Part of the VHS culture series
Currently
Currently to become a VHS key holder member you need to join VHS as a normal member ($25 a month). Wait three months, hopefully in this three month period you come down to a few open houses, events and make friends. After the three month waiting period you can apply in the VHS members section of the forums to become a key holder member. (please post a picture of yourself, it makes it easier to recognize you)
- If no one vets you, your application is rejected, you can try again sometime in the future. (so far its never happened)
- If a single person (member, or keyholder) has a problem with you, your application is rejected, you can try again sometime in the future. (so far its never happened)
After a week, if you get a few people to vet you, and no one objects, you become a key holder member and get a key.
History
Originally this system was set up when VHS was a much smaller organization. We only had a few members and these members kept some of their expensive personal tools at the space. When a new member applied for a membership we wanted to get to know them first, before giving them a key. This was to help make sure that they fit in the VHS culture and that they didn’t steal all of our tools or sleep at the space. This also was based on the “Web of trust” system that was popular with all the open source and security guys at the start.
When we were less than 20 people and someone applied to become a normal member, we would take them out for beers at a near by pub and really get to know them over a few hours. This really helped build culture, good friends and a tight nit group of people that knew each other.
As we grew bigger it become harder to know everyone and prohibitively expensive (to my pocket and my health) to take everyone out for beers to get to know them. When we hit around ~30 members, It become harder to know everyone in the group and with so many guests coming in each tuesday night it was impossible to keep track of everyone. Even with a three month waiting period, sometimes someone would apply and I wouldn’t know them. Other people would vet them and I would assume that they were good people.
There has only been one key holder that has been “asked” to leave and @funvill tried to ban him (unsuccessfully). He is no longer a member. He was vetted by ~6 people including @funvill, who eventually petitioned for his ban. The vetting system doesn’t always work.
When we moved in to the bunker (270 east 1st) we revisited the three month probation for new members. VHS needed an influx of new members to help cover the shortfall on rent. We considered dropping this rule to help get more key members but ended up keeping it in because of the fear of theft.
Problems
- The vetting system doesn’t always work - Sometimes bad people get in and we don’t have a good mechanism to get rid of them
- The process is slow - This deters people from joining to build an awesome project that has a close due date. This also prevents us from doing a membership drive for people to become key holder members.
- We are too large to know everyone that joins the space - Often when people ask to become a key member, I personally have never had a conversation with them in three months.
- Its awkward - It is an awkward system that relies on you getting people to vet you, and people can deny you for no reason. It feels like you need to beg people to be your friends so you can use their tools.
Question
- Should we change this system?
- Do you have any questions about the history or the process?