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carlisle@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

Yes, I just joined. So?

How do you expect them to get money without sponsorships? Yes, they accept donations from companies sometimes as prizes for events. So what? Is there something inherently wrong with that?

As you pointed out, Prototype is an exception. I had forgotten about that, but yeah they did have some AMD hardware at the Hackathon that you were expected to use. And I’m not a fan of that. I’m pretty sure that’s the only time they’ve ever done that though. Even things like GitHub is one of their biggest donors, yet they specfically make a point to allow you to use whatever code hosting server you want.

Donors benefit because resources going to help teens build technical projects benefits the industry as a whole, rather than the donor specifically.

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diaphragmwp@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

I’m pretty sure that’s the only time they’ve ever done that though

Wrong. Most website YSWSes expect you to use something like bun.js and write so in the manual. Most tutorials expect you to use GitHub. Most 3D printing expects you to use Bambu Labs (and I would need an example where a 3D printer was offered from another brand). This event literally tells you that you will get less if you don’t use sponsored tools, instead of outright saying no or expecting otherwise. And as you may already note, they are normalizing Claude and gamifying it.

benefits the industry as a whole

Diminishing effect.

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- carlisle@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
  No, most YSWSs don’t force you to use bun.js lmao.
  
  Most tutorials assume you use github because it’s… What most people use. Just like how most tutorials about coding in general (not related to Hack Club) also assume you use GitHub. But Hack Club programs intentionally allow you to use any Git service, even your own self hosted one.
  
  About forcing you into using Bambu, I haven’t seen or heard of that and can’t really comment since I don’t do much hardware stuff. All I can say is that is not a thing in the YSWSs I’ve participated in.
  
  This event literally tells you that you will get less if you don’t use sponsored tools
  
  EasyEDA donated discounts to their services you mean? Oh No ThAt’S sO aWfUl TeEnS cAn GeT a DiScOuNt!! It’s just a discount to get your PCBs manufactured. It’s not like it’s encouraging people to buy in to some sort of closed ecosystem or anything, and you still can get stuff from other companies if you want. And from what I can tell, they didn’t raise prices for getting it from other companies.
  
  And as you may already note, they are normalizing Claude and gamifying it
  
  What are you talking about?? One community member made a website that has statistics on how much people use Claude, and suddenly that means that Hack Club is gamifying Claude??
  
  Look, it’s clear you know a lot about Hack Club, so I’m sure you know this, but it seems like you’re pretending it’s not the case, so let me state this: Hack Club is very loose about what tools you can use. Whether that’s what brands you pick, whether or not you can use AI (up to a certain point), etc. Each Hack Club program can have its own restrictions as they see fit (EG completely banning AI, or having a program about a certain type of software), but Hack Club is not forcing people to use certain brands or use AI, that would be individual YSWSs, which you can choose to participate in or not.
  
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  - diaphragmwp@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
    
    Erm, but ackhually, technically you don’t have to use Vercel or whatever, it’s just because that everyone does that
    
    It’s like LG TVs asking you to accept a bunch of technically optional 300 page license agreements and putting the cursor on “accept”. Technically you may decide otherwise, but you need to already be aware of this beforehand, and most people who would knowingly buy a “smart” TV in the first place would not know.
    
    Hack Club is putting big brands of their sponsors everywhere. You may (sometimes) use more free solutions, but you would need to know these beforehand. And the biggest point of Hack Club is education. Most would literally not know and assume those are the only options.
    
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    carlisle@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
    
    Erm, but ackhually, technically you don’t have to use Vercel or whatever, it’s just because that everyone does that
    
    Huh? That’s not what I said. You’re combining 2 separate points I made into one that were never meant to go together. Please respond to what I actually said, instead of changing it into something stupid so it’s easier to have a come back against.
    
    It’s like LG TVs asking you to accept…
    
    What is like that?
    
    Hack Club is putting big brands of their sponsors everywhere.
    
    I assume you mean products, not brands? Not really. Sometimes sponsors donate items, and YSWS organizers might put the item as a prize if it makes sense.
    
    But let’s see, Hack Clubs biggest sponsors are…
    
    Elon Musk. Haven’t seen anything about him or any of his companies or products in Hack Club, besides his name on a sponsor list somewhere.
    
    The Thiel fellowship. Same as above.
    
    GitHub. Some guides assume you use GitHub, but like I said previously, that’s because most people use it, and most non HC tutorials also assume you use it. It’s not because they’re a sponsor. Actually, Hack Club has their own free alternative to GitHub and GH Codespaces. They’re definitely not trying to get people stuck on GitHub.
    
    AMD: They donated 16 of their GPUs ig?
    
    NASA (their a partner, idk if they technically sponsored HC): They donated some tickets to the Kennedy Space Center as possible prizes for an event. Is that considered bad? I really don’t think so.
    
    CEO of Shopify: haven’t seen anything related to Shopfiy or any products, advertisements etc.
    
    CEO of Dell: same as above
    
    MIT: same as above
    
    Girls Who Code: same as above
    
    Open Sauce: like we talked about previously, they have partnered together for events, but not to promote any products. It doesn’t seem terrible to me.
    
    Those are Hack Club’s 10 biggest donors. I think this should be pretty obvious: Hack Club accepts donations. They do not sell out to big tech.
    
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