Does the word 'hacker' have enough negative meaning to warrant us not using it? At Brucon 2009 they discussed this very issue and you can hear that in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQz_UotedRA&feature=related or see this presentation: https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.brucon.org/material/hackerspaces_brucon.pdf

Why did some of the hackerspaces not use the name hackerspace? I couldn't easily find too much info on this but I am sure it is out there or we could just email the other hackerspaces and just ask them directly. Looking at the hackerspace list: http://hackerspaces.org/wiki/List_of_Hacker_Spaces it seems like more places don't use the work hacker than do.

If we want to create a coworking space and have non-IT people to join, the words 'hacker', 'geek' have definitely a negative connotation and will scare off people. I talk from experience... I have setup in the past a Jelly community (see http://workatjelly.com/) in bangkok and I had a really hard time to bring non-IT people (entrepreneurs, designers, marketers...).

In a nutshell, I think we have two groups of people here:
A) entrepreneurs, business oriented people (usually freelance, consultant, company owner...)
B) experimenters, technical people (researcher, employees doing it as a hobby...)

Hackerspace, Lab, Garage... fits more with B)
In order to focus on both groups, will need to find a name that works for both...

A lot of the hackerspace names that don't use 'hack', 'garage' or 'lab' in them sound like dance clubs.

Dee.PIT-> Peer.Innovation.Technology, Dee being the Thai enunciation of "THE" but also has the Thai meaning of being "GOOD". PIT is still playful and slang for a hangout place. the word Peer conveys a collaborative open space for Thais and foreigners to become "peers" and also has still a technology connotation like peer to peer file sharing:) Peer is the knowledge sharing portion of the meaning, innovation is what we share and strive for, and technology is the base that entails all other audience such as marketers, researchers, musicians, everyone and everything. sorry, i was thinking The Peach Pit ;)

i think Lab is ok for a broader audience. Most co-working spaces that are open to all have Lab in them. Also it is similar to a incubator which caters to Group A. labs is used alot in incubator names now, like the dogpatch labs. labs and incubators are being used interchangeably now in the startup community and among VC's now.

none of the ideas click for me so far. this is a problem we can talk about for month. there are pros and cons for every suggestion. the more suggestions we get, the more complex the problem gets and not simpler. i suggest we go with the generic "bangkok hackerspace" for now and follow the principle 'done is better than perfect". i still think a generic name suits us well in the same way as generic names are used for barcamps. also it is the only name that gives us room for change later on if someone has a superb idea that click right away, as it's generic.

some ideas are neat but it would feel arkward to imagine them in a normal conversation. people might avoid it then.

I like the names KarmaLab and Peer Garden, but unfortunately they seem to be used a lot already at other places. I think a generic name like Bangkok Hackerspace is best for now. We can change it later and it might be easier to pick a name after we know the location/size/atmosphere.

I asked HackerSpaceSG about their name and got the following response:
"...a little controversy in the name creates an opportunity for a conversation. We've gotten press coverage and it's great for search engine optimization. Everyone knows these things are called hackerspaces the world over"

I was trying to push for a name to be used for the formation of an official non-profit group. Although we could lease a space under and individual's name, I would recommend we form an entity to protect ourselves (although I am not sure about how much protection we get thru an association in Thailand). I would think it would be difficult to change the name on any paperwork as well as costly.

@Ian the name of the group has nothing to do with the name of the place. As far as I know, we can change the name of the place anytime we want without changing the name of the group.

@nadam - The name of the space and the name of the group can certainly be different. Just leads us to more discussion: What will be the name of the group? Will having two names cause too much confusion for any of the stakeholders? In the US we might call the association something like "Friends of the Bangkok Hackerspace" for simplicity.

@Ian I don't think the name of the "group" is important. It will only be used in some legal documents. However, the name of the place is what will be used daily in conversations, blog-posts, stickers, t-shirts etc.