4 ms·

Finding something useful to do with something that almost works is such a drain. I don't have the bandwidth to fix everything that broke in my life. And it seem

Finding something useful to do with something that almost works is such a drain. I don't have the bandwidth to fix everything that broke in my life. And it seems very hard to funnel these items to the people who do. There are probably not enough such people.

the_third_wave 4y ago
That sounds like something which could be solved by service of the type often built by those who frequent this site. Instead of tossing that piece of equipment with a small problem it could be either brought to or collected by one of those fixer-types (of whom I'm one) who can fix the object to give it a new life, either by handing it over to a thrift store or a local charity or by thrift-store-selling it themselves. Even that could be arranged through a service of the aforementioned type. Such a service does not lend itself to "monetisation" so it probably takes a more ideologically driven type of developer than usually found in the startup scene. Still, some of those hang around here as well, me being one of them. To make it work there should be some clear guidelines as to what is considered to be worth repairing to avoid turning the service into an literal garbage dump. It would also be good to keep ideology as much out of the public-facing image as possible to avoid it being pigeonholed into the Gretasphere [1] and as such being shunned by many who would otherwise be interested. [1] of the Thunberg type, not the children's book
- orblivion 4y ago
  Why not monetization? I had a coworker who refurbished old phones and sold them on ebay. If you can make a little money on the repair and resale, maybe the connecting service could take a tiny cut.
  - orblivion 4y ago
    But maybe a simple purpose-built message board would go a long way. You don't just browse craigslist looking for people who post half-broken stuff right?
  - the_third_wave 4y ago
    Not "monetisation" as in building a startup with the intent of cashing out at the end of the ride, this does not mean the whole thing needs to be non-profit. It is fine - nay, essential - to run at cost plus a bit for rainy days if the thing is to last longer than a few months. It is not the sort of thing which would be of interest for investors to buy themselves a share of.
    - orblivion 4y ago
      okay, agreed
- jodrellblank 4y ago
  There are already Craigslists and Freecycles and Gumtree (eBay lite) and Facebook groups and so on. > "there should be some clear guidelines as to what is considered to be worth repairing" Would you sketch some out? I think expecting the proverbial grandma with an old electronic device to read and understand and care about them before posting is going to be a dealbreaker.
  - orblivion 4y ago
    I have an office chair (not fancy, I got it for free to begin with) that got its upholstery roughed up in a move. If I sit on it, I'll get vinyl flakes all over me, which will get around the apartment, so I don't want it. I tried Craigslist. Do you think such an item would find a home on the other services you listed?
    - the_third_wave 4y ago
      If there were a "fixer" subscribed to the service who is into replacing upholstery and assuming that the chair is otherwise in good condition, why not? If it is a rickety thing falling apart at the seams with broken wheels and a dysfunctional gas lift, certainly not. If somewhere in between, probably not.
      - orblivion 4y ago
        It seems jodrellblank was suggesting that your idea effictively already exists among those four services. It didn't work for me on craigslist (though I did get rid of a metal table in need of repair), and I was wondering if one of the others would be any better. If not, maybe your specialized idea makes sense.
        jodrellblank 4y ago
        I wasn't suggesting the idea already exists, I was suggesting that "clear guidelines as to what is considered to be worth repairing" in the general case is impossible and if that's a big differentiator for this new service, it won't be enough. Supporting evidence is that the_third_wave can't tell you whether your chair is worth repairing or not, they can only make a general comment that if it's got small damage worth repairing then someone might want to repair it and if it's too damaged they won't. Which is tautologically true but not helpful enough to build a broken-chair-trading site on. That is, if you put your chair on a hugely popular free-for-all site Craiglist and nobody wants it, why would you the seller want to jump through hoops to list it on a less known less established site? Anyone who wants to buy stuff to repair has heard of Craigslist and eBay and so on already, right?

the_third_wave 4y ago

That sounds like something which could be solved by service of the type often built by those who frequent this site. Instead of tossing that piece of equipment with a small problem it could be either brought to or collected by one of those fixer-types (of whom I'm one) who can fix the object to give it a new life, either by handing it over to a thrift store or a local charity or by thrift-store-selling it themselves. Even that could be arranged through a service of the aforementioned type. Such a service does not lend itself to "monetisation" so it probably takes a more ideologically driven type of developer than usually found in the startup scene. Still, some of those hang around here as well, me being one of them. To make it work there should be some clear guidelines as to what is considered to be worth repairing to avoid turning the service into an literal garbage dump. It would also be good to keep ideology as much out of the public-facing image as possible to avoid it being pigeonholed into the Gretasphere [1] and as such being shunned by many who would otherwise be interested. [1] of the Thunberg type, not the children's book

orblivion 4y ago
Why not monetization? I had a coworker who refurbished old phones and sold them on ebay. If you can make a little money on the repair and resale, maybe the connecting service could take a tiny cut.
- orblivion 4y ago
  But maybe a simple purpose-built message board would go a long way. You don't just browse craigslist looking for people who post half-broken stuff right?
- the_third_wave 4y ago
  Not "monetisation" as in building a startup with the intent of cashing out at the end of the ride, this does not mean the whole thing needs to be non-profit. It is fine - nay, essential - to run at cost plus a bit for rainy days if the thing is to last longer than a few months. It is not the sort of thing which would be of interest for investors to buy themselves a share of.
  - orblivion 4y ago
    okay, agreed
jodrellblank 4y ago
There are already Craigslists and Freecycles and Gumtree (eBay lite) and Facebook groups and so on. > "there should be some clear guidelines as to what is considered to be worth repairing" Would you sketch some out? I think expecting the proverbial grandma with an old electronic device to read and understand and care about them before posting is going to be a dealbreaker.
- orblivion 4y ago
  I have an office chair (not fancy, I got it for free to begin with) that got its upholstery roughed up in a move. If I sit on it, I'll get vinyl flakes all over me, which will get around the apartment, so I don't want it. I tried Craigslist. Do you think such an item would find a home on the other services you listed?
  - the_third_wave 4y ago
    If there were a "fixer" subscribed to the service who is into replacing upholstery and assuming that the chair is otherwise in good condition, why not? If it is a rickety thing falling apart at the seams with broken wheels and a dysfunctional gas lift, certainly not. If somewhere in between, probably not.
    - orblivion 4y ago
      It seems jodrellblank was suggesting that your idea effictively already exists among those four services. It didn't work for me on craigslist (though I did get rid of a metal table in need of repair), and I was wondering if one of the others would be any better. If not, maybe your specialized idea makes sense.
      - jodrellblank 4y ago
        I wasn't suggesting the idea already exists, I was suggesting that "clear guidelines as to what is considered to be worth repairing" in the general case is impossible and if that's a big differentiator for this new service, it won't be enough. Supporting evidence is that the_third_wave can't tell you whether your chair is worth repairing or not, they can only make a general comment that if it's got small damage worth repairing then someone might want to repair it and if it's too damaged they won't. Which is tautologically true but not helpful enough to build a broken-chair-trading site on. That is, if you put your chair on a hugely popular free-for-all site Craiglist and nobody wants it, why would you the seller want to jump through hoops to list it on a less known less established site? Anyone who wants to buy stuff to repair has heard of Craigslist and eBay and so on already, right?