[hackerspaces] Hackerspace drama, oh my!

Wed Jul 2 17:28:48 CEST 2014

It seems to be a political act rather than something else, so maybe
communicate to EU parlement, united nations ...

Tweet about that ... communicate.

Ben Brown <ben at generik.ca> writes:

> I'd start by taking a peek at your space's bylaws, and see if they
> include wording about removing directors who aren't functioning in the
> organization's best interests. I'd also look for the same type of
> information in whichever state or federal acts/bills that govern the
> operation of your type of organization.
>
> That said, you may find a lawyer or law center who may offer free
> advice, especially if you were setup as non-profit or a charity.
>
> Hope that helps,
> Ben
>
> On 7/2/2014 10:14 AM, Torrie Fischer wrote:
>> On Wednesday, July 02, 2014 09:45:00 Ben Brown wrote:
>>> (with limited information of what transpired)
>>>
>>> I don't know how your space was setup legally (NFP, charity or
>>> otherwise) but this seems horribly illegal, not to mention it sounds
>>> like they're taking actions that the membership should be able to
>>> dispute and dissolve the board over.
>>
>> Any suggestion on how to get started that isn't "see a lawyer"?
>>
>> Seeing a lawyer is a viable option of course, but those can be expensive
>> sometimes.
>>
>>>
>>> In Canada there is legal recourse if our directors were to say, dissolve
>>> the corporation, empty the accounts and leave with the equipment. If you
>>> were setup as a co-op or 501c3 I have to think something similar applies
>>> in the states.
>>>
>>> Ben
>>>
>>> On 7/2/2014 9:32 AM, Torrie Fischer wrote:
>>>> On Wednesday, July 02, 2014 13:44:01 David Potocnik wrote:
>>>>> There's another perspective to this.
>>>>> I guess Torrie & the hackers of Ackron are going to be okay - they
>>>>> started a new space right? They moved their stuff and got another
>>>>> lease and all is well?
>>>>
>>>> Nope. Board took everything. They also took the $15k in the banking
>>>
>>> account
>>>
>>>> and moved it to some other bank without informing the membership or
>>>
>>> anything,
>>>
>>>> and is disregarding the portions of the bylaws that explicitly state
> such
>>>> things need to have transparency.
>>>>
>>>>> "Advice I give most folks starting a hackerspace, start a community
>>>>> first.  Find the people you want to start the space with.  Worry about
>>>>> that.  because at the end of the day, even if you don't have a space,
>>>>> that community is worth way way more."
>>>>>
>>>>> ...Or just simplify building spaces (sharing protocols & know-how),
>>>>> build a lot of them and cross-pollinate (travel, hang out). Fork,
>>>>> collaborate, merge. Set up varieties, name them and setup
>>>>> instances of them. Find and argue about good practices and patterns
>>>>> with whoever comes to this platform.
>>>>> As the thing progresses on we'll keep having a clearer and clearer
>>>>> cartography of different hacker belief systems, and a better idea of
>>>>> how they can and cannot coexist.
>>>>>
>>>>> There is the more stable isotopos: Coworking spaces, Makerspaces,
>>>
>>> Fablabs.
>>>
>>>>> I believe Hackerspaces and Hackbases (live-in hackerspaces) should be
>>>>> unstable, and definitely not without politics.
>>>>> They should be, and sometimes are, avantgarde experimental political
>>>>> machines.
>>>>
>>>> Well said. One should be permitted to hack a hackerspace, though in
> a non-
>>>> destructive fashion.
>>>>
>>>>> David
>>>>> from CHT#1 hackbase /\/
> http://hackerspaces.org/wiki/Cyberhippietotalism
>>>>>
>>>>> On 2 July 2014 04:07, Ryan Rix <ry at n.rix.si> wrote:
>>>>>> matt <matt at nycresistor.com> writes:
>>>>>>> I think this boils down to the dichotomy of hackerspace vs co-working
>>>>>>> space.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> If you build up infrastructure and expect a community to show up in
>>>>>>> it, don't be surprised if more than one community shows up, or the
>>>>>>> community that shows up is not one you want to be a part of.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Noisebridge suffers the tragedy of the commons in a pretty severe
>>>>>>> way... having had mole people living in their basement and bi-polar
>>>>>>> homeless people show up and and claim they are 'sleep hacking'.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> That's not what I am talking about. What I am talking about is the
>>>>>>> last line in that piece :
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> "A lot of this can be traced to our collective inability to remember
>>>>>>> our core pillars of consensus, excellence, and do-ocracy. There is no
>>>>>>> one person or event that can be blamed. As a community, we failed to
>>>>>>> hold close the values we had. We were hacked by policy hackers."
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Now I don't know anything about synhak... so I am just going to speak
>>>>>>> to the perspective brought forth by the person who wrote this piece.
>>>>>>> This is a person who enjoyed the community that arrived at synhak in
>>>>>>> the early days. As the space grew and changed and time went on,
> so did
>>>>>>> the culture and so did the community.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I think Torrie is talking specific solutions but not seeing the
> forest
>>>>>>> through the trees. When torrie talks about common values along side
>>>>>>> mission statement, and limiting growth of new membership. What she is
>>>>>>> really talking about is fostering a community rather than
>>>>>>> infrastructure. She's focusing more on being with the people she
> wants
>>>>>>> to be with, than focusing on building a space.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> And I think that has worked out very well for NYC Resistor. We like
>>>>>>> each other. We've liked each other with fairly decent success for 5-6
>>>>>>> years. And while folks have grown apart and there has been some
>>>>>>> inevitable culture shift. The community has remained strong.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> So, the answer is simple. Synhak like noisebridge built a space. And
>>>>>>> communities fought for it, and some took it and some lost it. Much
>>>>>>> like noisebridge. NYC Resistor built a community in a coffee shop...
>>>>>>> everything else came later.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Advice I give most folks starting a hackerspace, start a community
>>>>>>> first. Find the people you want to start the space with. Worry about
>>>>>>> that. because at the end of the day, even if you don't have a space,
>>>>>>> that community is worth way way more.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Well written, Matt.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> r
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Aurélien DESBRIÈRES
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