On Tue, 2013-01-01 at 23:30 -0500, Vogl,Markus V wrote: > >> Anything above a regular full member (budding member is actually a name a > >> very much disagree with) should be valuable perks, > >Feel free to suggest an alternative name. > > It should be called full member.
Thats boring and not as fun :P > > >>Right, but we have open hours every wednesday and after every tuesday > >>meeting. > > Open hours are great but you are forgetting that the base idea of any > hackerspace is to give members access to a space on their schedule, > without having to rely on somebody else being there. The base idea of any hackerspace is to build a space so that people with common interests can come together to socialize, share resources/knowledge, collaborate, and make things. Specifically, our bylaws state our mission as: "SYN/HAK provides an environment for people to educate, create, and share amongst themselves and others within the domains of technology, art and science." It doesn't say we need to provide 24/7 access at all. It might be a stretch, but I think it is almost outside of our mission to provide individuals access to the space without talking to other members. Of course, it doesn't mean we can't give individuals some form of token to grant them 24/7 access. That is just an implementation detail of how we provide the aforementioned environment to others while still keeping malicious agents from taking away our Nice Things. > There is always a chance that we could get cleaned out on any level, this is > why we have a membership process. > Essentially you are suggesting is to raise membership dues for a base right. > And I am vehemently against this. If thats the case, then I suppose I'm actually suggesting redefining what our base *privileges* are. You're not guaranteed a key if you pay $35/mo, you are guaranteed the right to apply for such a key and be subject to the scrutiny of our membership. > Our opening day is coming up on Saturday, and this has to be solved before > then as we have to be clear on > what we tell potential members, for that reason I suggest we vote on this > digitally asap. According to the proposal process, we can only decide on this at the next meeting. If the board needs to override via a vote, the meeting needs called at least 5 days in advance, so *on* saturday. I won't be available for a board meeting that day for obvious reasons. However, nothing says we can't have a digital vote. Yet, I feel doing so without involving our members via the methods we've agreed upon would be an absolutely massive breach of trust and completely devalue the system. Lets not do that, hmm? Combined with the application and key processes, that gives us a minimum of two weeks to figure this out. The chance of someone filling out an application, getting two sponsors, being accepted at a meeting, and *at that same meeting* being granted a key is incredibly slim. I can think of maybe two people with the rapport in this community to be capable of achieving that. And even then, they are already very up to date with happenings in the space and wouldn't need to be educated on the processes and requirements. And *even then*, the membership needs to only pass one proposal to eschew all these rules if they feel so. Doing that could take as little as a few minutes, provided that our 14 members can all assemble in one location and completely overthrow the system (including the bylaws) in total unanimity. > > My vote goes against it. > > Best > > Markus > > > > > > > > Markus V. Vogl > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Assistant Professor > The University of Akron - Myers School of Art > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Folk Hall 124 A > 150 East Exchange Street > Akron, OH 44325 > (330) 972-5952 > ________________________________________ > From: [email protected] [[email protected]] On Behalf Of > Trever Fischer [[email protected]] > Sent: Tuesday, January 01, 2013 10:43 PM > To: SYN/HAK discussion list > Subject: Re: [SH-Discuss] Proposals for tweaking membership ranks > > On Tue, 2013-01-01 at 22:13 -0500, Vogl,Markus V wrote: > > Pumping Station 1 provides 24/7 access to all their paying member levels > > even starving hackers, and in my opinion this is how it should be. > > Paying members regardless of level need access to the space at all times, > > it's about access to the space on the member's time table. > > Those without key access are more than welcome to send a mail to > discuss@, poke us in IRC, or get the phone number of someone who has a > key. It has been working out pretty well so far for the non-members who > have been using the TIG welder last month, thanks to Devin. > > Seeing as how I work out of my laptop, I'm more than happy to show up at > the space and stick around to clean up afterwards, provided someone lets > me know in advance. A key isn't required, but if you're asking me more > than a few times a month to unlock the space, I'll push you towards > membership and key access since it is a bit of a hassle. > > > Anything above a regular full member (budding member is actually a name a > > very much disagree with) should be valuable perks, > > Feel free to suggest an alternative name. > > > but not the abolition of base member rights. We are small community and > > want to keep the entry level hurdle relatively low. > > Even for me paying $20 extra for 24hr access would be a deal breaker. > > Right, but we have open hours every wednesday and after every tuesday > meeting. We're thinking of expanding this to every Saturday afternoon as > well for those who don't have the time to use the space. I also plan on > working from the space every day after we get the coworking/office space > and kitchen setup. Key access is useful for people who really want to > use the space 24/7, or don't want to hunt down a keyholder. > > It is possible though highly unlikely for someone to become a member > with a falsified student ID, falsified letter of enrollment, pay $25 for > student dues, get their free key, and wipe us clean. The key application > process vets members to prove that the entire membership absolutely > trusts that person. The membership application process tries to weed out > the kind of people who don't fit in. > > Keep in mind: a key to the space grants you total, unrestricted, 100% > unmonitored access to the entirety of our space for all 31557600 seconds > of the year, which I would value at roughly $priceless; I think only > charging $55/mo and proving that you can be trusted is a nice discount. > > > > > Best > > > > Markus > > > > > > > > > > From: [email protected] [[email protected]] On Behalf Of > > Penny Golightley [[email protected]] > > Sent: Tuesday, January 01, 2013 9:46 PM > > To: SYN/HAK discussion list > > Subject: Re: [SH-Discuss] Proposals for tweaking membership ranks > > > > Hey everybody! > > I thought it would be a good idea to let everyone know my opinion on these > > matters. > > > > On Jan 1, 2013 7:56 PM, "Trever Fischer" > > <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: > > > > > > Howdy, all. > > > > > > At today's meeting we were discussing possibly restructuring the > > > membership perks again. > > > > > > First: Creating another higher level called Sponsor, with monthly dues > > > of $250/mo. Nothing exciting there; It can be used as a way to entice > > > corporate sponsors. > > > > We basically already have this. In my opinion, this is a great advertising > > move. I fully support this. I want to remind everyone that these amounts > > are the minimum to be at that level. You are more than welcome to pay more > > if you want to throw us some extra cash one month. > > > > > > > > Second: Bumping the requirement for a key from any member rank up to > > > serious geek ($55/mo). > > > > I'm on the fence with this. I want to hear the opinions of people who are > > budding members and those who are not members. > > Budding nerds (those paying $35/month): Is this something that seems unfair > > to you? Was eventually getting a key to the space at this price a deciding > > factor to becoming a member? What can we do to encourage you to upgrade to > > serious geek? > > Nonmembers: Would this change affect your decision to become a member in > > the future? > > I support this because it's common for other hackerspaces to have $50 be > > their price for 24/7 access. Noisebridge's (San Francisco's hackerspace) > > equivalent to our budding nerd membership is $45. HSL's is $50 for 24/7 > > acess. I'll say that we are running on a barely sustainable budget and we > > simply can't afford things that make a hackerspace great like new tools, > > new machinery and materials for projects. > > I'm against anything that discourages new members. I worry this would do > > just that. It's better for us to have a lot of budding nerds than a few > > serious geeks. Serious geek is only an extra $20 and a new member is $35. > > Also, the more members we have, the more people we have talking about us. > > Word of mouth has been our best advertisement. > > > > Long story short: I want to hear from you guys!! > > > > -Penny Golightley > > [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> > > _______________________________________________ > > > Discuss mailing list > > > [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> > > > http://synhak.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Discuss mailing list > > [email protected] > > http://synhak.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss > > > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > [email protected] > http://synhak.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > [email protected] > http://synhak.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] http://synhak.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
