Hi, hakkers. This is something thats been bothering me for some time, so I want to discuss it with everyone. This is a mail that I've edited and re-edited over the last few months, so it isn't in response to recent bizops@ discussion.
I'm not happy with SYNHAK's image and our interpersonal communication. I feel that some members of the community are trying to treat SYNHAK as a faceless corporation that caters to people who pay dues. I often hear of strong delineations between Members and non-members, where Members have first pickings for certain things or other rights that are not given to non-Members. Over the weekend, I saw someone say "SYNHAK is starting an ISP!". SYNHAK, Inc has a handful of tax exempt accounts at various local establishments with no clear rules on how to use them. We're sacrificing hacking space to one person through a real lease, with legalese and everything. I can't count how many times I've heard the phrase "SYNHAK is going to do X" as if it were some official statement that everyone is obliged to follow. My last full day of Champion is 6 days away, on February 27th. I'm not running for the Board or re-running for Champion. I'm not doing those because I want to finally step back and enjoy the fruits of my labor as a member. I'm lately finding it hard to enjoy, as I feel that the collaborative culture of SYNHAK is being slowly eroded away in favor of behind-the-back communication channels, assumptions that others who disagree with you are acting in bad faith, and "Professionalism". To me, SYNHAK is a community that wants to build a space for hackers. As part of that mission, there is a limited infrastructure that is used by the community to collect rent, pay bills, and protect that limited infrastructure against legal hassles. It isn't a machine shop, a computer lab, an event space, a datacenter, a warehouse, a garage, a classroom, or even a kitchen. 48 S. Summit has those features. 48 S. Summit is a side effect of SYNHAK that is a result of that limited infrastructure's mission to provide a space for hackers to accomplish what they want to accomplish. 48 S. Summit isn't SYNHAK. It is our community's largest group project that many of us are working on in whatever ways we think are the most helpful way to carve out a space for hackers like ourselves. The electronics lab isn't SYNHAK, Inc.'s electronics lab. It is a tool that the community we have come to call "SYNHAK" can use and in exchange maintains. Much of it is on loan from members, some of it is even owned by the limited infrastructure set forth in our bylaws and incorporation document filed with the State of Ohio. The same can be said about our kitchen, data center, etc, etc. If someone wants to run an educational program out of 48 S. Summit, they are more than welcome to. SYNHAK, Inc does not and *should not* run educational programs. I do not want anyone to feel obligated to contribute to running an educational program. The global community of hackers or a subset thereof are welcome to use SYNHAK to run an educational program in the City of Akron, but that is their own endeavor. I live outside mainstream culture. The world is full of interesting problems to be solved. Attitude is no substitute for competence. Freedom is good; I have an instinctive hostility towards censorship, secrecy, and the use of deception to compel others. I'm always willing to act on those beliefs. When I'm done as Champion, I will continue to use our limited governance infrastructure to carve out a space for hackers in the City of Invention. SYNHAK is a hacker space. A space for hackers. Not a space for corporate bullshit. _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] https://synhak.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
