While I agree with concerns about top-down ownership, I think it is important to recognize their success in regards to diversity. Both in terms of who works there during the day and the kind of events they hold, I have been impressed by how connected the place is to the community - at any point in time you'll see a majority of people of color and more often more women than men - both areas in which Sudo Room has struggled with since its inception.

Additionally, I think there may be some misunderstanding about what having an open knowledge, commons-oriented set of agreements. The logic of open knowledge systems is to celebrate the spread of these norms as they become more widely adopted - concern about 'copying and pasting' seem to perpetuate an exclusive rights kind of thinking.

On Mar 24, 2014, at 8:55 PM, Yar wrote:

> On Fri, Mar 14, 2014 at 8:11 PM, Danny Spitzberg <stationaery@gmail.com> wrote:
>> I'm currently renewing my HUB membership (already
>> 3 years in, a really open-minded organizer is has their community engagement
>> role) and was prompted to click agree/disagree with the following:
>>
>> [snip]
>>
>> So, my question: has there been any discussion around membership
>> recruitment/ retention/ rebooting?
>
> I added this to our meeting agenda on a whim. Most of the discussion
> was me being bitter about their co-option of language. Hol had the
> quote of the night: "they're ctrl-v-ing the hell out of us", referring
> to the Kopimist cut-and-paste mantra.
>
> I'd always been skeptical of them. Their fundraiser got 100k in one
> night, and they charge $400/month for their co-working space. They
> have paid positions, and their leadership appears hierarchical and
> opaque. For example, there is no mailing list, only a glitzy
> "newsletter". While I was inspired by their hosting Oakland Data Day,
> I felt most of the value came from volunteer attendees. In other
> words, where is that money going?
>
> This ridiculous video didn't help me take the "impact hub" concept
> seriously: http://vimeo.com/35373512
>
> Put simply, Sudoroom is a grassroots organization and always will be.
> Our ultimate goal is to serve our communities. I believe the HUB's
> ultimate goal is to extract rent from our communities.
>
> After reading on Oakland Wiki yesterday that their building is owned
> by Signature, the same developers behind Brooklyn Basin, I believe all
> hypothetical good faith I had in that project has vanished. It's
> marketing, marketing, marketing. You could argue the HUB is not their
> landlord, but then why are they naming their new building complex "The
> Hive"? It turns out this "hive" also includes the 5 story condo
> building a block from Sudo that has literally had a "now selling" sign
> since we moved in two years ago. This is absolutely a collaboration
> between speculators and gentrifiers in my mind, and I think it is
> extremely gross and fucked up.
>
> To be honest, I think we'd be very wise as an organization to
> explicitly distance ourselves from these kinds of projects.
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