New member entry?

Space and infrastructure
1

Hey, I’m just wondering if there’s a place to find out when key holders will be in other than making a post and hoping the relevant people respond every time I want to come in? Which I feel would annoy people…
It’s also really off-putting that people are in the space, but don’t update the site to show it’s open - I thought I’d be able to come in pretty much any evening at a reasonable time, but it doesn’t seem to be that way when people don’t update the site, and they don’t answer the phone when I’m trying to get in
I’m also not sure how to enter the building if nobody picks up the phone - I don’t know my membership number and the post I found on the topic said that the passcodes would be changed - so what’s the situation on that?

2

Welcome to VHS. Sorry, it is indeed a problem that there are not enough “open” times for non keyholder members.

Nevertheless I’ll try to answer your questions:

  • Keyholders can come anytime, and it is their choice if they open the space. They do so by clocking in with the big digital clock by the door. This is what updates http://isvhsopen.com.
  • The enterphone system lets keyholders in anytime, and lets regular members in only if the space is “open”. It identifies members by their door code. It’ll also let you call the phone in the space and someone can let you in that way. Although if they’re not expecting anyone, they may not pick up (as you’ve experienced).
  • Your member door code can be found by logging in to http://membership.vanhack.ca.
  • The enterphone lets you into the building, but the door to our suite has a combination lock. The combo changes from time to time, and that’s what the topic you found was likely referring to. Keyholders know this combo so that they can let themselves into the suite. Regular members do not know this one because they can’t get in anyway unless a keyholder has opened the space.

My suggestions:

  • Ask on the slack channel who’s opening up the space. It’s not annoying if you ask nicely! Even if a keyholder doesn’t want to open the space for everyone (since that comes with some responsibility and they might want to work on their own project) they may be ok with letting a few members in who ask nicely to arrange it beforehand.
  • Befriend keyholders to make the above even easier. Or get a group project going or a workshop and you’ll have no trouble getting a keyholder to open the space for you (we call this “bottomlining”).
  • Come on Tuesday nights. That’s the one time that keyholders make a very serious volunteer effort to host rather than work on their own projects, and VHS is almost guaranteed to be open.
  • Consider becoming a keyholder if you want regular access. It’s a bit more money (but still incredibly reasonable compared to any other shared workshops in the city) and it requires some time to get to know existing keyholders first (a good idea anyway). But it really unlocks the big value of VHS, so to speak.
2 Likes
3

Thanks for the info Luke. I’m trying to join the slack channel, but from VHS IRC and Slack
I tried https://vanhack.slack.com/ but that won’t let me log in with my vhs login
I just tried https://vanhack.slack.com/ user profile > linked account > link new account > slack - it then asks me to verify my identity by connecting with another slack channel that I’m already logged into or something, which I authorise, but then nothing happens? It can’t be this convoluted to join the channel? lol
I feel like I’m missing something

1 Like
4

Hey James - I think you have to keep the multiple slack accounts unassociated. Do you have another slack account associated with the email you’re using? Sorry this is a pain. We’ll get you sorted out.

5

Also - pm me your email and I’ll send you a slack invite.

6

What other responsibilities do keyholders take on when they open the space?

7

Ok will do, thanks :slight_smile:

1 Like
8

Depending on who you ask it’s being the de facto responsible person, which includes making sure that people sign the liability waivers/get safety tours and locking up. (Safety is everyone’s responsibility though. If you see something unsafe, please tell/educate the person.)

9

That sounds as if the space is open to non-members when a keyholder opens the space. Correct?

When are the members-only open times that are mentioned on the membership page (Membership - Vancouver Hack Space)?

10

Members-only drop-in hours are usually announced on the calendar/Slack, or asking in #random or #isvhsopen is also a good option

11

I’m having the same issue… I only joined about 3 weeks ago, and would love to become a keyholder asap… I’ve had a project that I’ve needed to finish for the last week, and have come by 3-4 times without being able to get access, which is a little frustrating. That said, I don’t want to whine about it, but would love to figure out some way of getting notifications that the space is open, beyond having to refresh isvhsopen.com

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12

A member made this chrome extension a while back.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/is-vhs-open/fpkncnbnigngakejmdllbonkikmagffk?hl=en

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13

Also @hectorh made a SMS interface. Not sure if he’s still operating it though.

https://talk.vanhack.ca/t/isvhsopen-sms-interface/3526

14

Check out the wiki page for a whole bunch more information, collected in
one place:

https://vanhack.ca/doku.php?id=hacks:isvhsopen

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15

Still up, I have no plans to shut it down.

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