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anecdote: I've been tinkering with electronics projects all my life, since I was a kid with Sam's Kits and Heathkit. I have an absolute ton of discrete compone

by caeril 4y ago

anecdote: I've been tinkering with electronics projects all my life, since I was a kid with Sam's Kits and Heathkit. I have an absolute ton of discrete components, soldering gear, power supplies, oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, microcontrollers, PCB etching kits, breadboards, etc, to contribute. Also, plenty of machine tools: lathes, drill presses, CNC platforms, etc. Not to mention, a fair bit of knowledge. There is a local hackerspace near me. I emailed them, with no response. Went to knock on their door, and they told me to get lost and only show up at a specific time. I subsequently did so, and nobody was there. The taste left in my mouth of "hackerspaces" is therefore quite sour, and my personal anecdotal read on the situation is that these places deserve their fate. It seems that they don't actually want to succeed.

dosman33 4y ago
Sorry to hear that. The distributed nature of small community groups and a lack of central management can lead to situations like this. As a member, when you stop in to spend an hour working on a project in your space during non-public hours it can be hard to accommodate unexpected interruptions. There would be times I'd drop in for a 5 minute project and end up there for 2 hours helping other members use the space, etc. I'm happy to help folks, but it takes a toll after a while to the point when you avoid using a space because it uses you more than you use it. During public hours there may not necessarily be a single person who's job it is to greet non-members for tours. If a member of the public drops in and there's a lull in members present or a particularly anti-social member is all that's left to greet new people then it doesn't put the best foot forwards to the community. Hopefully it's just a momentary lapse in outreach as bad introductions like this are what get communicated much more than good introductions. I can certainly understand not wanting to return with things working out like this for you.

by caeril 4y ago

dosman33 4y ago

Sorry to hear that. The distributed nature of small community groups and a lack of central management can lead to situations like this. As a member, when you stop in to spend an hour working on a project in your space during non-public hours it can be hard to accommodate unexpected interruptions. There would be times I'd drop in for a 5 minute project and end up there for 2 hours helping other members use the space, etc. I'm happy to help folks, but it takes a toll after a while to the point when you avoid using a space because it uses you more than you use it. During public hours there may not necessarily be a single person who's job it is to greet non-members for tours. If a member of the public drops in and there's a lull in members present or a particularly anti-social member is all that's left to greet new people then it doesn't put the best foot forwards to the community. Hopefully it's just a momentary lapse in outreach as bad introductions like this are what get communicated much more than good introductions. I can certainly understand not wanting to return with things working out like this for you.