

Show HN: Bliive – Using your free time as currency - murilomafra
http://bliive.com

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johnchristopher
the Bliive guys are really nice. I contacted them some months ago to know if
they would open-source the stack and they quickly replied (that they couldn't
yet though).

I am involved (until the next meeting, I plan to resign from the managing
committee) in a LETS (local exchange trading system) and one of the benefits
we seek is to (re)create "social link" between people of the same geographic
community.

Bliive doesn't put the accent on that, it seems to rely on internet/skype for
contact.

Timebanking is an interesting topic. In the Dane County they are using it for
some young offenders instead of criminally charging them.
[http://danecountytimebank.org/projects/dctb-youth-court-
comm...](http://danecountytimebank.org/projects/dctb-youth-court-community-
justice)

~~~
murilomafra
Hey John, Good to see you again.

Timebanking is a great topic. Thanks for your link, its very interesting.

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rismay
I (briefly) took tax law in college. In the US, if you are a professional and
you offer your services for free, there could be a tax liability past a
certain amount of time. I always thought this had interesting complications
for time banks. Anybody look into this?

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munro
Nice, I've been wanting this, except for online things. Like when I hit a road
block with Idris/Haskell, I wish I could just talk to someone about what I'm
thinking. And I also enjoy offering up my expertise, usually in #javascript,
#angularjs, or #haskell.

As a side note, #haskell is my favorite channel on IRC, everyone is very
helpful. But I would love to pick someone's brain for an hour.

~~~
mietek
Give me a shout.

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sbspalding
This is a cool idea in a similar vein to some of the other barter economy
sites that have come out.

One question, does the transfer of Time Money happen before or after the
actual real-world exchange? I am just wondering what types of barriers are put
in place to keep everyone in the system honest.

Great great and I wish you the best!

~~~
murilomafra
Hey sbspalding, The transfer happens after the real-world exchange. And after
the the exchange you can rate the other user or report the activity. Your
profile show how many good votes you have and you can connect with other
medias to show you as a reliable person.

Thanks a lot for your support.

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bybjorn
Cool site! If I signed up for it, and exchanged my web development services
for e.g. someone painting my house, I wonder how I'd settle that with my
government. Just doing it, and not writing it up as something taxable would be
illegal, so do one just make up an amount and then pay the taxman a % of that
amount?

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conception
[http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc420.html](http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc420.html)

You report it as income, yes.

~~~
johnchristopher
Wait:
[http://besttimebank.org/Links/Time%20Dollar/IRS%20Ruling.htm](http://besttimebank.org/Links/Time%20Dollar/IRS%20Ruling.htm)

The IRS has issued three local rulings that Time DollarsT are tax exempt. They
have given three reasons for this status.

1\. An hour is always an hour, regardless of what is offered

2\. They are backed only by a moral obligation and are not legally binding

3\. Their purpose is charitable.

edit:

Q: Are TimeBank Hours taxable?[0]

A: No. In several cases TimeBank Hours have been ruled tax exempt by the IRS
because an hour is always valued at one hour. There is no legal responsibility
on anyone's part to redeem a TimeBank Hour, and the purpose of TimeBank Hours
is charitable. Read the IRS rulings here[1]. And more articles here[2]. At
some point this could be challenged and we think we have a great case to make
that our time spent helping one another should not be taxed.

[0] [http://danecountytimebank.org/faq](http://danecountytimebank.org/faq)

[1]
[http://assets.danecountytimebank.org/IRS_TimeDollar_Rulings....](http://assets.danecountytimebank.org/IRS_TimeDollar_Rulings.doc)

[2]
[http://actionhub.timebanks.org/taxonomy/term/72](http://actionhub.timebanks.org/taxonomy/term/72)

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gohrt
This is very different from Bliive, which is a barter program, not a one-
directional donation program.

~~~
johnchristopher
No, bliive is more like a mutual credit system than a barter program.

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rmsaksida
I love the idea! I think it has great potential.

Some criticism: I think the website needs polish. It looks a little amateur,
which might put off some users. And it took me a while to understand what it
was about.

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estefan
Nice idea, but the bartering is a shame. Volunteering can make you live longer
apparently, so why not encourage people to give freely?

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masukomi
just because you'd earn "TimeMoney" from it doesn't mean you would spend it.
It's nice to know that what I would give had some potential mechanism for
guaranteeing a possible return, even if i never invoked that. Just like a
money back guarantee on a product. It's nice to have.

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housparty
I see big things for this company

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egsec
bartering section on craigslist?

~~~
murilomafra
Hey egsec, Good comparison.

