I vote that our name legally be tcmaker, strip HF from legal stuff and promote tcmaker. We can still call the building what we like.

I do like the name hack factory, but I don't think its a good idea to change names after being so established.

My take:

HACK FACTORY
Pros: Interesting, memorable, and provocative. Also, as mentioned, most hacker groups outside the TCs know us as the HF.
Cons: Too close to Hacktory, not location specific.

(The Target Field example is specious, since the Twins sold the naming rights.)

TC MAKER
Pros: Tells it like it is.
Cons: Vanilla, boring, and fairly lame. Gets a "huh?" reaction in the hackerspace scene.

(I find the "but we spent so much time on the logo" argument irrelevant. The group drives the marketing; marketing has no intrinsic value.)

TC MAKER AT THE HACK FACTORY
Pros: Inertia, we don't have to do anything to keep things the way it is.
Cons: Confusing, and has the disadvantages of both names.

(While I intensely dislike TCM@THF, I'd honestly rather we devoted resources to keeping our doors open by either finding a new space that could be supported by 50-70 members, or by acquiring resources like a laser cutter that will actually get us 100 members.)

The bike shed definitely needs painting, no doubt about it!

-Jim Hart

1. The vote isn't happening in the forum.

2. Nothing is going to be decided, and consensus won't be built, by the 15 - 20% of our members who get on the forum.

I understand the vote is not based on the few folks that have contributed to this thread that would be the majority. But my personal advertising has been with the Hack Factory, not the tcmaker name. Hack factory is just a mysteriously bad-ass title that inspires an anarchistic interest which, in my opinion recruits my kind of scum.

I'm looking forward to voting on this, and FYI, Jude had the best analogy with the Twins at Target Stadium. To add to that the Twins get more national branding the Target Field gets more local branding. A majority of ball fans are local so who do we want to recruit? Local members that can actually show up (hack Factory) or national interests more consistent with the tcmaker handle?

I'm also a misinformed hands-off monday morning arm-chair hackerback. So maybe disregarding this nonsense would save you brain cells. I have spoken.

No matter what you have to say, I always like how you say it. I wish you were around the space and the forums more.

Riley

I disagree. As I see it, the analogy holds up whether it's the Twins and Target Field, the Chicago Bears and Soldier Field, the Red Sox at Fenway, or any number of other comparisons.



While Wammie's efforts are valuable and appreciated, I agree that in some regard those efforts should not be a significant deciding factor in what we decide to do with the open question of our collective identity. On the other hand, marketing does have intrinsic value. If it didn't, how would Target justify paying millions of dollars for naming rights on a baseball stadium?



I'm not sure that is the way it is. The name of the organization is Twin Cities Maker, a.k.a. TC Maker. The name of the space is The Hack Factory. If TC Maker decides to open another facility (a bike and auto shop, for example), that might be given a different name. We are not "TC Maker at the Hack Factory", we are TC Maker, and we work at the Hack Factory.


If there are others in the Hacker/Maker/Craft movement who know us as TC Maker; that's great. If, however, they know us as the Hack Factory, that's great too. People who want or need to find us will find us by either name. Google any variation discussed here, and our website shows up as the first result. Pump any name into Google Maps, and our mailing address will pop up. Write a check to either name, and I believe Orion will have no trouble depositing it.

I'd prefer to keep it just as it is: An umbrella organization that can be flexible, with a clearly branded identity for our facility, or perhaps I should say our first facility.