The Free Economy
Instructions
Instructions
Introduction
Welcome to the Free Economy. This is a free service in which you can give away goods and services for free, and look for them as well. At its most basic level it is a charity, at its most sophisticated it is a cashless gift economy in which supply and demand is linked by information networks.
The purpose of this site is to help people and to relieve stress on the environment. It is possible to live in an economy in which the needs of others are respected as much as your own, and in which things are done more for what they are, than what you can get out of them.
How to use this site
The one form is used to 'lodge' things that are available for free, as well as to search for things that other people are giving away for free. It will also be possible to request things that you need, and to search what others are requesting - however this function has not yet been added to the site. Your browser must have Javascript enabled and the site has been designed and tested under Internet Explorer 8, Firefox 3 and Safari 4.
To fill in the form it's best to work from the top down. An object or service is able to be defined in up to 5 levels of detail. A broad range of categories is available, however it may not be possible or necessary to define everything down to the fifth level - in this case just leave it at whichever level is most applicable. A text box is available for any final details about the object - such as condition and any information about picking it up.
When entering a town for either lodging or searching, if the town name doesn't appear in the pull down list, it can be entered manually - which will over ride whatever is in the pull down list.
When searching for things it is not necessary to define them past the fifth level either - for instance leaving level one at 'computers' will show all computers available in a given area, rather than just a specific kind or subset of them. When lodging something it is necessary to define both a country and town, but when searching for something it is not necessary to nominate the country, unless you want to. Thus a search for computers (at level one) with no country specified will return all the computing equipment in the world that is listed on the database. I've removed the requirement to nominate the country in order to make it easier to find what's in the database. It is still possible to narrow down a search by using either country or country and town fields together. Leaving the country field blank but nominating a town is not allowed.
After displaying the results for your search the system will also display the latest 10 items listed that are to be given away for free. This is also to make it easier to find things.
All items remain in the database for seven days – after which time they are automatically deleted.
Please remember that this site is just being launched – and will definitely be improved and refined over time.
When you find something you want
It is up to you to email the giver of the item and to express an interest in receiving it. Many people may express an interest in the same object and it is entirely up to the giver who they give it to.
All this site does is provide the possibility for communication between those with something to give, and those in need. All contact and eventual transference of goods happens away from this site and entirely at the user’s risk. What happens at such times is not our responsibility and in using this site you agree to indemnify the authors and owners of this site from any legal action or culpability arising from the use of it, or any subsequent actions thereafter.
Like all technologies this site can be used for good or bad purposes. You are potentially coming into contact with people you have never met before, a small minority of whom may wish to deceive you or worse.
Communicate extensively by email or phone before a transaction takes place in order to satisfy yourself of the other party’s genuiness. You may wish to meet and conduct the transaction in a neutral public place. If at any stage you feel pressured or uncomfortable do not proceed with either communications or meetings – the purpose of this site is for people to mutually help each other – not for one to coerce the other. If something goes wrong you should refer it to your local law enforcement agency – there is no recourse through this site.
Getting the most from this site
1 Try and give more than you take
2 In part, try and use what you receive from the site to make more things that you can give on the site
As this site grows and improves I hope we can end up creating a world wide economy in which people’s needs are met, and their humanity respected. But remember nothing is for free – everything is made by someone somewhere – and for this economy to work and still respect humanity we must all be willing to voluntarily work and give, as well as receive.
Scot McPhie
The Free Economy is now a Facebook Application
click the logo above to access it via Facebook
click the logo above to access it via Facebook