Interesting form of currency......

mmaccarelli

Hello FriWorld. Cool

My name is Melissa Slawsky and I found out about FriHost from some other web-template site. Forum posts are the most interesting forms of currency I have ever heard of for web space! I am excited about the prospect of having a site without annoying ads or pop-ups.

A little about me...... I am a graduate student studying for my master's in piano pedagogy. I teach piano to about 25 kids in Orlando. I live with my husband and flock of nine birds. I have a ton of web projects running through my head. First I want to build a piano studio site..........Then- a site for my future wedding coordinating side-business...........Eventually I'll get into turn-key sites to explore entrepreneurship....... That's another story........ Rolling Eyes

jipmerite

Wow you certainly have many big plans... Good luck with them all.

As for funny currencies, some centuries ago in the Maldives a certain type of sea shell was used as currency. That was the time when the barter system was still working in the world.

So all the people had to do to get money was go to the beach and find this kind of seashell...How's that for funny currency... Laughing

Firefly54

Here in England the Barter system still works here and there. It works on the basis that time is a of equal value to all of us - unlike in the "real" world where one persons time may be considered to be of very much more or less value than anothers! I like Frihost's approach because it reminds us that everybody's contribution is of value, and that all of our contributions are valued equally.

jipmerite

Firefly54

QUOTE: (sorry - newcomer! It should be in its little quote box but something went wrong!) "I'm curious, can you explain how the barter system still exists in England...especially how it works on the basis of the value of time?!"

There is a "currency" which might be beans or some other kind of token, which replaces money - though normally the currency only exists on paper, so the tokens can be transeferred from one persons account to another just as cheques are used to transefer cash from one persons bank account to another. To encourage trade, negative accounts or "overdrafts" are permitted (otherwise trade could never begin, if you think about it logically). Time is paid at a set rate of so many beans per hour, and this hourly rate gives the basis to price other things on - plants, crafts or cooking, for instance, can all be given a value based on the time taken to produce them, plus an estimated amount to cover the sterling cost of materials. Doing it this way means that barter arrangements can be spread throughout the group - you can sell to person A, but use that payment from them to buy from any member of the group. This means that there does not have to be a direct exchange of goods or services between two people.