[FreeGeek] the question of affiliation & name

[Stephan Wehner]

I don't think its a good idea to become a subsidiary of the Portland 
Freegeek -- without even looking at the Portland Freegeek.

For one, the more or less frequent visits to Portland bother me, and 
would likely increase.
(See my book trafficlife.com) (Flying - even worse)

On the other hand, I'm not sure how much knowledge is transferable. 
Different populations, different geography,
after all. How much of this is just pure work and effort. And how much 
of the information would be available
without being actually affiliated.

Last, would we have a Portland society asking for local support? 
(Vancity for example?) I think between
a Portland society, and one based in Vancouver, Vancity or any other 
supporter we look up here, would
prefer to donate to the one based in Vancouver.

At least in my mind, the idea of Freegeek is to run a shop or two and 
recycle computers, teach something
here and there. For some organizations it makes sense to pool resources 
/ knowledge etc. across cities, and countries -
amnesty international, for example, or to a lesser extent, Green Peace. 
But Freegeek doesn't look to me to be of these kinds.

Cheers,

Stephan











Terry Lowe wrote:
> My $0.02 worth:
>
> The full franchise with FreeGeek in Portland gets my vote, along with
> the name FreeGeek Vancouver. My reason is the same as Jack's:
> the principles are sound, and we can get a lot of helpful advice from
> those who have gone before, ie best practices, what works, what
> doesn't (probably more important), and so forth.
>
> Terry
>
>> Therefore, please forumlate your responses to 2 questions:
>> 1. Would you like to see us be a full franchise partner with Free
>> Geek, including using the name Free Geek Vancouver? Note: "Free Geek
>> Vancouver" follows the convention of the overwhelming majority of
>> extant FG franchise partners in the US. Feel free to include your
>> reasons for agreement.
>> 2. If not, what alternative would you propose? Please describe the
>> basis of your objections.
>
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