Hello! Welcome to the new (still Beta?) old half of Clubhouse. What is Regenerative Systems House
*intended* to be about? Any and all discussions around how we get to being regenerative, but the
immediate focus is on trying to de-silo these conversations on Clubhouse and create more collegiality,
cooperation and understanding. There is no expectation of everyone becoming of one mind, but we
**can** choose to not undercut, diminish, patronize, etc., so we get to a more “yes, and…” state of
discussion. But what are Houses?
According to an article I read, and based on my experiences in three other Houses, Clubhouse
considers Houses a sort of return to the original state of Clubhouse when exclusivity equaled safety.
Houses are intended to be more like a garden party with you and your chosen friends/associates/
followers, whereas Clubs is a bit like strolling down Main Street - or the back alleys and everything in
between.
Houses Functionality
Member Limit: 500. Early houses grew too fast, some became little cesspools of human pettiness.
The idea now seems to be limiting it will make for more manageable communities because of size and,
especially, being far more selective.
Kicking Yourself Out: Oops! This happens because the button to leave Houses is *also* “Leave
quietly,” but it is in an entirely different place. Rooms here are mostly like rooms in Clubs. There’s an
obvious “leave quietly” button. Tap that and out you go, but you’re still in the House. However, when you
you open the Houses section of Clubhouse you see the house(s) you are a member of. Tap the one you
want to enter and you are now in that House. On Android, you see the House name and three dots over
to the right. Tap the three dots and you will find a “Leave quietly” button. Tap that and you are GONE
from the House. Forever. You can’t reapply and you can’t be re-invited. Of course, if you’re of a mind for
leaving, now you know how.
Getting Kicked Out: Who can do this? Only the founder, which is me, of course. If there’s someone
who really must go, unfortunately, that has to run through me. :-(
Invitation Only: Self-explanatory. (More on this in “Proposed.”)
Who Can Invite: Everyone. The founder, again by default, controls distribution of invites per member.
Does ultimate power ultimately corrupt? Ultimately, let’s hope it’s like ultimately getting to the center of a
Tootsie Pop: Ultimately, the world may never know. (More on this in “Proposed.”)
The Weekly Room: Apparently, Clubhouse is hoping we *want* to actually manage things over here in
Houses. Maybe they’re right. (More on this in “Proposed.”)
Chatty-chatty Bang-Bang: You’ll notice there is a chat visible when you enter the House. It’s like
having the front door open directly to the living room. When you open a room, there is a chat exclusive
to the room. It can be a bit disorienting to keep them sorted. You’ll get used to it. The entryway chat
never dies. It’s like a bunch of chatty vampires who also talk in their sleep and even if they’re not talking,
they’re **always** there.
Rooms: Who can open rooms? You. Any time you want.
Moderators: Works the same as Clubs.
House Guests: The moderator(s) in a room can invite non-House members into that room. They will not
have access to the rest of the House and may not even realize they are in a House room unless you tell
them. When they leave or the room closes, they leave the room and the House.
Room Titles: Moderates can edit the room titles at will. Very useful, potentially, as room conversations
shift over time. Most people seem to want to play with this feature at least once. Have fun!
The Dream
I have a dream! It may well be the collective hive mind of RegenSys House isn’t interested in the work
of de-siloing and it becomes but a pleasant respite from the rest of the noise on Main Street. Everyone
here will be here by invitation, with occasional guests, so there should be little opportunity for conflict.
That said, 500 people is 500 people, so…
The dream is to create a truly egalitarian House. But a Commons is not a lawless space; in fact, just the
opposite. Those that exist in the real world develop over very long time frames. More modern ones, such
as Mondragon, Findhorn, The Farm, have much shorter time frames and the overall success rate of new
ecovillages/intentional communities shows how hard this can be to do. At the same time, it’s simple.
Simplicity always is. That’s it’s power: Anyone can do it anywhere. But egalitarianism requires, imo, five
key things: Rules, Commitment, Patience, Tolerance and Time. I think new communities fail partly
because they are creating their form of egalitarianism from the intellectual flotsam and jetsam of a broken
society and shoehorning themselves into this ideal. It’s hard. Intact indigenous communities developed
their social systems over millennia, many tens of millennia, really! It takes practice.
(Albert Bates should be a great source on this topic and may disagree with everything above, or nothing.
The world may never know...)
Proposed:
Egalitarianism: For the above reasons, I think new communities should avoid attempting to master the
subtleties of egalitarian decision-making by using a 100% system, i.e. all yeses and/or abstentions or
the issue does not pass. This avoids, I hope, the subtleties and skill needed to negotiate super-
majorities.
YMMV. I suggest decisions of the House be made by those willing to gather to make those decisions
and there be no super-veto, i.e. the founder’s agreement or veto holds no more power than anyone
else’s.
Fractal Egalitarianism: We may want to create sub-groups or committees with rotating members to make
decision-making more workable. But, then, what is there to decide?
Growing Membership: As noted previously, Houses can grow too fast and we only have 500 slots. We
need to do a little thinking here. I propose we onboard no more than ten new people at a time so they
have time to become properly onboarded and then integrated into the functioning of the House. We call
this building in chunks in regenerative design. Make sure the pieces fit together. How?
- Option I: Have nominations for a period of time, then vote. (We may need an off-Clubhouse site for
that functionality…?)
- Option II: Give one invite to ten people at random until everyone has had one invite and used it.
- Option III: Give everyone one invite and do this in successive waves.
Onboarding: 1. Before officially inviting anyone, they must read this document and state they agree to
it. Point them HERE, not to the Google Docs document:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/8567108066562629559/7610594916265712422
(Will be updated as changes occur.)
2. It is the responsibility of the inviter to onboard their invitee.
3. Weekly Room can be used for onboarding.
Reserving Membership: Cool people will certainly join the app or become known to members in the
future. I suggest we keep initial total membership to between 400 and 450 to allow room for future
additions.
Weekly Rooms: I think this is a good idea. We need to choose a time. The current setting was pulled
out of my butt because I had to put something in there. But a designated time when you can be
reasonably sure there will be a small crowd in the House does sound nice. Maybe we need multiple
rooms for differing time zones?
Banishment: 1. In case of clear harassment and/or abuse, zero tolerance.
2. Personal conflicts:
2b. Use your words.
2c. Use an arbitrator.
2d. Leave each other alone.
2e. Someone leave?
3. Banishment Process: When possible, even if it is clear the person must go, a discussion should be
had.
3b. Ask them to leave.
3c. Founder uses the “Yer OUTTA here!’ option.
4. Some people just won’t fit. There may not be any misbehavior, but they end up not fitting the ethos of
the room. See 3.
Document Sanctity: This entire document should be consider a set of proposals, not decrees, until
decided by the collective, after which this clause will be edited out.
Fight Club: 1. What happens in Regenerative Systems, stays in reg….
2. Just kidding!
