A Forensic Reconstruction by Mark Randall Havens, Principal Founder

I. Introduction

This case study documents the cultural, structural, and psychological collapse of Dallas Makerspace (DMS)—once the world’s largest volunteer-run makerspace. It examines how an open, generative community transformed over time into a closed, authoritarian system dominated by fear, gatekeeping, and narcissistic control.

I write this not as an outsider, but as:

• the Principal Founder of the organization,
• a former board candidate,
• an early architect of its community structure,
• and a direct witness to the patterns that led to its decline.

This record matters for one reason:

Communities fail in predictable ways, and the Dallas Makerspace collapse is a textbook example.

This is the first installment in a broader series documenting the psychological dynamics behind community decay, narcissistic capture, and the erosion of collaborative culture. Future works will contain exhibits and deeper analysis. This foundational report presents the narrative alone.

II. Founding Intent and Original Culture

Dallas Makerspace began as a vision of distributed creativity, built on:

• radical transparency,
• collaborative problem-solving,
• peer teaching,