Anyone want to help maintain a bitcoin dispenser(skyhook) for VHS?

I am not sure how this post got listed as such… but this is not a commercial opportunity for anyone.

This is a possible donation to the hackspace that will allow the hackspace to accept BTC donations and recieve cash for those donations. In an easy/clean/secure mannor. This IS NOT a money making opportunity for anyone(or myself), I am mostly interested in making it an available space service and easy access point for those interested in the technology. I love vhs and would hate the see the vanhack movement miss out again on the next crypto wave.

Maintinence does not really involve anything other then the occiasional upgrade and maybe rebooting things now and again. As well as emptying a full cash container and giving it to the accountant for donations.

If someone sets it up, Ill donate the first bit o coin

This category has an ambiguous title - we put anything to do with money in here. Stuff like group buys etc go in here too. The title might not be right but the this is the right place for this.

Yea I’d be happy to help out a bit.

Great! I can probably arrange a transfer chain for it to VHS if I can arrange it to be accepted by someone(you?) at the space. Alternatively if you wanted to take a trip to the sunshine coast, I can arrange for it to be picked up when ever convienient. Are you on IRC? Otherwise Ill send you a message through PM.

Err lets be sure we want this at vhs first please. I’m not saying we don’t, I’m saying lets not rush this. Do we want the responsibility for security of this unit? Who insures it? Will it attracted breakins etc? Is this a good deal for members? There are already vhs members who do the meet and exchange bitcoin thing does this offer a better rate, better convenience etc? @Jarrett @iMakeRobots etc I think this at least needs approval of directors, yes?

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Always the same questions:

Does VHS own it?
If VHS doesn’t own it then it’s a big headache for VHS. What if it gets broken? Who is liable? Why should VHS pay that price?

Where will it live?
Does it need power, internet, or more? Where will it get those necessities?

Who will take care of it?
AFAIK there are only two machines at VHS that are not owned by VHS. One of those is the vending machine. Even with weekly+ maintenance it isn’t running all the time. Who is committed to keeping the new thing working?


If this is not a money making commercial op then it is miscategorized.

LOL… this needs aproval from the board of directors? Not even a thanks for the offer?

This would be a gift to the space, it is tiny, it is secure (unbreakable box / hardended cable to be bolted to whatever).

It would be on loan to VHS… like all my other networking equipment/books/etc there.

The rate is set by VHS. People who want to donate coins donate them to the skyhook, the skyhook dispenses coins for cash, the space gets cash as donations.

I am really underwelmed by these replies, fuck this north american maker circlejerk.

I will put this somewhere where it benifits me, fuck this noise.

Sorry DeNomad, maybe next time.

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This is why we can’t have nice things.

@TomKeddie raised perfectly legitimate questions, or at least I don’t know the answers to them either. If that is unacceptable to @freeborn, then that’s unfortunate. Maybe it’s best that we pass on the opportunity.

Thanks for the offer, @freeborn, and I hope you find a suitable place to move your skyhook, whatever it is.

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We certainly don’t need more crap we don’t own. There are already several space wasters at the space that people assure us are not space wasters.

@freeborn: I would love to have it at the space and I’ll take responsibility for it.

Considering we have a flat fee for every requirement that @iMakeRobots put up, and I just nullified the rest, just send either @DeNomad or myself a message to get things under way.

Do we have any concrete beams we can bolt it down to?

I have a lot to learn - I remember as a young army recruit wasting a morning at a quarter-masters store for a long weight (wait!) and being told that it was still being weighed on the sky-hook?
Geeez!

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I want to sound positive. Here are a few options for anyone’s new things at VHS:

  1. become a member, put your name on it, and maintain it yourself
  2. give it permanently to active member(s) who will label it as theirs and do what they like with it.
  3. donate it to VHS, where it will start life in the 3 week bin and maybe end up as a #1.

Maple Leaf Storage will be happy to consider all loan requests.

Ty +1 for stepping forward and making good things happen

for just about everyone else -1

The best way to work around any issues with anything new is to look at it constructively. I appreciate due diligence in liability and questions, so let’s find solutions to any issues rather than only pointing out problems (Politics aside… I’m sure that wasn’t the intention, but it is the optics of it). If we only look at these things as liabilities (things being free cool stuff) then we’ll never get anything awesome around VHS. Let’s be positive on the front end of these ideas and figure out the complications on the back.

  1. Liability Any liabilities can be overcome with a simple written agreement. All it takes is asking in writing. Any other risk issues @TyIsI and I can figure out.
  2. Where That can be figured out. Just like everything else at VHS I’m sure it will find a suitable home.
  3. Who @TyIsI and I have agreed to take care and maintain it as needed.

If for any reason it doesn’t make a suitable home I can return it to @freeborn.

Thanks for the offer @freeborn - it’s really awesome. IF you’re still willing to do this I’d love to make it happen.

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So you get one positive response and you think it is ok to do it and one negative response and it’s all over? It’s important to realise vhs is a consensus organisation by definition, neither @DeNomad nor I speak for the organisation. We group together to pay rent on a space to create a community. What goes into that space to a great extent defines what the community can do. It’s important we consider things like this carefully. The discouragement of open debate makes me cautious. At the minimum placing a unit at vhs can look like product endorsement, what are we endorsing?

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VHS was a doacracy. Im not going to stand around and paint your bike shed.

Its a raspberry pi, a nexus 7, and bill acceptor…

I think implying that bitcoin is going to invite stress or crime into the space is a silly notion that I do not have time for. I do not live in BC anymore, otherwise I would of done it my damn self. Thank you.

VHS still is a do-ocracy, but that doesn’t mean we can’t discuss what we might or might not want to do. Filling the space with more toys is easier than finding a place to put them all, as has been mentioned already in this thread.

Also, I don’t know if a bitcoin ATM would invite more crime than e.g. the theft of tools that we’ve previously experienced, but as you’ve already clarified that you were proposing to loan the machine to the space, I’m quite comfortable voting for “thanks, but no thanks” for your well intended offer. I don’t want to feel that VHS is on the hook if someone does decide to take a crowbar to your $1000 device to see if it has any cash in it.

But thanks again for the original offer, and apologies that we didn’t express that a bit more directly before we started discussing possible issues.

Do we have a real problem with theft? Consumables don’t count because they
are consumed.

If we do then how much money has been stolen from the cash box?

Bruce if we have a problem with theft, key holders can put a stop to it.

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See the inventory thread.