Alex et al,
This is a great idea and glad to see how everyone is jumping in to come
together.
While I was trying to decide and raise funds for the 500 and 1k buy in I now
have a question and an idea to propose to the group:
1. With the funds in excess now for the actual amount that we we looking for
to secure the domain can we look to restructure the amounts so that everyone
can have an opportunity to participate?
1a. Otherwise what will be done with the extra money raised & who will
manage it?
1b. The dreaded topic of last week's thread on an annual Coworking
Conference comes to mind..... can some of these funds that we are raising
help to bring us together (even if virtual and or telephonically) or elect
someone to manage the group and pay someone so that the group can have a
single administrative 'go-to' person?
2. How does the group feel about a regional effort instead of these tiers?
2a. In the true sense of a collective coworking environment we are supposed
to be 'equal' and not divided by social or soci-economical levels. With a
regional approach rather than this (very good and very effective fund
raising strategy) then everyone would be able to buy in at a lower rate and
be included. Additionally the regional approach would allow for those of us
who can afford to contribute more could 'host' a regional conference/
meet-up so that we can manage the creation of the domain into a functioning
site.
3. Last thought that has plagued me all day.....what about the coworking
sites that are associated through government entities, those that are funded
as not-for-profits, etc
These groups often times can not participate and move as quickly on things
like this.
Are 'we' alienating 'them' in this fast move?
*These groups do not have the luxury of pulling money out of their
own pockets even if they want to because of the structure they operate
under.
*Even if these organizations want to participate often times the
group will need board authorization and this can take time.
Last point I have been pondering.... who is this group that wanted to come
in and make this buy? Why did they want it and why now? What was the
urgency?
I hope that this doesn't seem like I am not supporting this because I am ALL
FOR A COLLECTIVE and have been really doing a lot of footwork and site
visits to speak with everyone out there as much as possible. Coming from a
non-profit viewpoint and effort of community building I am really interested
in contributing to the effort in any way possible. I would love to see a
collective formed with some resources behind it and some real muscle. I see
this as a great first step and am encouraged.... but I also am a big
believer that we all should really be heard, have access, and be able to
participate. We have all worked to hard in our own communities as well as a
whole entity to not take a moment to think about our actions here and the
impact we are setting forth at this very moment.
With the upmost respect and compassion I submitt these thoughts for
discussion.
Thank you all,
Danielle Nicoli
WHERE: Meet, Mix, Mogul
Coworking in Los Angeles
www.wheremmm.com
323 663 6636 office
On Mon, Feb 15, 2010 at 9:26 AM, Alex Hillman
<dangerouslyawes...@gmail.com>wrote:
> A few days ago, the group received an e-mail from Gerrit at The Coworking
> Intitute, the owners of coworking.com
>
>
> http://groups.google.com/group/coworking/browse_thread/thread/5e4e84c5ef869ae
>
> As he mentioned in the e-mail, he and his partner Bernie were recently
> approached by a commercial entity with interest in buying coworking.comfrom
> them. While the offer was "one they could not refuse", they agreed to
> turn to our community first and give us a chance to counter-offer.
>
> I've been corresponding with Gerrit on the side and have had a very
> positive dialogue. We've agreed to a counter offer (which they have
> accepted) of 5000 Euros, or ~$6800 USD.
>
> I've never spent this kind of money on a domain before, so I've spoken with
> a group of some of the longest-standing contributors to the coworking
> community to see if I was off my rocker. We've agreed that this is a great
> opportunity to put a stronger stake in the ground for the brand of
> coworking, the core values that this list upholds, and a better technique of
> communicating with people who are just finding our community.
>
> What do I think should be done with the domain?
>
> *My plan is as follows:*
>
> The wiki, blog, and google group will be aliased appropriately from
> subdomains of the coworking.com domain. Coworking.com will contain a home
> page explaining those properties and their contents, as well as some curated
> press links that will be user submitted. Additional ideas are welcome, but
> this is where I'd like to start!
>
> In the last 24 hours, I've kicked off a pledge of $500 from my own pocket
> (IndyHall still has some debt to pay back from our move last spring and we
> consider that priority), and have been followed by the following pledges:
>
> $500 - Alex Hillman/IndyHall
> $500 - Tara Hunt/Citizen Space
> $250 - Felicity Chapman/Cubes & Crayons
> $250 - Steven Heath/AltSpace
> $1000 - Susan Evans & Jacob Sayles/Office Nomads
> $500 - Chris Messina
> $500 - Patrick Tanguay/Station C
>
> That means we've been pledged $3500, just about halfway to the $7k mark we
> need (including paypal fees and impending wire fees). That's enough for me
> to transfer 50% of the asking price to the sellers to begin the transfer to
> us.
>
> Now...what are these contributors getting for their hard earned money? I've
> come up with a very simple structure to encourage consistent contribution
> amounts:
>
> • *Any contributor of $250* or more will have lifetime (of the domain)
> access to a subdomain of their choice (http://yourchoice.coworking.com),
> so long as the content of the subdomain falls within the values of the
> Coworking Community Manifesto:
>
> Community
> Collaboration
> Openness
> Diversity
> Sustainability
> see Citizen Space <http://citizenspace.us/about/our-philosophy/> and
> Station-C <http://station-c.com/en/community-manifesto> for citation of
> what those values mean
>
> • *Any contributor of $500* or more will get a subdomain of their choice
> as well, and additionally up to 5 email addresses hosted at a Google for
> your Domain account set up for coworking.com
>
> • *Any contributor of $1000* will get a subdomain, 5 e-mail addresses, and
> a "sponsor" link in the footer of the coworking.com home page linking to
> the coworking community/space website of their choice.
>
> No single contributor over $1000 will be accepted to give enough fair
> chances to contributors across the community.
>
> *There's no tricks, no scams, no funny business. *
>
> Disclosure: I will be maintaining the domain name and its DNS records on
> behalf of the community until, at some point in the future, there is an
> entity that supports *this community* that can take over. I will also be
> donating web hosting, again, until an entity that supports this community
> takes over.
>
> How do you become a contributor?
>
> Go to this form:
>
> https://indyhall.wufoo.com/forms/help-buy-coworkingcom/
>
> Everything I've outlined in this e-mail is there as well.
>
> I look forward to this rallying point for the group, and having a great
> domain name to continue the growth of this community.
>
> -Alex
>
> /ah
> indyhall.org
> coworking in philadelphia
>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
> "Coworking" group.
> To post to this group, send email to cowork...@googlegroups.com.
> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
> coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com<coworking%2bunsubscr...@googlegroups.com>
> .
> For more options, visit this group at
> http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en.
>
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"Coworking" group.
To post to this group, send email to cowork...@googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en.
