Team Metafilter on Kiva

July 3, 2014 3:42 AM

The team is going strong with 340 members who made almost 4000 loans totaling over $115,000. Great! There is room for improvement regarding two slight issues though.

First, the logo. Our team logo is really not recognizable, as it just shows the "af" bit. And it's quite pixelated. See the example at the bottom of this page. I hope we can find/make a better pic and put it up soon.
Second, as it stands now we have one team captain who is not very active on the site. I propose we change the system so all members are team captains. Jessamyn, would you do that, please? That way relevant info can be updated by whoever happens to be active on Kiva.

Any objections? Any other ideas?

Our team page is here.

posted by travelwithcats to MetaFilter-Related at 3:42 AM (58 comments total)

Jessamyn, would you do that, please?

I changed the logo. And yeah I'm not too active on Kiva so this is definitely something that someone else should do. I'm looking at the team page and I don't see a way for all members to be team captains without me going and clicking 340 "Bestow captainhood" buttons which I'm not awake enough to do right now. Maybe we could find a few people who are interested and I'd be happy to captainize them?
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 7:55 AM on July 3, 2014

Bestow captainhood on me and I shall bestow it on all others! Thank you.
posted by travelwithcats at 8:05 AM on July 3, 2014 [2 favorites]

Nice new logo, thanks for that too. Also, I noticed we just gained a new member who pushed us to become #1 for New Users (in this still-young month). Yay!
posted by travelwithcats at 8:09 AM on July 3, 2014

Also, I noticed we just gained a new member who pushed us to become #1 for New Users (in this still-young month).

Oh hey, that's me! I've been a Kiva member for a while but am a fairly new Mefite. This Meta reminded me to join the team.
posted by matcha action at 8:12 AM on July 3, 2014 [1 favorite]

Bestow captainhood on me and I shall bestow it on all others!

I made a guess at which user I think is you and that person is now a captain. Check it out and let me know if it's right?
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 8:15 AM on July 3, 2014

Oh, sorry! I totally forgot about that. Now I'm curious if you picked right! Haha. Brb.
posted by travelwithcats at 8:20 AM on July 3, 2014

I have been captain'd. Bwahahahaha I'm drunk with power!
posted by Skorgu at 8:38 AM on July 3, 2014 [5 favorites]

Each new captainhood is sending me an email...
posted by katrielalex at 8:45 AM on July 3, 2014 [3 favorites]

Well this explains the 42 emails in my inbox! Glad I checked here first.
posted by Carillon at 8:51 AM on July 3, 2014 [4 favorites]

Thanks for the reminder I had some credit there to be re-loaned.
posted by Rumple at 8:57 AM on July 3, 2014

As an FYI I am getting an email notification for every single one of these. Pretty annoying.
posted by cjorgensen at 9:02 AM on July 3, 2014

I thought this was Kiva's doing and complained about it to them. I really don't need to get email for every other user that becomes captain. I've gotten about seventy-five of these in the last twelve minutes or so. GRAR!
posted by Songdog at 9:02 AM on July 3, 2014

Mass emails, oh man. Katriealex & Carillon & others, really sorry for that! Maybe searching for "captainhood" in your inbox and deleting them all at once will work.
posted by travelwithcats at 9:03 AM on July 3, 2014

FYI: It has nothing to do with Kiva, this was my doing. I added everyone in our team to be captain. So direct your GRARS at me, please. :-)
posted by travelwithcats at 9:06 AM on July 3, 2014

Maybe searching for "captainhood" in your inbox and deleting them all at once will work.

It will work once they stop. I've already done it a few times.
posted by Songdog at 9:07 AM on July 3, 2014

Gmail search for "has been bestowed captainhood" rewards me with

Did you mean: has been bestowed captain hook

though, so there's that.
posted by Songdog at 9:08 AM on July 3, 2014 [5 favorites]

340 members eh? Does than mean 340 emails?

Also, I left some bananas in the fridge if anyone wants them.
posted by yeti at 9:15 AM on July 3, 2014 [16 favorites]

Pretty annoying.

