We here at LendList.org make a big deal about why lending is good, but equally as important is borrowing. Obviously, to lend an item requires someone to borrow it but it goes beyond this.

When it comes to the environment, the borrower is the person who is actively reducing consumption. The lenders are facilitators. They have the benefit of owning the item and using it with zero hassle. The borrower is the one making the decision not to buy an item. Not to own it, but to go out of their way to borrow it from someone.

By borrowing from someone you are giving them a tremendous dose of encouragement. You are saying that it was worth it for them to post that item, that their possessions are of wider value, and you are allowing them to contribute to a reduction in consumption.
We need lenders and borrowers. There is no shame in being a borrower, even if (especially if) you have very few items to lend out, or have posted items but haven’t lent many, if any, out.

So let’s actively borrow what we want and need. If you still feel guilty, do something good with the money you save

The weekly update went out Friday and Saturday, instead of just Friday. Sorry about the doubling up. This shouldn’t happen again.

The friend functionality I discussed in my previous post is now in place. Add a profile picture and import your contacts to see if they are members, then invite the ones that aren’t. Check it out and let us know what you think in the comments or via the suggestion form.

We’ve had a number of requests related to adding and managing friends and will be adding some features to address this:

Importing Friends
We should soon have in place a page that will allow you to check your web-based email’s address book for existing members of the site and allow you to add these members to your friends list. It will also allow you to build a list of email addresses of non-members that you can then copy and paste into your email client to tell them about your list.

List Pictures
Some of the list names people have chosen are a little cryptic even for close friends to recognize since for privacy reasons people shouldn’t use their full names. As such we will soon allow people to also post a picture, so that their friends and group members can tell who belongs to what list name.

Stay tuned! We’re working hard to so you won’t have to.

On Saturday we sent out the weekly update email of all the new items, friends and group members in your network. There was an error in the script that sent it out that meant a considerable amount of duplication for some users. We noticed it immediately and re-sent a new email. Please ignore the first and read the second. We apologize for the two messages and the long, confusing first message. It should be pretty smooth from here on out

With some of the groups exceeding 500 items and many members wanting to sift through multiple groups and dozens of friends, we’ve had to make a number of improvements to the application.

Searching and browsing:
You can filter searches of all your groups and friends by category now. Further, if you leave the search field blank and just select a category, you can see a list of all the items in a category you have available to you across all your friends and groups.

Category Stacking:
Categories within groups can now be expanded and collapsed for easier browsing. The page load time is still a bit high for some of the bigger groups but we plan to address that by not loading the items for a collapsed category until that category is expanded. Stay tuned!

The launch party took place on Friday and was a tremendous hit. We had 70+ show up, sign up and learn about the site. Thanks again to everyone involved and particularly Gallery O – Contemporary for the use of the space.

The launch party invitation / rsvp form is up. View the Invite!In keeping with the principles behind LendList, nearly everything involved in the party has been lent to us. Gallery O – Contemporary lent us the space. The sound and video equipment is from Tenth, and the laptops for people to register and try out the site will all be provided by fellow members.

Let the lending revolution begin in style!

We’ve loaded the service up on the live server in anticipation of our upcoming launch party. We’re still testing and tweaking but feel free to test and start to use the service along with us.  If you have any questions, comments, or bugs let us know either in the comments for this post, or using our question / suggestion email form.

Good luck and good lending!

LendList.org is a rebellion against materialism and consumerism. We rebel by lending. We think lending is good. We think it is a better way to live. The lender gets more use out of their items, reduces their attachment to their material possessions, and helps out the borrower. The borrower saves money and the environment by not buying something they don’t need to buy.

LendList.org exists to make lending items easier. It makes it easier to let your friends, neighbors, and fellow group members know what you have available to them. It makes tracking who has what easier. And it makes learning about what you have available to borrow easier.

LendList.org forgoes the complicated. No credits. No friendship approvals. No messaging systems. You lend and borrow items offline the way you normally would. We just make learning what’s available and tracking it easier.

More in Store Stay tuned for updates on the progress of the application, stories on the revolution we hope it fosters, and comments on our consumer culture.