I was a member at Hacker Dojo for a little over a year. It was A LOT of fun, but when they expanded in late 2011 or early 2012, it was my que to leave. I smelt the "Save the Dojo" crisis long before the city of Mountain View told them they had to be ADA compliant.
It seemed the dojo was trying to be "everything for everyone" at the time. They wanted to keep membership dues low; but many people were coming everyday to use it as a dirt-cheap co-working space. They expanded to meet space needs for people who came everyday; but membership fees weren't enough.
I would have happily remained a member while I was in the Bay Area if the expansion was better planned. I just didn't want to get involved in fundraising to support an under-funded co-working space.
I think this is a great chance for the reboot. Yes, the dojo had its fair share of growing pains and bad actors in the space (both on member and admin side) but that was some time ago. The community has made great strides to correct and learn from its error. Many in the bay area rely on the community for mentorship, friendship and easily accessible tools to tinker as well as ideate and prototype. The original founders of super happy dev house as well as engineers from Apple, Cisco and Stanford oversee its operations today. I was a member since 2014 and stayed through the dark times. I would love to see more support from others.
It seemed the dojo was trying to be "everything for everyone" at the time. They wanted to keep membership dues low; but many people were coming everyday to use it as a dirt-cheap co-working space. They expanded to meet space needs for people who came everyday; but membership fees weren't enough.
I would have happily remained a member while I was in the Bay Area if the expansion was better planned. I just didn't want to get involved in fundraising to support an under-funded co-working space.
I still miss that place!