<div dir="ltr">Good point on being clearer about the geographical restrictions up front, and I'll definitely do so for any such posts in the future. I'm aware that this is a very international movement, and I wish this contest could have extended beyond the US.<div>
<br></div><div style>Ken</div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, May 24, 2013 at 12:57 PM, Randall G. Arnold <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:randall.arnold@texrat.net" target="_blank">randall.arnold@texrat.net</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><u></u>
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I see both sides but I'm still trying to understand the ultimate complaint.
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There is little to nothing that small to medium sized organizations can typically do about extending contests beyond borders. Legal hurdles are what they are and not easily surmounted.
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So should a hackerspace or related organization completely refrain from even announcing such a restricted opportunity on this list? I don't think so. Could the subject line be better constructed to make it extremely clear that the email's message is for a certain audience? Absolutely. But I don't think it's fair to keep beating up on the OP of this topic for an honest omission.
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All that said, I would like to think that even hackerspaces unable to participate in certain opportunities can learn from them, and find examples of practices that they can also put into place for their particular audience. So I would recommend tolerating and even embracing such communications.
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We have more in common than in contrast.
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Randall Arnold
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cofounder/director, Tarrant Makers
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(and employee of a multinational company, Nokia, that also struggles with this sort of issue)
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<br>> On May 24, 2013 at 2:45 PM Philip Poten <<a href="mailto:philip.poten@gmail.com" target="_blank">philip.poten@gmail.com</a>> wrote:
<br>>
<br>>
<br>> The thing is, there are people travelling through the world and
<br>> actively trying to spread the hackerspace idea across borders,
<br>> religions and cultures. Not too long ago, a group of hackers went to
<br>> Baghdad to make a hackerspace happen there. (Bre? Wasn't that you?)
<br>>
<br>> This is spreading the movement, and can be sold as such.
<br>>
<br>> If you now arrive with your gimmicky 1000USD and a fig-leaf legal
<br>> issue, it's a bit ... weird. I do understand, as does everyone else
<br>> here that *your* target audience of course does not extend beyond the
<br>> USA. *Ours* however, does. And our efforts are communicated by
<br>> volunteers locally and globally all the time - which incidentally is
<br>> why hackerspaces are becoming interesting commercially.
<br>>
<br>> So talking about how a border-limited corporate-sponsored cash-contest
<br>> is creating "good PR for hackerspaces" is kinda ... well, it irks me.
<br>>
<br>> I'm not trying to piss on your contest per se, but these
<br>> border-limited PR projects are becoming more common due to the media
<br>> presence hackerspaces are gaining (on their own, mind you) and are
<br>> troubling to some of us, and I'm having the urge to articulate why.
<br>> They are taking a sizeable (read: global) component of our culture
<br>> away from us.
<br>>
<br>> Anyhow, good luck to your efforts nevertheless, and maybe next time
<br>> you can make sure that this aspect receives more attention.
<br>>
<br>> Philip
<br>>
<br>> 2013/5/24 Ken Murphy <<a href="mailto:kenmrph@gmail.com" target="_blank">kenmrph@gmail.com</a>>:
<br>> > HI all-
<br>> >
<br>> > My role in this Hackerspace Challenge is limited to the recruitment and
<br>> > day-to-day logistics, so I'm not fully qualified to speak to the legal
<br>> > issues. However I do understand that there are legal complications in
<br>> > running a contest with a cash prize that make it difficult to include other
<br>> > countries. This is not particular to the US, and you'll see the same thing
<br>> > with contests run by organizations based in other countries.
<br>> >
<br>> > Ken
<br>> >
<br>> >
<br>> > On Fri, May 24, 2013 at 6:28 AM, Chris Weiss <<a href="mailto:cweiss@gmail.com" target="_blank">cweiss@gmail.com</a>> wrote:
<br>> >>
<br>> >> I'm pretty sure I've seen threads that only apply to EU spaces and I
<br>> >> didn't see any crying from US spaces about it. now if you want to
<br>> >> complain about a company (ab)using the list for self-promotion, that's
<br>> >> a whole different angle.
<br>> >>
<br>> >> My take: this puts "hackerspace" as a "thing" in a more public view
<br>> >> and helps a little to take back the "hacker" moniker that mass media
<br>> >> has stolen. it's a good thing even if it is region limited.
<br>> >>
<br>> >>
<br>> >> On Fri, May 24, 2013 at 7:57 AM, Felicitus <<a href="mailto:felicitus@felicitus.org" target="_blank">felicitus@felicitus.org</a>>
<br>> >> wrote:
<br>> >> >> Unfortunately, we need to limit it to the US. Sorry!
<br>> >> >
<br>> >> > As some others have replied before: Yes, this sucks. I especially agree
<br>> >> > with Philip Poten. If you're looking for cheap advertisement, don't use
<br>> >> > the general list, where there are probably more non-US readers than the
<br>> >> > other way around.
<br>> >> >
<br>> >> > Felicitus
<br>> >> > _______________________________________________
<br>> >> > Discuss mailing list
<br>> >> > <a href="mailto:Discuss@lists.hackerspaces.org" target="_blank">Discuss@lists.hackerspaces.org</a>
<br>> >> > <a href="http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss" target="_blank">http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss</a>
<br>> >> _______________________________________________
<br>> >> Discuss mailing list
<br>> >> <a href="mailto:Discuss@lists.hackerspaces.org" target="_blank">Discuss@lists.hackerspaces.org</a>
<br>> >> <a href="http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss" target="_blank">http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss</a>
<br>> >
<br>> >
<br>> >
<br>> > _______________________________________________
<br>> > Discuss mailing list
<br>> > <a href="mailto:Discuss@lists.hackerspaces.org" target="_blank">Discuss@lists.hackerspaces.org</a>
<br>> > <a href="http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss" target="_blank">http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss</a>
<br>> >
<br>> _______________________________________________
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Randall (Randy) Arnold
<br>Developer and Enthusiast Advocate
<br><a href="http://texrat.net" target="_blank">http://texrat.net</a>
<br>+18177396806
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