I thought it was funny. Everyone gets a participation ribbon!
posted by cog_nate at 9:18 AM on July 3, 2014 [2 favorites]

Okay, the email flood should be over now. Again apologies to everyone whom I annoyed. I see that it upset 2 members a lot and they left the group. That makes me sad. Hope they will be back soon.
posted by travelwithcats at 9:21 AM on July 3, 2014

I am very sorry but I am trying to leave the team, and the directions for leaving do not work as I have no Quit Team option. Can someone boot me or something?
posted by DarlingBri at 9:24 AM on July 3, 2014 [1 favorite]

Ah, I was wondering why I got 77 emails on my phone while I was standing in line at the bank.
posted by pemberkins at 9:29 AM on July 3, 2014

Also, I am not 100% certain if it is just lagging or down to my account settings (email preferences) but I only got one single email about my own captainhood.

DarlingBri, try quitting your captainhood first, the quit button should then appear on the teams page, as described in your link.
posted by travelwithcats at 9:29 AM on July 3, 2014

I only got one single email about my own captainhood.

I got zero about all of this, I think this has to do with your email settings on Kiva. Sorry to people who got deluged with email about this.
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 9:30 AM on July 3, 2014 [1 favorite]

As an outsider who might be interested in joining up, the idea of universal captainhood seems rather strange. All chiefs, no Indians, to be politically incorrect about it. Captainhood should be opt-in only IMHO. But the deed's done, I guess.
posted by beagle at 9:32 AM on July 3, 2014 [1 favorite]

Is there some benefit to putting a "referred by" email? Like do they get something? If so, memail me quickly if you want to be my referrer.
posted by Jahaza at 9:33 AM on July 3, 2014

My first assumption was that this was poor planning at Kiva, not an unintentional consequence of deliberate action by my teammates. Email floods are just an [annoying] reality of my professional life and I weather them just fine, despite the in-the-moment GRAR. I'm happy to be on a team with y'all!

Jahaza — memailed.
posted by Songdog at 9:41 AM on July 3, 2014 [1 favorite]

Thanks, Songdog! Sadly a bit too slow (or rather I'm impatient.) I hit up matcha action as a referred (assuming she used the same email for kiva as on her web site.)
posted by Jahaza at 9:44 AM on July 3, 2014

"the idea of universal captainhood seems rather strange"

Well, equal distribution of power is nothing bad in my book. That system works well in another team that I belong to. This way anyone can update info and do admin stuff without bothering Jessamyn, who up to this point was the only captain.

If you want to join us, I want to stress that it is not a requirement to be captain and that there are no duties involved. Our team is humming along well, without much need for any kind of work, really. It is okay if people don't want to be captain, although I am really surprised that two or three people already removed it. I have never experienced that in my other team.

Hindsight being what it is, I should have shared the plan well in advance, so people could a) leave the team if they want, b) change their email settings and c) opt in or out of captainhood. But with a group that large and over two different websites, I am not sure everyone could have been informed in a timely manner that way either.
posted by travelwithcats at 10:15 AM on July 3, 2014

Is there a way to change the e-mail settings such that I no longer receive new captain messages, but still receive other team-related messages? I would like to be kept updated about the team, but not about who else has just become team captain.
posted by tickingclock at 11:13 AM on July 3, 2014

I joined! I am the horse.
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 12:24 PM on July 3, 2014

I accept the mantle of leadership and hope to serve you well.

Oh, we're all caps? Okay then.
posted by 26.2 at 12:24 PM on July 3, 2014

I only got one captainhood email.
posted by matildaben at 12:26 PM on July 3, 2014

While it's innovative, it's also ridiculous. The Washington DC group has done something very cool by focusing on Kiva Zip Loans instead of just doing international loans. That might be the way forward?
posted by parmanparman at 12:43 PM on July 3, 2014

It is okay if people don't want to be captain, although I am really surprised that two or three people already removed it.

I did it to stop the flood of email, since I couldn't find any other way to stop it and I didn't know if more was forthcoming.

I'm not actually as cranky about this issues as this comment is about to make it seem like I am but:

Giving people admin authority without asking them first seems kind of uncool. "Lets all be Captain" is a noble thought and all, but I have no idea what captains can and can't do on Kiva or whether as a captain, I should suddenly consider Kiva to be a site where I need to take more care with my password security.

