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See also this super nerdy discussion of these nutjobs [1] on LessWrong: http://lesswrong.com/lw/jje/decision_auctions_aka_how_to_fairly_assign_chores/ http://le

by dreeves 13y ago

See also this super nerdy discussion of these nutjobs [1] on LessWrong: http://lesswrong.com/lw/jje/decision_auctions_aka_how_to_fairly_assign_chores/ http://lesswrong.com/lw/jje/decision_auctions_aka_how_to_fai... [1] Yes, that's actually me and my spouse (also cofounder of http://beeminder.com http://beeminder.com and if you think our auction-based lifestyle is crazy, wait till you see Beeminder! :)).

fishtoaster 13y ago
If you don't mind me asking, doesn't this lose some of its effectiveness when one spouse is in a lot of debt (the article mentions $80k)? It seems like it'd be harder to make a useful estimate of utility when you're so deep in debt. What's another $10 when I own 80k? I'll just bet really high to avoid doing the chore.
- dreeves 13y ago
  Happy to answer such questions! (I'll ask Bethany to chime in later as well.) I guess at our age (lots of future earning ahead of us, etc) $80k doesn't seem like a big deal. We could actually wipe that debt out immediately by an adjustment to our cap table. :) I guess the danger is if you start to worry that the debt will never actually get repaid. But that doesn't seem like a worry right now. We'll come up with payments plans and whatnot if it ever does. We do use a 6% interest rate on that balance, which seems steep at current market rates, but not so much so that Bethany would want to transfer Beeminder equity to me to pay it off.
patmcc 13y ago
Hey, thanks for Beeminder. It's cost me a bunch of money (~75 bucks), but it's also helped me make some really positive changes. One small note - I'd really like it if I could pledge in CAD, so I don't see the annoying conversion from USD and wonder "what the hell did I spend $5.42 on"...but that's a very tiny nitpick.
- dreeves 13y ago
  So good to hear testimonials like that; thank you! As for supporting non-USD currencies, I see Stripe just made that super easy, so we'll probably do it at some point. Thanks for the feedback; nitpickery very much solicited!
cmsmith 13y ago
I like the idea of introducing everyday decisions to a market economy and the idea of beeminder. Re:beeminder, I know that you address this on your FAQ, but my conscience would have little problem lying to your website to keep from paying you $10. Whereas I would be much less likely to be dishonest if 50%-80% of my penalty was going to a charity - even if the penalty levels were increased such that your cut was the same either way.
- dreeves 13y ago
  Great feedback, thank you! We definitely hear that often and will probably eventually cave and add a charity option. In the meantime, here are our thoughts on combating cheating: http://blog.beeminder.com/cheating http://blog.beeminder.com/cheating
biot 13y ago
Was this something picked up independently by NBC, or was this planned as a subtle PR piece for Beeminder? If the latter, are there any tips you can share on how you went about arranging it?
- dreeves 13y ago
  You're making us feel like marketing geniuses. :) The reporter is actually a Beeminder user, which is how he knew about me and Bethany and our craziness, and he was happy to agree to our stipulation that the article link to Beeminder. So I guess no tips on how to actually orchestrate something like this. Last year we had our biggest press coup just by having our phone number at the bottom of beeminder.com. Southwest Airlines inflight magazine called us after trying and failing to find a number for our competitor, GymPact. I guess that's the real tip here: be so crazy that journalists seek you out. :)

by dreeves 13y ago

fishtoaster 13y ago

If you don't mind me asking, doesn't this lose some of its effectiveness when one spouse is in a lot of debt (the article mentions $80k)? It seems like it'd be harder to make a useful estimate of utility when you're so deep in debt. What's another $10 when I own 80k? I'll just bet really high to avoid doing the chore.

dreeves 13y ago
Happy to answer such questions! (I'll ask Bethany to chime in later as well.) I guess at our age (lots of future earning ahead of us, etc) $80k doesn't seem like a big deal. We could actually wipe that debt out immediately by an adjustment to our cap table. :) I guess the danger is if you start to worry that the debt will never actually get repaid. But that doesn't seem like a worry right now. We'll come up with payments plans and whatnot if it ever does. We do use a 6% interest rate on that balance, which seems steep at current market rates, but not so much so that Bethany would want to transfer Beeminder equity to me to pay it off.

patmcc 13y ago

Hey, thanks for Beeminder. It's cost me a bunch of money (~75 bucks), but it's also helped me make some really positive changes. One small note - I'd really like it if I could pledge in CAD, so I don't see the annoying conversion from USD and wonder "what the hell did I spend $5.42 on"...but that's a very tiny nitpick.

dreeves 13y ago
So good to hear testimonials like that; thank you! As for supporting non-USD currencies, I see Stripe just made that super easy, so we'll probably do it at some point. Thanks for the feedback; nitpickery very much solicited!

cmsmith 13y ago

I like the idea of introducing everyday decisions to a market economy and the idea of beeminder. Re:beeminder, I know that you address this on your FAQ, but my conscience would have little problem lying to your website to keep from paying you $10. Whereas I would be much less likely to be dishonest if 50%-80% of my penalty was going to a charity - even if the penalty levels were increased such that your cut was the same either way.

dreeves 13y ago
Great feedback, thank you! We definitely hear that often and will probably eventually cave and add a charity option. In the meantime, here are our thoughts on combating cheating: http://blog.beeminder.com/cheating http://blog.beeminder.com/cheating

biot 13y ago

Was this something picked up independently by NBC, or was this planned as a subtle PR piece for Beeminder? If the latter, are there any tips you can share on how you went about arranging it?

dreeves 13y ago
You're making us feel like marketing geniuses. :) The reporter is actually a Beeminder user, which is how he knew about me and Bethany and our craziness, and he was happy to agree to our stipulation that the article link to Beeminder. So I guess no tips on how to actually orchestrate something like this. Last year we had our biggest press coup just by having our phone number at the bottom of beeminder.com. Southwest Airlines inflight magazine called us after trying and failing to find a number for our competitor, GymPact. I guess that's the real tip here: be so crazy that journalists seek you out. :)