Hold Onto Your Lending Horses, Kiva Addicts; Let Someone Else Have a Ride

[Guest]

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[Jill]

         Well, I'm almost certain that what I'm about to say is going to be controversial.
I'll be very surprised if it doesn't generate a fair amount of discussion, at least.   
Here goes:                                                                   (Nothing wrong with a little controversy).

       
       Something that I read, earlier today, in the Kiva Newbie Questions thread,
http://www.kivafriends.org/index.php/topic,683.0.html
so jibed with something I'd been thinking for some time, now,
but have been a little reluctant to bring up,
since it's potentially a sensitive topic,

it almost made me wonder if the "Poster", Avinus, wasn't in fact,
a kind of "shill" or alter ego for Our Kiva Leaders
and not a real new Lender. 

       For the purposes of this discussion, it really doesn't matter. 

One of the things Avinus said was:

"...... I just hope we don't get a situation where Kiva lenders are hovering on the website for new borrowers to appear and then it becomes a click-race to see who can donate first before the loan is fully funded...."

      I just checked the Kiva Main Lend Page.   Right now, there are only eighteen, that's 18 Entrepreneurs listed.   
It's getting a little sparse.

     I don't even know if this is what Avinus was alluding to (and, again, it doesn't matter),
but I've been thinking that the way that a number of us either "live" at Kiva
or check back enough times during the day to make sure we won't miss "a good one,"

     anyway, I've been thinking that

       we, who love Kiva,
may inadvertently be setting Kiva back, a bit,
with our out-of-control Portfolio building,
especially now, when the number of Entrepreneurs is almost dangerously low.

      I say that because we all know how important it is to Kiva's well-being that
First-Timers, especially, find something alluring enough, when they first "meet" Kiva,
that even if they don't, immediately, make a loan,
they'll find enough here to make them want to come back 

(when maybe there will be something more enticing or connections-drawing for them sufficient to get them to click that "Lend" button).
       

        If , in our overweening enthusiasm or ego-driven desires to beautify and build up our portfolios,
we "addicts" swoop in and almost as soon as they're posted,
"Take All The Good Ones,"
 I'm suggesting that we might be working at cross-purposes with ourselves,
certainly, with Kiva,
and that we may, truly, be hurting where we only want to help.

          I'd propose a kind of "Lending Moratorium"

for any Kiva Friend who has more than X-Number of Entrepreneurs in his/her Portfolio
(including myself),
which Moratorium maybe should last, and then, again be selves-re-imposed, whenever and as long as the number of Entrepreneur postings is below a certain number --

Just......
      to give all the newcomers the best chance for getting themselves hooked.

       

        That's just my thought.

         Best,
         Jill

[Wood Fairy Glenda]

Good idea, Jill  (though I actually didn't see how few loans there were this time, as I clicked directly to the Bolivian one via a Kiva Friends post about it).  I myself really need some sort of slowdown in this regard, and explaining it to my trigger-happy "click"-finger  as doing Kiva a favor might just be the thing to make me calm down.  At any rate I'll be gone for 3 weeks or so in September, so that should keep me away from computers for a while .

[Jill]

       Just came back to check in for a minute
         (famous last words).

    Saw WFGlenda's post and felt a little scared.

     Listen, you guys,
   I don't have any idea if I'm right about this.
Don't just assume I am.   It feels right to me,
but, an expert -- I'm not even inthesamesolarsystemclose -to -being one,
I am not.

     The last thing I'd want is for my well-intentioned self
to lead your well-intentioned selves
down some Primrose Path.

     So, what do you think about us getting some discussion going on this?
  HELP! 

    We all just want to do the right thing.

    Thanks,
    Jill

[AccountAbility]

While it is kind of scary to have the total loan opportunities down to 30 and less, it isn't very realistic that 450 some odd lenders (even addicts) can significantly affect Kiva opportunities for any significant period of time.  With over 85,000 lenders out there, some of which have much larger portfolios than those of Kiva friends, we still are a drop in the bucket--a pretty vocal drop, but a drop nevertheless.

Actually I am concerned about the reverse.  With so few loans available, I have found my interest in checking what's new going down.  And if that's the general trend, what will happen when Kiva gets ramped up with new loans in the hundred plus range?  Will the length of time to fund a loan increase substantially?  I'm certainly having a harder time getting folks to keep connected with the website already.

Will we get back to your other topic, Jill, about how we can get new lookers and tire kickers hooked to make a loan or two? 

[RichardF]

Counterpoint: If it feels good (lending), do it! 

Kiva is a system.  Lending at Kiva is a game.  That means the principles of systems theory and game theory apply to lending at Kiva.  (Whatever that means!) 

I'm opposed to any form of horse holding motivated by the proposition that Kiva/newbies "need" it.  Horse hockey! (Hey, this horse stuff is fun.) 

Kiva needs to know the "true" demand from lenders out there in order to know how many business loan listings they should go after to build up the supply.  Lenders should just act like lenders, based on their own criteria. 

If Kiva wants to artificially limit the amount loaned per transaction as some form of "fairness" principle, then we already know they can and will do that.  However, I don't buy it, at least as a long-term strategy.  If Kiva can't build its own capacity to meet the demand it created, then lenders should leave!  ...preferably for some other platform that can meet the demand.  I expect it won't be all that long before some "competition" shows up, and that's a good thing for the businesses we support. 

Kiva's working their darnedest to keep up with the virtual world of exponential growth, and I fully support their efforts.  I'll do that by lending when the circumstances are right for me.  I might be a horse's petutie for saying that, but other folks might say don't look a lending horse in the mouth!  (I think I'm out of horse "stuff" now.)  Wait, not to beat a dead horse, but lenders should act like lenders and keep on lending down the Kiva green road.  The rest is for Kiva and Kiva wannabes to worry about. 

[Kay]

You said it yourself, Jill:  it's a sensitive subject (for some of us, anyway, and I think we know who we are  ).  Actually, I think a true Kiva-addict-in-the-making will be back again and again, if there's even one loan available.  

[Wood Fairy Glenda]

Hey, Guys!  I NEED an excuse not to lend right now! 

[RichardF]

DON'T LEND RIGHT NOW!!!     

[Wood Fairy Glenda]

Thanks, Richard - I needed that! 

[michael]

Glenda, I'll lend you $100 and you lend me $100.  That way we'll both get our fix and American Express still gets paid on time.    



Truthfully, I do not see that this is a major problem.  If Kiva is truly headed for $50 million in loans in a year, there will be outreach aplenty needed to generate the number of new lenders needed to support this, and plenty of new borrowers listed to receive the business.  At that time, the "click race" will be irrelevant - there will be more opportunities than we few can fill.  In the meantime, if Kiva is for a time either running low on borrowers or running low on resources internally to process them, they'll do what any business does - - pull back on marketing that would generate new lenders to slow the flow and work on fixing the issue. 

From the "addict" side, if the flow of new borrowers being posted starts to dwindle our participation will modify so that other things capture our OCD attention, in whole or in part.

In short, this is a temporary phenomenon, even if it is an intentional pause in the rapid rate of growth we've seen and been part of.  I say "Loan on, MacDuff."



(And by the way, we're up to 38 borrowers in need - get them clicker fingers back in business!)