It is especially uncool when it means flooding them with a bunch of unwanted and unexpected email -- even if there is a way to turn off those particular emails, none of us were given a chance to do that before the flood. There wasn't even a post on Kiva itself explaining what was happening.

It doesn't much matter now since I am no longer Captain, and you're unlikely to do this again anyway and I'm mostly just cranky because I have another goddamned cold and it's the third one already this year and would you just get off my lawn already anyway you whippersnappers with your captains and your internets and your trying to be good?
posted by jacquilynne at 12:45 PM on July 3, 2014 [5 favorites]

Just to make clear, any of you captains can bestow captainhood on new members now. Ready, steady, Go! Just click on the EDIT (look for the button that says "Members 337 [edit]"), scroll all the way down and add NEW members (look for today's date).
(Please respect that some members prefer to remain regular members and don't want the captainhood. Please don't add those members, they are easily identifiable by dates in the year 2009. Thx.)
posted by travelwithcats at 1:03 PM on July 3, 2014

Apologies to you as well jacquilynne. FYI, there are no added perks with being a captain that would pertain to the membership info of team members. It really is just about the team page (adding info, changing pics, giving and taking captainhood). No one can see anything that is not publicly visible anyway.
Like I mentioned upthread, there are no downsides to being captain, as the team does not require any work and there are no duties. But if we wanted to change logos or descriptions in the future, any of us can do so without bothering Jessamyn.
posted by travelwithcats at 1:15 PM on July 3, 2014

This is like when Time named me Person of the Year, only better!
posted by merelyglib at 3:24 PM on July 3, 2014 [3 favorites]

Looks like I once again benefited from checking out the notification preferences as soon as I joined the group.

It wouldn't have hurt to do this through team messaging to get several volunteers, but I'm okay with everyone captaining who wants that enabled.
posted by michaelh at 3:40 PM on July 3, 2014

Joiny join joined... haven't keeved for ages either so time to get a-lendin
posted by greenish at 3:41 PM on July 3, 2014

Hey I had enough credit in there to toss out another $25 loan! Thanks for the reminder!
posted by kimberussell at 4:27 PM on July 3, 2014

Dude my unpaid nonprofit team captainship days are long over.

Someone kindly uncaptain me.
posted by zennie at 5:11 PM on July 3, 2014

It's only pride that comes with captainhood these days, no duties, zennie. But on a serious note, you can uncaptain yourself with one click on Kiva.
posted by travelwithcats at 5:19 PM on July 3, 2014

I just did but it took me 15 minutes of going in website circles. I appreciate the motivation behind what just happened here, but did not appreciate the outcome.
posted by zennie at 5:24 PM on July 3, 2014

How do you uncaptain yourself? The button is not easy to find...
posted by tickingclock at 5:33 PM on July 3, 2014

tickingclock, when you are on the team page look for the members button. Then click on [edit] and find yourself - next to your name will be a "remove captainhood" button.

Well, you need two clicks to uncaptain yourself.
posted by travelwithcats at 5:40 PM on July 3, 2014

Uncaptain my captain.
posted by ChuraChura at 5:54 PM on July 3, 2014 [1 favorite]

I just joined up. Now to figure out who to lend to first.
posted by Aznable at 6:57 PM on July 3, 2014

Also, I left some bananas in the fridge if anyone wants them.

unsubscribe
posted by EndsOfInvention at 12:29 AM on July 4, 2014 [2 favorites]

the first e-mail I got from kiva was to notify me that I had been made captain, and I was "why the everloving fuck would they choose me for that?" then I saw the other hundred e-mails and had a bit of a chuckle.
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 2:44 AM on July 4, 2014

unsubscribe

Hey moron if you keep posting in this thread then it keeps getting bumped to the top of recent activity and never goes away.

