I like the ideas, but I don't like the culture.
A big hackerspace is around my corner, but I just can't be there for long.
Too much awkward males, too much chauvinism, too much image cultivation.
A big hackerspace is around my corner, but I just can't be there for long.
Too much awkward males, too much chauvinism, too much image cultivation.
When I came back to the states I joined the local 100+ member space and absolutely hated it. Met some really cool people but the majority were a bunch of jerks who either couldn't give you the time of day or just wanted to do things the hard way.
Maybe the idea of a hackerspace should be like 3.2 bars were in 20th century midwest. One in every neighborhood that served the values and needs of a small core group.
That's being a bit ableist towards people with social anxiety disorder and people on the autism spectrum.
These tend to be common around hackerspaces, and are mostly a result of society rejecting them (bullying at school, being stigmatized as 'nerdy', etc). You have to accept it as being part of the technology scene in general.
It's just too much for me, when I go there with female friends and suddenly were ringed with peoples who ask them dumb questions.
Or that they "are not racist" but still have to make dumb remarks about the Turks living in their block.
I've experienced the awkward males part, and the difficulty for newbies to feel welcome. But there's also a kind of social club factor to it with unwritten rules, for example, don't expect to turn up with your windows xp laptop to get a hacker to fix the keyboard.
Just 99% of the people in a hackerspace are males and most of them are awkward in social situations :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Pn1RVZu-24
The bits that stand out for me is "If you had your own big club and I was standing outside of it you'd never fucking let me in," --- "We are all eating a giant shit sandwich out here, nobody cares, I don't care".
Good luck.