Namefilter, gift economy edition.
October 14, 2013 9:06 AM Subscribe
I´m currently designing (on paper, while I look for a person with the tech skills to build it) a web platform for an alternate, moneyless economy. I have a working name for it, but some people have read into it something different from what I intended, so I´m looking for a new name. More details after the jump.
My intention is to build a website as a platform to expand, promote and facilitate Gift Economy (as Wikipedia calls it, or the Economy of Generosity as I prefer calling it.
Before I say anything else, please don´t turn this into a discussion about politics or the viability of this concept. If you don´t like it, don´t agree with it, or believe it´s not practical, but can help me think of a cool name for it, you´re welcome to chime in with your idea. I am already aware of a lot of possible obstacles I may face, and have solutions for most or all of them. Success can be measured in a few different ways, specially for something like this, where profitability is not a goal.
What I am designing is an online marketplace, where after setting up a profile you can post both offerings and requests. An essential word in my working name is "favour", so those offerings and requests can be anything that could be considered a favour (a new bed, legal advise, massage therapy, help with carrying a couch up three flights of stairs, a coffee and chat after a miserable day in a city you just moved to and where you don´t know anybody yet, as a few examples).
You can search for these offerings and requests, by keywords, categories and area. After a few messages with the person that posted a certain offer or request, if you both agree, you are given each other´s contact info. Once you both confirm the "deal" took place, you can leave feedback on each other´s profile (without a mathematical aspect like a certain auction site where feedback is either positive or negative and counted towards a percentage; here I want it to be read subjectively, what one person considers a positive experience can be negative for another one and viceversa). So when you look at someone´s profile you can see what they´ve done in the past, if they´ve been doing more giving, more taking, and decide if you want to deal with them based on your own criteria, or completely ignoring the data on their profile.
The working name I have for it is Bolsa de Favores. It´s a play on words on Bolsa de Valores, the spanish expression for stock market, replacing "valores" (stock), with "favores" (favours). The reason why I´m not going to use that name, is because some people have brought to my attention that when you do someone a favour you implicitly expect something in return, you generate a debt, and that is not what I want this site to reflect.
Of course I deam of the day this can go global, but due to the limited funding this will most likely start locally, in my Spanish speaking country. However, I do really want it to go global once I can fund better hosting through a slight contradiction with the whole idea (ads or money donations), or hopefully by someone offering the hosting for free on the site. Because of this, the name doesn´t have to be in Spanish. It doesn´t have to be in English either, or any language in particular, and the meaning doesn´t have to be clear as long as it is catchy (after all, how many people know what a googol is?).
Can you help me find a new name for it?
You may wonder why I´m trying to name it before I build it. The thing is that I don´t interact with IT people that much anymore, so I want to make a "video job ad" and have my contacts share it to find people who want to devote their time and skills with me on this. I think that making a good video and having a cool name would help me get people interested in sharing it.
My intention is to build a website as a platform to expand, promote and facilitate Gift Economy (as Wikipedia calls it, or the Economy of Generosity as I prefer calling it.
Before I say anything else, please don´t turn this into a discussion about politics or the viability of this concept. If you don´t like it, don´t agree with it, or believe it´s not practical, but can help me think of a cool name for it, you´re welcome to chime in with your idea. I am already aware of a lot of possible obstacles I may face, and have solutions for most or all of them. Success can be measured in a few different ways, specially for something like this, where profitability is not a goal.
What I am designing is an online marketplace, where after setting up a profile you can post both offerings and requests. An essential word in my working name is "favour", so those offerings and requests can be anything that could be considered a favour (a new bed, legal advise, massage therapy, help with carrying a couch up three flights of stairs, a coffee and chat after a miserable day in a city you just moved to and where you don´t know anybody yet, as a few examples).
You can search for these offerings and requests, by keywords, categories and area. After a few messages with the person that posted a certain offer or request, if you both agree, you are given each other´s contact info. Once you both confirm the "deal" took place, you can leave feedback on each other´s profile (without a mathematical aspect like a certain auction site where feedback is either positive or negative and counted towards a percentage; here I want it to be read subjectively, what one person considers a positive experience can be negative for another one and viceversa). So when you look at someone´s profile you can see what they´ve done in the past, if they´ve been doing more giving, more taking, and decide if you want to deal with them based on your own criteria, or completely ignoring the data on their profile.
The working name I have for it is Bolsa de Favores. It´s a play on words on Bolsa de Valores, the spanish expression for stock market, replacing "valores" (stock), with "favores" (favours). The reason why I´m not going to use that name, is because some people have brought to my attention that when you do someone a favour you implicitly expect something in return, you generate a debt, and that is not what I want this site to reflect.
Of course I deam of the day this can go global, but due to the limited funding this will most likely start locally, in my Spanish speaking country. However, I do really want it to go global once I can fund better hosting through a slight contradiction with the whole idea (ads or money donations), or hopefully by someone offering the hosting for free on the site. Because of this, the name doesn´t have to be in Spanish. It doesn´t have to be in English either, or any language in particular, and the meaning doesn´t have to be clear as long as it is catchy (after all, how many people know what a googol is?).
Can you help me find a new name for it?
You may wonder why I´m trying to name it before I build it. The thing is that I don´t interact with IT people that much anymore, so I want to make a "video job ad" and have my contacts share it to find people who want to devote their time and skills with me on this. I think that making a good video and having a cool name would help me get people interested in sharing it.
I really like Bolsa de Favores, and I don't sense the same connotation that others have. I especially like the Bolsa part. Could you do Bolsa de Regalos, or is "gift" not the right word?
posted by juliagulia at 10:43 AM on October 14, 2013
posted by juliagulia at 10:43 AM on October 14, 2013
Something a bit similar around here is called Freecycle. More focused on goods than services, but maybe it can germinate ideas...
posted by catatethebird at 9:15 PM on October 14, 2013
posted by catatethebird at 9:15 PM on October 14, 2013
TradeYa
posted by oceanjesse at 7:38 AM on October 15, 2013
posted by oceanjesse at 7:38 AM on October 15, 2013
Response by poster: Share looks similar to another localized concept called Gratiferia. It doesn´t work as smoothly here, though, due to some changes some people made to the concept that, to me, haven´t helped. It´s great to hear about them, thanks. It wouldn´t feel right to take the same name, though, although some variation, including the concept of sharing in any language could work.
Julia, "gift" has, for me, a slight implication of reverence that "regalo" doesn´t have. I didn´t see the connotation on favours at first, but a handful of people have told me about it so...
Jesse, English is not my mother tongue, but doesn´t "trade" mean a two-way transaction?
Thanks to all of you for the suggestions.
posted by Fermin at 8:09 AM on October 17, 2013
Julia, "gift" has, for me, a slight implication of reverence that "regalo" doesn´t have. I didn´t see the connotation on favours at first, but a handful of people have told me about it so...
Jesse, English is not my mother tongue, but doesn´t "trade" mean a two-way transaction?
Thanks to all of you for the suggestions.
posted by Fermin at 8:09 AM on October 17, 2013
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by tchemgrrl at 9:46 AM on October 14, 2013