[hackerspaces] Creating a list of all active hacker spaces

[Nate Bezanson]

On 2019-09-18 7:41 a.m., MykillG wrote:
>  I was wondering if there is any way to ... get a current list of 
> active groups.

I think this is your best bet. _Please_ don't make yet another list, 
especially one that requires active input from everyone who wants to be 
on it. I can promise you a lot of us are sick of more lists and do not 
want to put active input into being on more lists. Why not work on 
improving one of the _literally dozens_ that exist already?

Consider this: The last-updated-date of a given page on the hs.o wiki is 
one indicator of "freshness" or "activity". But then realize that those 
pages already have links to a given space's social media accounts, blog 
pages, calendars, and stuff. Imagine if you had a script that would poll 
all _those_ things to see how active _they_ were, and I think you'd have 
a very good indicator.

Also, you haven't explained how you'll keep any new list from getting 
just as stale.

> I'm trying to create a community where members from different 
> organizations/locations can collaborate on projects, share ideas and 
> meet each other.

You're posting on it. Or did you mean yet another new ghost-town?

>   I'd like to do this with makerspaces as well, but IDK if the two 
> communities would merge well together, and if it would be better to 
> keep the two communities separated (unless someone wants to join both 
> groups/sites).

<troll> What's the difference between hackerspaces and makerspaces, 
anyway? </troll>

I'll make popcorn...

> If you are a member of an active group, would you please reply to this 
> with the contact information for the group?

No. Our ~200 members and ten-plus-year history exist because we're 
careful about where we spend our effort and we try very hard not to burn 
out our volunteers. If we fell for every new list that asks us to 
include and maintain our presence on it, doing so would be a full-time 
volunteer post. Screw that. You already have the data, just be smarter 
about reading it.

-Nate B-