• axib@beehaw.org
    3·
    17 hours ago

    Thanks, I get how barter would help in that case, but without running your software or seeing a demo of what it does, it’s not clear to me how it works, or why it’s better than alternatives. You said this elsewhere:

    what about the software determining the value of the products, can you answer that.

    Now that sounds interesting, how does it determine the value of products? And in the absence of money, how does it even represent value?

    I’m asking this because I’m curious, but I’m also trying to give you tips on how to make a more engaging post. I’m not super interested in actually switching to bartering instead of using money right now, but I’d read about how your project works for a few minutes if you want to write about it. I suspect others might feel the same way. I looked at your github repo README and it’s all just technical instructions on how to run it.

    After reading an explanation for how it works and why it’s more useful than other alternatives, then I might consider actually downloading the source and trying to use it.

    Especially if you make bold claims like “is this the future of commerce” … you have to at least explain what you did if you’re going to say something like that.

      • axib@beehaw.org
        1·
        5 hours ago

        I’m trying to politely explain that if you want people to care more about your software, then you should go to more effort to explain it. If you just dump your source code online with minimal explanation, not as many people will care as if you explain what you’re trying to solve, how your thing works, and maybe alternatives that you considered, future features you’d like to address. Going through the source is the hardest part that many people might not want to bother doing. But most people might read a brief description and watch a short video, even if they aren’t all that interested in your idea at first. Even if they are skeptical of the need for a barter system, they can still appreciate the work you put in, and offer advice on the technical side, to help you with this and future projects.

        I did skim your source and it looks like it’s mostly wrappers around a database. Some ideas, if you wanted to write about it:

        • what are the different options that I user has? It looks like they can say “I want X” or “I have Y”, then what happens next? I shouldn’t need to read your source code to understand what your software does.
        • I saw something about connecting to your database over TOR, I don’t quite understand that. If there’s an exchange of real good, what is the benefit of TOR? Don’t you have to break anonymity to trade real goods?
        • how is your database hosted? If this is for a “currencies have collapsed” type of scenario, instead of relying on TOR, it might make sense to rely on a decentralized database that exists on everyone’s phones.
        • security concerns: it looks like people can write to the database. Does that mean someone could also erase all the entries? How can you prevent abuse like that?
        • danielhanrahantng@beehaw.orgOP
          1·
          3 hours ago

          Security concerns: I don’t necessarily see that as abuse, anyone can record all records of something and if something gets wrongfully deleted someone can add it back in. There may be times when someone needs to delete a certain record, for example: when someone is bartering something in exchange to harm someone. Database hosting: anyone can host the database because I have the files in the repository. TOR: the benefit of TOR is to prevent some entity from tracking exchanges and it keeps people anonymous and with bartering real life goods you don’t necessarily need to break anonymity, there can be intermediaries to keep things anonymous. What happens next: when a person sees the record and they have what the other person wants, the first person can contact the person who has the record and negotiate the trade.

    • danielhanrahantng@beehaw.orgOP
      11·
      16 hours ago

      Algorithm for determining value of a product: the highest possible value for a product / ( the amount of people who has the product - the amount of people who want the product ) = value of the product, but however when there is one offer for a product it is only the highest possible value for a product because there is only one offer.

      • TehPers@beehaw.orgEnglish
        3·
        14 hours ago

        the highest possible value for a product

        How do you calculate this?

        the amount of people who has the product - the amount of people who want the product

        As demand increases, the value increases, but at some point when demand exceeds supply (which is common), the opposite happens: the magnitude of the value starts to decrease (though that value is now negative).

        For example, two sellers sell a product, and four people want it. Let maximum value be v_m. Value is calculated to be v_m / (2 - 4) = -v_m / 2. If two more people want it suddenly (so 6 now), it becomes v_m / (2 - 6) = -v_m / 4, which has a lower magnitude despite the higher demand and static supply. This is contrary to how supply and demand actually work, where value generally increases as demand increases (if supply remains static).

        Maybe value means something differently to me than it does to you though. Ideally supply would always equal demand (which makes your denominator 0, breaking the equation entirely since that would be undefined), but that would be really difficult to control.

        • danielhanrahantng@beehaw.orgOP
          1·
          4 hours ago

          The highest possible value for a product, say like we were in a world where there is only one of everything, then everything would be equal value, which is one, for example: one carrot for one apple, and the people who has the product - the people who wants the product is supply - demand in simpler terms and the software gets those numbers by looking in the database and counting the supply of a product and counting the demand of a product.