4 ms·
I think there's a pretty critical difference between a "dictatorship" and what this is, which is rule-by-the-least-apathetic; maybe let's call this "pathocracy"
by kibwen 6mo ago
I think there's a pretty critical difference between a "dictatorship" and what this is, which is rule-by-the-least-apathetic; maybe let's call this "pathocracy" (from pathos). The minimum number of pathocrats needed to sustain such an organization is one, and the pathocracy either successfully grows until it warrants a more formal organizational structure or it dies when the sole remaining pathocrat bows out. For plenty of community events--maybe even nearly all of them--this is sufficient; the bi-monthly knitting circle at your local library probably does not greatly benefit from imposing a bureaucracy upon itself. And I say this as someone who's sitting within thirty feet of a copy of Robert's Rules of Order.
- Animats 6mo ago> rule-by-the-least-apathetic That is a great phrase. Many small organizations don't need much governance. Those are usually the ones with no real assets. At the community space level, you have assets and constraints. At that point you need some degree of governance. This article would have been more interesting if it wasn't just one guy and his space, but an article by someone who had visited a few community spaces to see how they were organized. I've watched Bay Area maker spaces come and go. TechShop is gone. TheShop is gone. The gym model didn't work. HumanMade has some government funding for its job training function, and is quite expensive. Noisebridge, the most anarchic space, is still running. They've had to shut down for months for cleanup, or move, twice. Some spaces were taken over by arts and crafts people, and now are more into paper-folding and glue guns than CNC milling. Some spaces ended up in the teen college resume building niche.