Home | Guidelines | Go to reHack 
reHack is a not-for-profit forum for sharing and recycling hackable stuff. The idea is to share stuff you may not be using with other makers and hackers, not to make a profit, but to keep good stuff in circulation rather than gathering dust on a shelf somewhere. The forum is run via Yahoo groups and can be subscribed to by email, like a listserv. It's not a discussion group or auction, but more like a bulletin board for trading, sharing, and exchanging.
People interested in participating (hopefully you) can register an existing email address to the group and choose to receive postings or digests of them.
reHack is starting out in London as reHack London, and is aimed at makers and hackers in southeast England. If you are interested in another area, contact the admins.
To get started, go to the reHack forum!
For more details, see the reHack guidelines.
faq
How do I get started?
To subscribe, you can simply send an email to: rehack_london-subscribe [at] yahoogroups.com. Or, you can go to the Yahoo groups site for reHack and join the group.
How do I leave the mailing list?
Send an email to: rehack_london-unsubscribe [at] yahoogroups.com
Do I have to have a Yahoo account?
You can join the list with or without a Yahoo ID. If you want to use the website to browse previous messages, you will need a Yahoo ID.
What's suitable for offering on reHack?
Everything offered should be free, hackable and at least quasi-legal, i.e., no kidneys or Trident missiles. For example, resistors, transformers, electronic toys, sensors, project boxes, and any other hackable items. Old parts and bits and bobs are perfect.
I posted something but it didn't show up. What's wrong?
Messages on reHack are moderated to prevent spam and to make sure they are formatted properly. This makes it easy to scan the messge headers to see if there's something of interest. We try to approve posts as soon as we are notified, but there may be delays if we are busy with something.
I don't get it. Do I get free stuff or give stuff away or what?
The idea is to keep hackable stuff in circulation and not sitting in a box or shelf somewhere. Chances are you have stuff like this that is just taking up room and that you might not use any time soon. What are you gonna do with it? You have like, three options: 1) keep it and wait for a rainy day, 2) throw it out, 3) get someone else to put it to good use and get it out of your hair. The first option works until you run out of room or finally get that project going - good luck with that. The second option is unthinkable for really good stuff - shouldn't someone get some use out of it? The last option keeps things in circulation and frees up your space. So, OFFER stuff to the community and someone will magically make it disappear. If you want something, post a WANTED message and someone might have just the thing for you to go and pick up from them.
Why did you set this up?
Basically, we got tired of seeing unused stuff from finished, unfinished or half-baked projects lying around the house and not getting used. We know we are not alone. You can save stuff for a rainy day project forever, and it will just take up room. We thought, why not get it out there and into cool projects?
Why not just use eBay?
Go right ahead. But some stuff just isn't suitable for eBay and isn't worth the effort. If you want to get rid of it but don't want to throw it out, reHack is just the place!
Why is this group on Yahoo! and not another service (e.g., Google groups, listserv, majordomo, facebook, my favourite service, etc.)?
We set it up on Yahoo because it's free and easy to use as a mailing list with a web interface. We didn't want the overhead of administering and securing one of our own. Google groups seems obvious, but it's more discussion oriented and reHack is not a discussion group.
Why is this only in London?
The idea is based on a model where people trade things without having to resort to shipping them - which costs money. People within a small regional area can usually meet easily to trade and share things. From our experience, this works pretty well and supports the share-and share-alike ethic.
What if I live outside of London?
As this is a new idea, we thought we'd start small. If it gains interest, we hope that new groups will be formed in other parts of the UK and the world. Let us know if you are interested in setting up a reHack forum in your area! The admin contact address is at the bottom of this page.
London HackSpace has a Swap Shop wiki. Why not use that?
We love HackSpace and we think the Swap Shop is great! Everyone should join HackSpace! We hope reHack offers something in addition, that is a bit more scalable and browsable, and open to a wider community.
Why aren't there any pretty pictures on this site or a catchy logo?
We haven't gotten around to it yet, but if you have either to share, let us know!