Sleeping in Hackspace
If you are looking for a list of places to stay go to Accommodation
There's broad consensus among members (and non-members alike) that sleeping at the Hackspace is Not Good, which means that you really shouldn't do it. Hackspace is a place for working on projects or being otherwise creative, not somewhere to crash out.. It does not matter how much, how long, or how hard you've worked on a project (even if it is for the Space), you are not entitled to sleep in the Space.
In particular, everybody at London Hackspace has the right to ask you to wake up and hack, or go somewhere else to sleep. As a community, we really really don't like people who either argue and are rude when they're woken up, or just go away and go back to sleep when the person who has asked them has left.
Alternatives
If you don't have somewhere good to stay, here are some resources that may be useful:
- Streetlink phone on 0300 500 0914
- Shelter
- London Street Rescue
- Mind: City and Hackney facilities to get a meal, support and a shower can be really helpful and it could an alternative place to spend time.
See also Accommodation for hostel/hotel/B&B options.
Waking sleepers
People who've been asleep for more than 15 minutes are likely to be grumpy when woken. If you want to be nice (you have no obligation to), avoid antagonising them and get them a cup of tea or water. You might also like to ask how they're planning to get home: at least they will have a chance to explain why they've ended up staying so late.
Due to a recent increase in members found sleeping in the space, anyone found sleeping on Hackspace premises should be asked to leave and not return for 24 hours. This covers the whole property, including the yard and within vehicles thereon.
It's important for us to keep track of repeat offenders, so please let the list, IRC, or the directors know if you think it's unlikely to be a one-off.
The Reasons
These are the main reasons why sleeping in the space is banned are (in no particular order):
- It's not what the space is for
- It's anti-social
With regards to the 'what the space is for' it is a simple matter of using shared resources in a way that (the majority) of the members don't want them used.
With regards to anti-social behaviour it has a couple of sources: firstly people repeatedly sleeping in the space often end up making areas of the space smelly, whilst there are many smelly activities in the space these normally happen outside or in other well ventilated spaces, sleeping often happens in the least well ventilated areas. Secondly it's been found that people are generally unhappy to wake up sleepers (either intentionally or not) and have been greeted with hostility when they do so. Regardless of how pleasant the sleeper may feel they both of these things make the space less pleasant to other users.
The Story
Every couple of months this erupts again here is the story as I (SamLR) see it:
- Once upon a time (well, August 2010) the space's community was small (<100 members) and we had this huge space (unit 24) to use.
- Every so often after epic hacking people would crash out over night at the space to commence the hacking anew with first light (or 11am as the rest of the world calls it)
- As the space grew things changed, unit 23 was acquired, weird urges were felt and hair started growing where it had never grown before, oh and we got more members (~140, 1st Jan 2011)
- And then there was the thread (April 23rd 2011), in a simple time of a mere 260 members it was a simple request to try and go home to sleep rather than use the space
- Later the Rule was added ("Do not treat the Hackspace like your home, it is a shared space. You should not sleep in the space.") and it was understood that you could sleep if there were exceptional circumstances or you were a visitor from out of town. Again peace was restored and all were happy (Sept 1 2011, 320 members).
- This didn't last long, resulting in an epically long discussion in November
- In Feburary of 2012 (380 members) after numerous group sleepovers through the cold winter, complaints were received of people sleeping in the dark room
- After discussion the Rule was tightened ("Sleeping in the space is forbidden")
- But the rule was ignored and ignored
- and so began the time of trolls...