Most traditional hackerspaces either went defunct or pivoted more towards coworking. The allure is pretty obvious: way higher margins. No tools to maintain, no

Most traditional hackerspaces either went defunct or pivoted more towards coworking. The allure is pretty obvious: way higher margins. No tools to maintain, no giant safety concerns, just need tables, chairs, and vending. Also, people (or rather companies) who are willing to pay for coworking usually have more resources than “makers” who do not have the equipment or space at home to house projects. Tech shop tried this coworking model on a makerspace, and we known how it turned out. While it had some internal problems (from what I’m aware), it was never going to be sustainable because, at the prices they were charging, those who could afford it could usually afford some sort of desktop version of what they used tech shop for, except for maybe the water jet and plasma cutters. It was a self service machine shop that required you to invest your time in training to be able to even utilize, and no real community experience to speak of. It became a lot of people doing professional work, a few hours of machine time each per week, and they would go home. But all this is to say that a makerspace (nor a coworking space for that matter) is a hackerspace automatically, that titled is earned. The point at which a shared space like this becomes a hackerspace is the point where it becomes “cool”, where the community has reached critical mass, events and meetups can happen periodically, and it becomes a hub for the community. Most hackerspaces that went under recently will have claimed it was because the pandemic and lockdowns, but those events were merely the catalyst to their demise. A lot of people in this thread posit that the community is nice or at least important, I disagree. The hackerspace is the community. Hackerspaces that could not keep up with rapid community attrition during the pandemic post-lockdown were left them resource-constrained, unable to keep up with financial commitments. Most in this position chose to close. The community (more specifically the community members’ network) provides the stability as nearly all opportunities, grants, donations, and other contributions originate from people who built or are active participants in the community. An actively shrinking community effectively lobotomizes the hackerspace, leaving nothing more than an empty shell. Coworking spaces are for those who want to play office (WeWork, HackerDojo) Makerspaces are glorified tool shares (TechShop) A true hackerspace is a community space for those who are curious, creative, and passionate about doing things just because they think it’s interesting or cool.