Sharing Network

Years ago I read an article in the SF newspaper about barter groups. One of the groups was very different than the others. They formed a network, published a list of their skills and products they felt like sharing and when someone needed something they would contact the person and they would do their service or provide their product(s). No exchanges happened so the IRS wasn't interested. If someone used your services it was up to you to go out to the network and use whatever you needed to bring yourself into balance if you needed that. I got on the phone and within 2 weeks I had 80 professionals signed up. We had monthly potlucks and lots of people got lots of things done in their lives. I ran it for 2 years and then got tired of putting out the list. With the internet now it would be so much easier.

So who's interested?

most definitely! i've been living up in bellingham, WA these past 5 years and am gettin ready to move down to portland after the new year (i think!)... within the past year or so bartering has definitely become more a part of our community here up north and i would love to continue to be a part of that when i go further south.

 

i guess its started! :)

 

peace,

bryan

http://portland.brightneighbor.com/

To get this going I will need a php web site programmer to script a website so we can start building the network. Who would like to make this their contribution to the sharing network?

PHP is a relatively popular language for web scripting, but it is not by far the only one, nor the best one. What you need is someone who can manage a website, and if they need PHP to accomplish the task at hand, then so be it. I didn't want to say anything, but I know too many perl/python/scheme/java programmers who cannot help people out because those people think PHP is not an option, but a requirement.

It seems to me this sort of sharing network would probably work best as a mailing list, as opposed to a website. People could post requests for work they need, or offers for work they can do, and if the job is done well they can post thanks, or if they are stood up they can post an ill review. People can look at these messages, to find out what people do, and if they're any good at it. I've seen this sort of thing happening on the portland "freecycle" mailing list, although that one is for stuff not labor.

A website might be useful though, to serve up pages on each member, their skills and what jobs they need people to do. Why would the IRS care if money was exchanged or not? You have to put that expense/income in your taxes of course, but that doesn't seem like something the "sharing network" as a group would have to be concerned about.

Also we shouldn't discount the value of existing websites about community sharing, such as craigslist.

We have the site up now!

http://www.oursharingnetwork.com

Click on the About and FAQ to see how it works, set up a profile, list the products and or services you wish to share.(be sure to go through both screens, a preview of your listing and a save so it shows up on the list)

Two people much recommend you to join so check the list of current members and email the ones you know to click the approval box. If you don't know any of the people on the list, email me and we'll figure out a way to get you in.

15 people have joining in just the first 2 days and I expect 60 within the first couple of weeks.

 

Aloha,

 

Brian