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So You Want to Open a Small Press Bookstore/Artist-Run Space? A Cautionary Tale

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Re: So You Want to Open a Small Press Bookstore/Artist-Run Space? A Cautionary Tale

#91

Post by gooseus »

antt wrote: post #69
l0b0 wrote: post #4

A recent experience from a hackerspace showed me how incredibly thankless people can be. After working really insanely hard to build an inclusive space with loads of features, every little hobby revolutionary in the community just shits all over the work and proclaims the people actually getting stuff done should just stop and leave it to them. Even if I had the time, money and expertise I would never do something li…

>Even if I had the time, money and expertise I would never do something like that. Invite only spaces. New members have mentors who are responsible for them. Anyone can be expelled for any reason at any time. It's amazing how much the tone changes when someone is on the line for breaking a 10k machine and having to pay for everyone else using an equivalent machine commercially while they get it fixed.

> New members have mentors who are responsible for them.

Does that imply that if you vouch for a new member that you are also expelled if they are or share the cost of their fuckups?

Re: So You Want to Open a Small Press Bookstore/Artist-Run Space? A Cautionary Tale

#92

Post by heronymus »

ghaff wrote: post #75
endomatrix wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a friend who runs a brewery. They distribute a ridiculous amount of their product into stores around the world and have won many awards, yet they make very little margin from all that. He told me they make an overwhelming amount of money off of the tasting room attached to their physical brewery because the beer itself is effectively water in terms of cost so they make profit by not having to pay any middle me…

Especially the branding although process and scale probably help too. I used to think that, when Starbucks started selling coffee to every hotel that filled up urns for meeting rooms, it would be some serious brand dilution. But it wasn't. Coffee snobs like those downthread notwithstanding, most people don't care. I don't care most of the time although I try to frequent local shops for the variety. So anything that g…

Not a native speaker, I don't understand the meaning of "filled up urns for meeting rooms"?

Re: So You Want to Open a Small Press Bookstore/Artist-Run Space? A Cautionary Tale

#93

Post by smnrchrds »

mratzloff wrote: post #90
l0b0 wrote: post #4

A recent experience from a hackerspace showed me how incredibly thankless people can be. After working really insanely hard to build an inclusive space with loads of features, every little hobby revolutionary in the community just shits all over the work and proclaims the people actually getting stuff done should just stop and leave it to them. Even if I had the time, money and expertise I would never do something li…

> A recent experience from a hackerspace showed me how incredibly thankless people can be. After working really insanely hard to build an inclusive space with loads of features, every little hobby revolutionary in the community just shits all over the work and proclaims the people actually getting stuff done should just stop and leave it to them. They are clueless. It's like when developers on HN share all their idea…

So doubling or tripling everyone's salaries, making workweeks 4 days of 6 hours each, and firing all business and management majors and replacing them with engineers is not the path to a successful company?

Re: So You Want to Open a Small Press Bookstore/Artist-Run Space? A Cautionary Tale

#94

Post by someguydave »

clarkevans wrote: post #62

The author talks about this as a charitable (501c3) vs for-profit endeavor. I don't see any talk about using a cooperative structure. Cooperatives don't need IRS approval, since they operate commercially; any profits (and there won't be) are distributed proportionally to the users of the facility via 1099-DIV. Then, you run a membership drive to raise money. The membership then is used to select the board. Anyway, th…

Wouldn’t the members each be legally liable for anything that goes wrong?

Re: So You Want to Open a Small Press Bookstore/Artist-Run Space? A Cautionary Tale

#95

Post by avip »

l0b0 wrote: post #4

A recent experience from a hackerspace showed me how incredibly thankless people can be. After working really insanely hard to build an inclusive space with loads of features, every little hobby revolutionary in the community just shits all over the work and proclaims the people actually getting stuff done should just stop and leave it to them. Even if I had the time, money and expertise I would never do something li…

I don’t think there’s such a thing as “inclusive” long term prospering community. If you can’t ban a-holes you will lose all positive forces acting on your side.

Re: So You Want to Open a Small Press Bookstore/Artist-Run Space? A Cautionary Tale

#96

Post by late2part »

https://bemorewithless.com/the-story-of-the-mexican-fisherma...

"The American said, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siestas with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos.”"

Re: So You Want to Open a Small Press Bookstore/Artist-Run Space? A Cautionary Tale

#97

Post by late2part »

smnrchrds wrote: post #93
mratzloff wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A recent experience from a hackerspace showed me how incredibly thankless people can be. After working really insanely hard to build an inclusive space with loads of features, every little hobby revolutionary in the community just shits all over the work and proclaims the people actually getting stuff done should just stop and leave it to them. They are clueless. It's like when developers on HN share all their idea…

So doubling or tripling everyone's salaries, making workweeks 4 days of 6 hours each, and firing all business and management majors and replacing them with engineers is not the path to a successful company?

it worked for Google....

Re: So You Want to Open a Small Press Bookstore/Artist-Run Space? A Cautionary Tale

#98

Post by ghaff »

heronymus wrote: post #92
ghaff wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Especially the branding although process and scale probably help too. I used to think that, when Starbucks started selling coffee to every hotel that filled up urns for meeting rooms, it would be some serious brand dilution. But it wasn't. Coffee snobs like those downthread notwithstanding, most people don't care. I don't care most of the time although I try to frequent local shops for the variety. So anything that g…

Not a native speaker, I don't understand the meaning of "filled up urns for meeting rooms"?

The big coffee containers with taps (e.g. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Hamilton-Beach-42-Cup-Coffee-Urn-...) that get set out by hotels and other event spaces for people to pour themselves coffee.

They tend to sit out over a heat source and, if the coffee wasn't lousy to begin with, it is after it's been burning over a flame or other heat source for an hour or two.

Re: So You Want to Open a Small Press Bookstore/Artist-Run Space? A Cautionary Tale

#99

Post by seibelj »

heronymus wrote: post #92
ghaff wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Especially the branding although process and scale probably help too. I used to think that, when Starbucks started selling coffee to every hotel that filled up urns for meeting rooms, it would be some serious brand dilution. But it wasn't. Coffee snobs like those downthread notwithstanding, most people don't care. I don't care most of the time although I try to frequent local shops for the variety. So anything that g…

Not a native speaker, I don't understand the meaning of "filled up urns for meeting rooms"?

The big coffee buckets used for big meetings and conferences. Usually the coffee is bad in them.

Re: So You Want to Open a Small Press Bookstore/Artist-Run Space? A Cautionary Tale

#100

Post by watwut »

antt wrote: post #67
tomcam wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please write about your experience! Also, sorry you had to go through that.

Writing about it would drive you insane, here it is in image, gif and email form: https://runningahackerspace.tumblr.com shitnoisebridgesays.tumblr.com A high point for me was getting my site ddos'd and ssh brute force attacked when I decided to run a course in another hacker space after being stuck for committee approval for 3 months. The saddest part is that I knew it would happen and scraped the site into a static…

Wow, that sux. When you wrote about assholes up there, I imagined something waaay milder. Makes me appreciate people who organize these things a bit more.
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