CouchSurfing Currency

this page is a random collection of notes that need to find their place within the new Center for Adventure Economics at couchsurfing.

Alternative currency is a term that refers to any currency used as an alternative to the dominant national or multinational currency systems (usually referred to as national or fiat money).

CouchSurfing is already an alternative way of helping each other while moving around in the world. With no monetary motivation. Couldn't we go a step forward? Couldn't we subvert the entire economic system as well? You bet we can!

Before you read on, there are two things to think about for a moment.

1. What has been the reasons that traditional currencies came into use

2. What would be a reason for a Couchsurfing Currency.

Regarding 1 : Before there were traditional currencies, goods and services were exchanged against other goods and services. This had of course some limitations. Imagine you have one chicken more than you want and would like to exchange it for a dog. Finding someone that has one dog more than he wants and is in search of a chicken can be difficult. So if a group of people can agree on a certain token to have the value of a chicken, one can exchange the chicken for a token with someone that has such token and wants a chicken and then search for someone that has a dog that he wants to exchange for a token. Also, if you have a chicken today and want a dog a year from now, a currency can be a storage of value during that year.

To summ it up, as written in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Currency, a currency is a unit of exchange, facilitating the transfer of goods and services. The problem now is, how do we translate the idea of goods and services to the world of couchsurfing.

Are there goods and services that are being exchanged

Alternative currencies are there with a reason. However they all are used to exchange good and services?

Is there a problem that needs to be solved?

Untill we have an answer to the question above, all text below here is void, without need to discuss.

Regarding 2 : Answering this question should not be an attempt to think up a reason, if it does not exist, it is better not to think it up.

Proposal #1: Support Points

A support point (SP) represents one day within the next year in which your needs (basic, interpersonal, creative) will be met by couchsurfing, and another day, later, when you're old or infirm, when again your needs will be met.

Support points can also be used in the groups system to draw special attention your posts.

When you join, and again once every six months, the system gifts you four SPs. That means somebody can just sign up on the site and then visit a collective for four days, and be fed and supported. It also means that they can make four posts in the groups or organizational systems that they *really* want people to pay attention to and support.

When a group post has an SP attached to it, that means that it contains an idea or goal related to couchsurfing, and that the system will work to have somebody smart, capable, and knowledgeable immediately call the person up and help them further their idea or goal, and hook them up with all necessary resources and information.

You can give somebody an SP. When you do this, you lose one SP, and the other person gains two. But until those two SPs get used or expired (remember, they last for at most a year), you can't give to them again. SPs are always used in the order of least recent to most recent.

It will be customary to, upon responding to a well-written and CS-focused group post with an SP attached, to immediately give that person back the SP they spent writing it. Providing the reader (most likely someone with a lot of SPs) has the SPs to spare.

DYNAMICS OF SUPPORT POINTS

• like vouching, but bestowed for specific forum posts, interactions, or actions, and not limited to in-person acquaintances
• everyone has a number of support points at any time
• interface is very minimal:

• 1. they don't show up in profiles, people don't know how many they or others have
  2. whenever you see someone's thumbnail face (in forums, etc), if that person doesn't already have a support point from you, and if you have one to spend, you can click "support this person" underneath their picture. then you lose one support point and they gain two. you will not be able to support them again until they use the two you gave
  3. when posting a group/org message, if you have support points, you have an extra checkbox that says "get creative support on this project or idea"-- that flags the message and someone smart, capable, and knowledgeable in the area concerned will immediately call the person to help them with their project
  4. people can also use a support point w/r/t their current situation re: food, shelter, and company, and the system will flag them as to-be-taken-care-of in some way for a couple of days.

• in order to have a collective for which food, etc are paid for, a certain number of support points must be present in the form of people that are there, so support points represent the potential of being taken care of by couchsurfing

Suggestion

Learn from the Ideas already out there, like "Freigeld"

• Freigeld on Wikipedia
• Umlaufgesichertes Geld on Wikipedia (German)

See also

• http://ripple.sf.net
• Moving from free_software to free life
• Gift Economy on Wikipedia
• Alternative currency] on Wikipedia.