Don't make us create new rules.

It's great to do novel, interesting, creative things, but not if doing so results in harm, crisis, or disaster. Take responsibility for your experiments.

Wherever practical, those who do the work are granted the autonomy to decide how the work gets done.

Those doing the work generally deserve the community's help, support, and resources.
This principle is in part about minimizing hierarchy and bureaucracy. We literally and figuratively can't afford an organizational culture full of bureaucratic bottlenecks.
This principle is active on this Wiki itself, where those who put in the effort to write the Wiki get to decide how the Wiki should be written.

We help us. Making things is more about collaboration than competition.

We're a community workshop, with emphasis on "community".
We're a refuge of community in a world that can be chaotic, oppressive, and isolating to making and makers.
This principle is active on this Wiki itself, which is at root a tool of cooperation and mutual aid.

Whenever practical, we value distributing widely the work of operating our space and our community.

A community as large and diverse as ours can never be run by one person or even a small group. It takes the work of every member, every volunteer, to keep this place alive.
Each of our shops is open 24/7/365 and contains many dozens of tools. Maintaining such a shop is far too much for a single person, even if we paid them to be there full-time. Each shop is a sub-community, and the work of maintaining and operating the shop is borne by that community.
We rely enormously on volunteer labor, which has many pros and cons. One of the challenges is that volunteers are often waylaid by life's other elements--paying work, family, friends, etc. This is the nature of volunteer work, and it means we often can't rely long-term on a single volunteer--but in aggregate, together, volunteers have always contributed enormously.
Our biggest asset is us--our community, our people.
This principle is active on this Wiki itself, which is created and maintained by us all, because it's far too big a project for an individual or small group.

Whenever practical, and within reason, we value acting directly.

When a tool needs maintenance, for example, if one has the time, skills, knowledge, and resources needed to perform that maintenance, we value that person doing that maintenance--and then communicating that they did it so everyone in the shop is aware.
If the shop needs cleaning, we value those who clean it, rather than waiting for permission or instruction to clean it, or suggesting that others should clean it.
In concert with the value of community responsibility, direct action doesn't need to mean individual action. If the thing needs maintenance, but you don't know how to do the maintenance, then ask for help! That's still a form of direct action.
This principle is active on this Wiki itself--if you see something incorrect or outdated, you are empowered to fix it, rather than asking someone else to fix it for you.