[hackerspaces] So, how much spam do you get?

Mon Oct 27 22:10:32 CET 2014

We actually made a video for them a while back.  No call backs though.  I
wonder why?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDFajptdfsA

On Mon, Oct 27, 2014 at 5:01 PM, Nathaniel Bezanson <myself at telcodata.us>
wrote:

> Spot-on, Arclight! You forgot the bit about "big personalities", which is
> Hollywood code for "you're gonna need to make Gordon Ramsay look like
> Gandhi".
>
> -Nate B-
>
> Arclight wrote:
>
> Let's not forget this type of inquiry:
>
> "We're a talent agency seeking enthusiastic, diverse creators to host
> the most AWESOME reality show about makers ever. It will be like The
> Kardashians meets Junkyard Wars, with a little Jurassic Park thrown
> in. .
>
> The ideal candidate will have at least 10 years of experience building
> things from scratch that are sent into space, be able to work with an
> exciting dynamic team, already have qualifications that probably
> enable them to have a steady 6-figure job, and be willing to quit a
> moment's notice to work for $24K a year in a 60-hour per week filming
> schedule that could end with no notice. Bonus points for having movie
> star looks and prior film experience.
>
> To apply, send a resume and a 10-minute, professionally-produced video
> to this burner gmail address. Oh, and fill out this 16-page "maker
> challenge." Expect to hear from us several times per day until we pick
> someone else and this e-mail and skype address get disconnected and we
> disappear."
>
> Arclight
>
> On Mon, Oct 27, 2014 at 1:25 PM, Nathaniel Bezanson <myself at telcodata.us>
> wrote:
> > Okay, the children's puppet shows are a new one, I haven't seen that. We
> > usually get:
> >
> > A) Crowdfunding spam. SO MUCH crowdfunding spam. Because when
> Kickstarter's
> > community guidelines say not to do a bunch of things, they go and do
> > precisely those things. And yeah, project promotion is explicitly
> welcome on
> > our public list, if it has any sort of local relevance, but see, joining
> our
> > public list would mean people might ask questions back, and they're
> totally
> > not interested in that. Just the spam, thanks! (And every single one is
> > convinced that nobody has ever crowdfunded a 3d printer or a robotics kit
> > before so THEIRS is SPECIAL.)
> >
> > B) "Please do my market research for me" or "please do my thesis for me",
> > usually with questions about how many investors we have, or whether we
> feel
> > our transformative resource has recontextualized the dynamic millieu of
> > hyperlocal fluxmuster ideation.
> >
> > C) "We just created a site to make a list of all the makerplaces / 3d
> > thingers / communiwhats in the world, but we really mean just the US
> because
> > all the international bits are broken, and now we want you to spend a few
> > hours creating an entry on our list which is a 99% mimic of what you've
> > already put on hackerspaces.org". It's to the point where simply
> updating
> > our listings on all the various sites we could be listed on, would be a
> > full-time job. And when checking back on these things later, invariably
> they
> > end up with *more* cobwebs than the actually-quite-good list on the wiki
> in
> > the first place.
> >
> > (Above this line, the true bulk ones. Below this line, the
> > specifically-directed-at-us ones.)
> >
> > D) "Do you want my rotting barn full of e-waste?" Actually some of these
> are
> > real gems, and we try to be nice to them while directing the majority of
> the
> > real junk to a recycler. Much worse are the ones who just show up with a
> > truckload of festering CRTs and pound on the door, or worse yet, unload
> it
> > and flee the scene.
> >
> > E) "Do you want to staff our workshop for free? I've never met anyone
> from
> > your group and never set foot in your space on a visitor's night, and
> will
> > refuse an invitation to come do so, but I'll be sure to email you a dozen
> > times asking if you have any members who are just made of free time and
> want
> > to come babysit small children in a halfway-maker-related exercise of
> some
> > sort". Actually some of these do sound interesting, but an awful lot of
> them
> > boil down to daycare.
> >
> > F) "Can I join as a member and then be cranky when there aren't trainers
> > standing by every machine 24/7 waiting to spoon-feed me? I'm allergic to
> > reading wikis or otherwise trying to teach myself anything. I really want
> > something like Techshop but even more tolerant of needy jerks, but for
> way
> > less than half the price and with more equipment. Also why don't you
> have a
> > blast furnace?"
> >
> > G) "We're running a mini maker faire in [town 1,200 miles away], can you
> > bring [large project that doesn't travel well] to it?"
> >
