[hackerspaces] Member Ebb and Flow

[tetsu yatsu]

FAMiLab has always had nearly-enough dues-paying members to stay afloat, but
often one or two of us would have to pwnee up $100 or $150 for the month. We
have extraordinarily low rent, as well -- $400/mo, which would only be 8
sustained members at $50 dues.

We've had at least 40 people come and go, say they were interested but
eventually drop communication, or say we currently have little to offer them
that they don't already have.

 We have managed to keep a core of about 4 people and we have kept a space
running for an entire year at this point (yesterday, actually!).


Now, I know a lot of people suggest that the Hackerspaces hacker culture
differs from the Internet hacker culture in that internet culture has very
fluid membership, where hackerspace culture usually has solid membership.


Are we wrong to have a fluid membership in our hackerspace? Do we expect
people to contribute on a consistent basis? Is it alright if some members
don't show up for a few months, or are we supposed to focus on keeping the
space prominent in the minds of our members? Are we doing something wrong?

We are a limited team with limited time and resources on our hands. If we
don't have the time to produce our own media and labs, should we promote the
use of existing how-to resources?


Currently we host 3 events: a weekly general meeting, a weekly micro-mondays
with minimal success, and a local DefCon group's meetings with 10-25 people
per meet.
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