I regret to announce that the Handmade Network and Handmade Software Foundation will no longer be working with Abner Coimbre and Handmade Cities going forward.
This is obviously not a decision we made lightly. Since Handmade Seattle concluded just over two months ago, we have been attempting to come to an agreement that would allow us to continue working together. Unfortunately, it has become clear that Abner’s vision for Handmade has diverged from ours, and despite our best efforts, we have been unable to reconcile our differences.
This means that the Handmade Network will no longer support, promote, or endorse any Handmade Cities conferences or meetups. We disclaim all affiliation with Handmade Cities going forward. Community members are of course still welcome to attend Abner’s events if they wish, but with the understanding that we have zero influence over any content, logistics, or attendee experience.
How did we get here?
I realize this announcement may come as a shock, especially given that just two months ago we published a post titled The Next Ten Years, where Abner and I spoke optimistically about our partnership. That post was authored over the months between our summer meeting and Handmade Seattle in November. Unfortunately, in what has become a distressing trend, Handmade Seattle fell far below expectations, and we and many community members were shocked by some of the content Abner chose for the conference—in what was billed as the 10-year anniversary of Handmade, no less. Abner’s response to community feedback afterward only intensified our concerns.
We have been trying for the past two months to work with Abner to resolve these concerns. Unfortunately, we have been entirely unable to come to any kind of mutual agreement, despite some contrary statements by Abner in prior months.
We considered and discussed many possible approaches that would allow us to continue working together in some form. We have always valued events that bring the Handmade community together in real life. In the end, though, it has become clear that Abner’s goals for Handmade Cities are very different from our goals for the Handmade Network and Handmade Software Foundation, and that he prefers to run his business without our input. Therefore, we have concluded that it is best to simply part ways.
Moving forward
I am deeply sad that it has come to this point. I will forever be grateful to Abner for taking the initiative to bring the Handmade Network together, and for having the vision to imagine that a community of talented, fearless programmers could make a real difference in the world of software. And I will forever be grateful to him for bringing me into Network leadership in 2018, and giving me the chance to lead the community that made me who I am as a programmer. But as the lead of the community, I am forced to make hard decisions about its future, and this has been one of the hardest.
Although we on the Handmade Network team strongly disagree with Abner about the purpose and goals of Handmade, we nonetheless wish Abner the best, and hope that he finds success in his indie endeavors. We will not be hosting any kind of official in-person events in 2025, but discussions are ongoing for 2026 and beyond.
If you wish to discuss this news with me, you can DM me any time on Discord, or send me an email at ben @ handmade.network. It’s a busy time of year for me, but I will do my best to reply in a timely manner and to be as transparent as I can.
In the end, though, we don’t want this to drag us down. Our plans for the Handmade Network in 2025 remain unchanged, and I still stand by the content of The Next Ten Years. We are eager to put this behind us and spend 2025 building the Handmade Software Foundation, running jams, and supporting all the wonderful members of our community.
We’ll publish another news post soon outlining our plans for 2025 for both the Network and the Foundation. I am still incredibly excited about the next ten years of Handmade!
-Ben