> > H) "My associates and I are flying in on a private plane next week, and
> want
> > to meet with your early stage investors about the collaborative model and
> > how we can bring something similar to [city-redacted]. After doing some
> > digging we found your [oldest, and largest in the area] space. We've got
> all
> > the right people leading the tech charge, can we jump on a call? Really
> hope
> > to connect!"
> >
> > Okay that last one only happened once, but it's a very close paraphrase
> of
> > the original email and I had to include it for laughs. (Bonus: they
> seemed
> > to be unaware of an also-years-old actual hackerspace right in their own
> > hometown. Wow.)
> >
> > I'm gonna include, by way of positive example, some of the really GOOD
> ones
> > we get:
> >
> > I) "I'm from [not-quite-local area] and working on putting together a
> group
> > that might end up starting a space here. I've read a bunch of stuff on
> your
> > wiki and have a few specific questions, is this an appropriate venue to
> ask
> > for details about a few things? Also I'll be in your area next week."
> >
> > J) "My student group is working on a documentary about local DIY
> resources,
> > and we'd like to arrange a time to come do some filming and interviews
> with
> > your members, if that's OK. I've attached our standard talent release so
> you
> > can make sure it's acceptable ahead of time."
> >
> > K) "We're a [slightly similar group] in [neighboring town] and it looks
> like
> > people interested in your classes might be interested in ours too. Plus
> > we're totally interested in yours. Can we work something out, maybe a
> > reciprocal deal? Or let's just see how we can help each other."
> >
> > -Nate B-
> >
> >
> > Sector67 Team wrote:
> >
> > Lol - and I thought we were special! I get the exact same set of 4
> > requests all the time :-)
> >
> >
> > Chris
> >
> > Chris Meyer
> > Director
> > Sector67
> >
> > 608-241-4605
> > http://sector67.org
> >
> > 2100 Winnebago St
> > Madison, WI 53704
> >
> > On Mon, Oct 27, 2014 at 10:51 AM, Alan Fay
> <emptyset at freesideatlanta.org>
> > wrote:
> >>
> >> It comes with the territory of being a public space. Freeside gets four
> >> distinct types of spam (aside from your typical email spam):
> >>
> >> 0. "Can you advertise my [product, service, website, kickstarter] to
> your
> >> members?" Really, what these folks want is an endorsement. We have an
> open
> >> public mailing list that gets this sort of thing from time-to-time, but
> they
> >> are after is our credibility and access to our platform to sell our
> members
> >> or social media audience on something.
> >>
> >> 1. "I have an idea but I need a team of people to work for little to no
> >> compensation to execute it for me. Can you help?" A similar flavor, this
> >> person wants to sell us on an idea and get us to recruit on their
> behalf,
> >> for free.
> >>
> >> 2. "Are your members interested in [paying to attend, or managing and
> >> hosting (for free)] a hackathon?" Companies now use hackathons to spot
> and
> >> recruit talent, and perhaps even manage to develop the start of
> something
> >> with free labor. So they're looking for everything: credibility, access,
> >> and recruitment - for free.
> >>
> >> 3. "Can I use your space as a venue for [something unrelated,
> >> exploitative, or weird], for free?" Our goto example of this is that
> we've
> >> received not less than three (yes, 3!) separate requests to host
> children's
> >> puppet shows at the space. Other requests include time-share
> presentation
> >> variants, shooting rap videos, repairing air bags workshop...
> >>
> >> On Mon, Oct 27, 2014 at 10:19 AM, Nathaniel Bezanson
> <myself at telcodata.us>
> >> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> We get/got a LOT of maker-targeted spam to our contact address. Once
> in a
> >>> while, the spammers wouldn't understand BCC, and we'd get a look at the
> >>> address list: All hackerspace contact emails. I finally realized that
> these
> >>> folks were just scraping addresses from the hackerspaces.org wiki.
> >>>
> >>> I finally went and changed the contact address on our entry, and the
> >>> volume seems to have fallen off quite sharply. A real human trying to
> >>> contact us should figure it out in no time. But I wonder whether
> anyone else
> >>> has taken this step, and how many more will be pushed to do so, and
> what
> >>> this suggests for the future of the resource.
> >>>
> >>> -Nate B-
> >>>
> >>> _______________________________________________
> >>> Discuss mailing list
> >>> Discuss at lists.hackerspaces.org
> >>> http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
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> >>
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> >
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