[hackerspaces] BrainSeeker.org - new site from HTINK!

[Eric Moore]

Quoting Chris Weiss <cweiss at gmail.com>:


> I'm not advocating blind pulling all events from a google calendar, we
> put up many that aren't classes and so dont' fall under the apparent
> scope of BrainSeeker (or are they?), so I'd much rather see it be an
> optional convenience feature: "enter URL to pull iCal event data from"
> and then user fills in the rest.

Absolutely, we hope to offer functionality like this in the future,  
but first we need to focus on getting the process right. You are  
absolutely right we wouldn't want to pull all events from any  
calendar, even pulling events from an orgs eventbrite may become an  
issue and we'll need to add functionality for third parties to manage  
which eventbrite events get shown on the site eventually I'm sure. As  
that process and toolset matures then we can add new sources for  
events, and ways of vetting them as a trusted community arises.

>
>> would also have to tell students "online ticketing is not available" so what
>> if too many students show up?
>
> I would *LOVE* to have that problem.  It's an easy one to fix.  and
> for the free events, people don't tend to mind.  But yes, for paid
> classes, a ticket/registration system really is important.

Agreed, we've never had people complain at a slightly crowded make:nyc  
event, which was always free. That said, using the same platform for  
free and paid events allows us to reduce complexity, and provide a  
seamless feature rich experience for end users in this beta period.

Thanks for the excellent comments, please let us know how we can  
improve. If spaces decide to not list because eventbrite is too high a  
hurdle then we will evaluate that, but right now our focus is on  
supporting a few spaces to get our process really ironed out. We think  
that the free services we offer hackerspaces, a listing on the site  
for seekers in your city and a localized picture of what people are  
interested in learning is very attractive.

-Eric