Before I share which project won the vote, I feel the need to do a public service announcement, so that we don't accidentally alienate any of our friends.
I'm a friendly guy, which is why I love ham radio - just about everyone involved is friendly! This series of blog posts, Crowd-Sourced Project, came out of that idea. Hams love to share ideas, give input and suggestions, help out by Elmering newcomers, and talk about what they're up to in the hobby. This project is a fun way to do all of this via the internet!
Occasionally though, our underbelly shows. Either we stumble across one of the bad seeds (every hobby has them) or we just catch one of the normally friendly folks on a bad day. Believe it or not, these posts, and the idea of doing a project based on input from the community brought out one of the two (I suspect it was the latter.)
I really do think that it was a simple misunderstanding, because when I responded to the individual on Facebook, his posts suddenly got deleted (I assume he deleted them himself?) He also left a slightly aggressive comment here on my blog. I chose not to publish his comment because he doesn't need to be chastised for making a mistake. If he happens to read this, here's a message just for him:
Occasionally though, our underbelly shows. Either we stumble across one of the bad seeds (every hobby has them) or we just catch one of the normally friendly folks on a bad day. Believe it or not, these posts, and the idea of doing a project based on input from the community brought out one of the two (I suspect it was the latter.)
I really do think that it was a simple misunderstanding, because when I responded to the individual on Facebook, his posts suddenly got deleted (I assume he deleted them himself?) He also left a slightly aggressive comment here on my blog. I chose not to publish his comment because he doesn't need to be chastised for making a mistake. If he happens to read this, here's a message just for him:
I understand the sentiment behind your comment, but you were mistaken about the intent of this project. I will not post your comments unless you want me to, because they seem to have been made in haste. I also promise that I will clear up some terms so that others don't get turned off by incorrectly making the same assumption.
So, to bring the rest of you up to speed, this gentlemen incorrectly thought I was asking all of you for money to build my project (although he didn't phrase it nearly as kindly.) I will take some of the blame for maybe not making it clearer, or for making the assumption that everyone knew and understood these concepts:
This Project is Crowd-Sourced, NOT Crowd-Funded
These are two related, but very different ideas, that are prevalent in the maker and open-source communities. I can understand being put off if you think someone is asking for money. I can also understand that you might be put off by the term Crowd-Sourced if you confuse it with Crowd-Funded. Since the ham radio community, makers, and open-source folks are all so closely related, I think we have a responsibility as hams to understand some of the terminology of our sister communities, if we want their members to join ours. To help in that effort, let's allow Merriam-Webster to straighten things out for us:
Crowdsourcing: the practice of obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people and especially from the online community rather than from traditional employees or suppliers
Notice that none of the things being solicited are tangible - i.e. it is looking for ideas and input, not money or goods.
Notice that none of the things being solicited are tangible - i.e. it is looking for ideas and input, not money or goods.
Crowdfunding: the practice of soliciting financial contributions from a large number of people especially from the online community
This is what I am NOT doing, that our friend, through a misunderstanding of terms, got a little excited about.
This is what I am NOT doing, that our friend, through a misunderstanding of terms, got a little excited about.
So there you have it folks! Let's keep putting our heads together with the confidence this project will be crowd-sourced, but only N3VEM-funded. (Remembering that per the scope, I have final veto power if prices of supplies get out of hand....)
Stay tuned! - my next post will announce what I am going to be building, based on the input I received from all of you!
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