[hackerspaces] Working on setting up my space

Seth Hardy shardy at aculei.net
Thu Oct 22 18:58:50 CEST 2009


it makes me very uncomfortable whenever one person defines what a 
hackerspace is or isn't. a similar conversation of this sort a few 
months ago is what made a few involved people stop participating in this 
community.

just sayin'.



On Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 11:43:59AM -0500, Eric Michaud wrote:
> 
>    I didn't say he wouldn't be one of them because of those, but it's
>    hard to show the shades of we're doing this because of X. There are
>    many flavors, but the main thing is what are you focusing on. Are you
>    aiming to be a Tech Shop? or something else? What also becomes
>    difficult is if we want to share assets with another group. It's not
>    as trivial to do so. As PSOne is filing ours shortly we found out a
>    lot of other groups not including grant writers don't want to donate
>    equipment or services to other groups because they either A don't know
>    how to handle it, or B the appearance to others as to who they donated
>    for is not a straight up traditional thought of Not-For-Profit 501c3.
>    Also Adam please don't paraphrase what I said. That is incorrect.
>    I stated.
>    " If that is not the case your not really being a hackerspace since
>    the main focus is on educating the many and sharing tools."
>    Three things
>    Tom may have a very excellent reason for what he's doing.  Tom hasn't
>    stated what he's doing yet. So please no snap judgements.
>    The next thing is I said what I said because there are a lot of place
>    calling themselves hackerspaces when they are clearly not.  I wanted
>    to make sure he knows that he will have problems getting certain types
>    of funding if his focus is on education. Regardless of what form his
>    group takes.
>    The third point is being a hackerspace is about sharing
>    knowledge(education) and resources(tools or otherwise) with the
>    community on a very basic level. Do you not agree with this that if
>    people are respectful of each other and improve the community around
>    them through collaboration of these things that they are a hackerspace
>    or not?
>    Adam I agree with you that you don't have to be a 501c3 to be a
>    hackerspace, I don't know where your getting that idea from. Please
>    don't misinterpret what I'm stating is all.
>    I wanted to get it out that I'm not telling everyone what one is or
>    isn't but that Tom might have problems arising later in collaborating
>    with certain groups. It's like the GPLv2 and GPLv3. How many issues
>    came up with licensing alone when GPLv3 came online as a tool for
>    software licensing.
>    Cheers,
>    -Eric.
> 
>    On Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 11:25 AM, Adam D Bachman
>    <[1]adam.bachman at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>    >  If that is not the case your not really being a hackerspace since
>    the main focus is on educating the many and sharing tools.
> 
>    That sounds like a false dichotomy. "Be a 501c3 and pursue MacArthur
>    grants" (be one of us?) or "you're not a hackerspace".
> 
>    While I agree that going down another of the 501 roads might be a
>    waste of time, I wouldn't suggest they're traitors to the cause.
> 
>    We at Baltimore Node haven't pursued 501c3 status because of the
>    expense and because there's no immediate need for the status*. We're
>    definitely still a hackerspace, though.
> 
>    - Adam Bachman
> 
>    [2]http://baltimorenode.org
> 
>    * - I should note that I'm indifferent to our tax exempt status since
>    my contributions aren't enough to justify itemizing on my tax returns,
>    so I'm not going to pursue it. When someone sees the need clearly and
>    is willing to act on it, though, it will get done.
> 
>    On Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 12:02 PM, Eric Michaud
>    <[3]michaud.eric.c at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>      Sorry, I meant to state  before I accidentally clicked send. Why
>      are you not doing 501c3? Since c6 is for Recreational groups., and
>      c7 is focused on groups for lobbying.
>      You wouldn't be able to get grants as easily at all. if your
>      looking for stuff from MacArthur, NSF, or a number of other
>      educational groups. If that is not the case your not really being a
>      hackerspace since the main focus is on educating the many and
>      sharing tools.
>      Also which state are you in?
>      I'd also love to talk shop with you about this if you'd like.
> 
>    On Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 10:58 AM, Eric Michaud
>    <[4]michaud.eric.c at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>      Hey Tim, why are your leanings to the other groups instead of just
>      501c3? or c7? Are you planning to not be community oriented or
>      lobby congress?
> 
>    On Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 10:19 AM, Tim Krabec <[5]tkrabec at gmail.com>
>    wrote:
> 
>      Id like to get a copy of some one's IRS Form1023, my accountant is
>      leaning towards a 501c6 or c7 vs the c3.  I'd like to get more info
>      to her.
>      Tim
>      _______________________________________________
>      Discuss mailing list
>      [6]Discuss at lists.hackerspaces.org
>      [7]http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
> 
>      _______________________________________________
>      Discuss mailing list
>      [8]Discuss at lists.hackerspaces.org
>      [9]http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
> 
>      _______________________________________________
>      Discuss mailing list
>      [10]Discuss at lists.hackerspaces.org
>      [11]http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
> 
> References
> 
>    1. mailto:adam.bachman at gmail.com
>    2. http://baltimorenode.org/
>    3. mailto:michaud.eric.c at gmail.com
>    4. mailto:michaud.eric.c at gmail.com
>    5. mailto:tkrabec at gmail.com
>    6. mailto:Discuss at lists.hackerspaces.org
>    7. http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
>    8. mailto:Discuss at lists.hackerspaces.org
>    9. http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
>   10. mailto:Discuss at lists.hackerspaces.org
>   11. http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss

> _______________________________________________
> Discuss mailing list
> Discuss at lists.hackerspaces.org
> http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss


-- 
seth hardy: shardy at aculei.net * 647.890.1452 * www.aculei.net/~shardy
(gpg - 0x5E345628): BF63 A0A7 3BCA 1D7D EDE1 63BF 46FB 95D9 5E34 5628
	"God is not on the side of the heavy battalion,
		but on the side of the best shot."  -- Voltaire
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 195 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.hackerspaces.org/pipermail/discuss/attachments/20091022/c9be9ded/attachment.pgp>


More information about the Discuss mailing list