Everybody stop posting now.
posted by Meatbomb at 3:31 AM on July 4, 2014 [1 favorite]

I joined Kiva and the Metafiltter team and made a small loan and eventually got it back. Now I'm sitting on that money and haven't loaned it out again because I started reading about how maybe Kiva isn't as helpful as I wanted to think and also I hate hate hate choosing recipients (it feels both pointless and degrading). I wonder a) if anyone who feels really gung go about Kiva would be willing to share the articles or research that supports that for them, and why it's a better use of my 'altruistic' money than straight charitable donations, and b) if there is any way to get Mefites to just choose the recipients for me. Like, I just put into a Mefite lot and someone else directs the funds?
posted by Salamandrous at 4:30 AM on July 4, 2014 [1 favorite]

Or, sorry, addendum to (b), if people really feel secure enough about it to use it as a more helpful alternative to a savings account.
posted by Salamandrous at 4:32 AM on July 4, 2014

To answer some of your questions, Salamandrous:

a) I think Kiva is not "a better use of [...]'altruistic' money", it's just another use. For me not the only one. Check out GuideStar or the Charity Navigator for a review of Kiva and compare with other charities maybe.
There was a lot of discussion about the impact of microcredit and several studies have been done. So there is a lot of reading material on the net, if you are interested.

b) You could set up automatic lending where you just select categories (like gender, countries or the maximum loan repayment term). But it is a misconception that you can choose your own borrowers anyway. Almost all loans have been pre-disbursed before the loan with the picture and text about the borrower is even posted. So even though you are picking one, the money really goes to that org, their efforts and in turn to another borrower. Only speaking for myself here, but I like the process of choosing loans to fund, if it feels like a chore to you, there is nothing wrong in moving on from Kiva.

Other b) No, I don't use it instead of a savings account. This has mainly to do with the fact that Kiva only deals in USD. Therefore I keep a fixed amount of $ to recycle. In over 50 loans I lost a bit over $20 due to currency conversion between borrower's local currency and USD or because borrower defaulted on the loan. The average Kiva user lost $2.95 according to Kiva's stats.
posted by travelwithcats at 5:32 AM on July 4, 2014

>>unsubscribe

>Hey moron if you keep posting in this thread then it keeps getting bumped to
>the top of recent activity and never goes
>away.

>Everybody stop posting now.

please remove me from you;'re mailing list
posted by EndsOfInvention at 6:31 AM on July 4, 2014 [1 favorite]

I guess Kiva never imagined a group would want most people to have management authority. Amusing.
posted by phearlez at 11:18 AM on July 4, 2014

I have been a Kiva lender for about six or seven years. I just noticed this message about the mefi team, I have not yet joined but I will do so.

I initially deposited $800 with Kiva. I have about $700 left in my account, I guess the $100 was bad loans. That's cool, I'm ok that a few folks did not pay me back. Many, many people did.

But I have not selected new people to lend money to for several years now. I have no loans outstanding anymore.

The reason I lost motivation to go online and choose someone to lend money to is because my understanding is that it's kind of an illusion. An exercise that does not have any real impact.

The way I understand it, Kiva has a big pile of money, like a bank, and they lend it out. My $700 IS being utilized by Kiva. Once I came to that conclusion (I can't remember how, probably something I read) the exercise of taking time to designate folks to lend money to seemed like a waste of time. The impression I have is that the process of selecting someone to whom we wish to lend money is more a way to involve the lenders than anything else.

So I've just been allowing Kiva to utilize my remaining $700, but I haven't been engaging in the exercise of designating people I want to lend money to.

I'm looking for feedback, or clarification, or correction if I've misunderstood how Kiva works.

And by the way, in case it's not obvious, I dig Kiva and what they are doing. I just don't spend time going back to their website and picking out people to send money to.
posted by elf27 at 12:09 PM on July 4, 2014 [1 favorite]

No soy Capitan, soy marinero.
posted by The Ardship of Cambry at 4:51 PM on July 4, 2014 [2 favorites]

The Washington DC group has done something very cool by focusing on Kiva Zip Loans instead of just doing international loans

If the group wants to focus on US based loans I would be a lot less interested.

I think Kiva is a useful addition, but not a replacement for charitable giving.
There is a book about Kiva: http://www.amazon.com/The-International-Bank-Bob-Connecting/dp/0802777511
which is very much a booster of Kiva's ways, but was interesting and a window into how Kiva operates.
posted by bystander at 4:06 AM on July 6, 2014