John Buckman : forum comments they have written

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re: lots of thoughts Thanks, I'm glad you like the "out of pocket" idea, and that you understand that not-exchanging-money is a big part of what makes BookMooch feel different, and could be important here too. I agree with you about the "wrinkle" namely that some people might do a lot of work for others, but still not be very good at it. It seems to me that the system would give you the option, as you do more work, of upgrading your mastery level, but that you wouldn't be forced into it. But then again, that's what you suggested too :D -john John Buckman 9 years ago
re: lots of thoughts That's right, this was originally conceived of as "AnHourOfMe" but that line of thinking had a lot of problems, but I'm still banging on the same basic idea, now with a new name and slightly different direction.   Three levels of skill, as somebody mentioned above: hobbyist, experienced, master craftsman. (Or beginner, intermediate, expert. Whatever you want to call them.) For a hobbyist, one hour is worth one point. For experienced, one hour is worth two points. For master, one hour is worth three points. That might actually reflect time taken to reach that skill level more accurately. That would also reward efficiency (because the more experience someone has at doing something, the faster they tend to get at it). That's a really unusual idea, and I like it! I can think of a few ways this could work: 1) everyone starts out with "hobbyist" status, but as they do work, and people like it and review the work at the higher level, their status goes up (if the moochee wants to be so considered) 2) the moochee (ie, the supplier) could simply say "I am a hobbyist, no matter what you think of my work" or the reverse "I am a master, even though i'm new here" Personally, I like the idea of rewarding people who are mooched out and who do good work, with an increase in the value of their work. That also helps avoid the fiverr.com effect, where anyone good quickly gets too much work and burns out. On the shipping costs (and in general, any out-of-pocket costs), I agree with you that it's a really important topic to get right. I'm not yet convinced that people paypaling each other money is a good idea, because that makes the relationship much less "gifty" and much more "free labor, I paid for materials" and thus transactional. On possible solution is an "out of pocket" counter, which is part of a member's profile. If I am out of pocket $10 to make some pottery, when I mooch a knit cap from someone and they're out of pocket $6, then my "out of pocket" goes down to $4.   I also think it would be important to have some kind of system in place for what to do if the giver runs way over the amount of hours agreed upon. Because that is *going* to happen sometimes, especially if the giver is trying something new for the fun of it, and doesn't yet know how long it will take. That's tricky, but perhaps that's where a "tip jar" or a "smooch" comes in?   In your "inventory," perhaps we could have a space after each thing for the giver to talk about their experience in doing it? For instance, "I started crocheting last year, and I have crocheted 10 things now," or "I took a class in school about this," or "My mother taught me this recipe," or "I've been drawing comics for eight years now." Good idea, me likes. -john John Buckman 9 years ago
re: Mooch Me - some thoughts! And Suggestions to your Problems Hi Markus, thanks for the long message! re: friendmooch I never thought of that before, but I see where you're going with it, the idea of "borrowing the help of a friend" is a compelling one. re: your larger email. What surprises me is how amateurish so many of these sites are. http://reconomyglobaltimebank.net/ and http://freewheelers.com/ don't inpsire lots of confidence. However, the more professional looking ones couchsurfing, bewelcome, do make me feel like this is "for real". I'd be nervous about investing my time into something that looks like it might fail any day now. I agree with you that uber and fiverr and airbnb and commercializing what used to be free. For that matter, getty images adding "licensing" as an option to photos on flickr, has pretty much killed the creative commons sharing of photos that used to be so popular on flickr. People like to share, but they also see easily tempted to make a few dollars instead. I really like your point "SO I would say that Moochme is "Borrowing a friend" in that way so they are PRACTICAL MANUAL or a service rather than a product" "Borrow a friend" can also apply to "will you help me move home?" so it doesn't necessarily get away from the "cheap unskilled labor" aspect of these schemes. There's lots more in what you wrote, and if that's ok, I'd like to have a skype with you and have a conversation. -john John Buckman 9 years ago
re: Moochme Idea re: hydalea -- I am getting the hint (believe it or not) that this would be much simpler if people just traded directly between each other, and there wasn't a currency. -john John Buckman 9 years ago
re: Moochme Idea I know about LETS and what I want to do is fundamentally different from a LETS, because they are always (1)Local and (2)about commercially available services (ie, things you could also buy with cash). Here's an example. On the simple example of the LETS you just pointed me to: https://www.communityexchange.net.au/info/example.html you'll see that their example is "car maintenance" or "oil change" That's fine, but it's not at all what I want to do. LETS are fundamentally about "shopping local". MoochMe is about doing things for each other that *are not for sale*, things you do not do as a career, that you enjoy doing. Here's an example that contrasts a LETS with MoochMe: Very few people wish they could spend their pass-time changing oil on other people's cars (a LETS) But many knitters love to knit, and are looking for new children, relatives, friends, anybody, who could use a knitted good, so that they have an excuse to knit more. (MoochMe) Don't get me wrong, I think LETS are neat, and they've inspired the idea behind MoochMe. One of the big problems I have in communication what MoochMe does, is that people automatically liken it to a LETS. John Buckman 9 years ago