Comments on: One Red Paperclip

One Red Paperclip

greasy_skillet — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 07:59:55 -0800

A story of a man attempting to turn a paperclip into a house.

By: Peter H

Peter H — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 08:08:49 -0800

So what's this about? (joking)

By: Baby_Balrog

Baby_Balrog — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 08:12:47 -0800

I hope he gets his island. This is an awesome idea.

By: samh23

samh23 — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 08:18:27 -0800

This is great. If memory serves, there was a Carl Barks Uncle Scrooge/Huey/Dewy/Louie comic book built around a similar idea.

By: antifuse

antifuse — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 08:18:50 -0800

That's pretty funny. But how the hell can he afford to zip around the country to get all these things that he's trading with people?

By: 23skidoo

23skidoo — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 08:19:49 -0800

A story of a man attempting to turn a paperclip into a ~~house~~ book deal.

By: mr.curmudgeon

mr.curmudgeon — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 08:24:24 -0800

Or, A story of a man attempting to drag out the cynics and haters on MeFi. (stares at 20skidoo)

By: twistedonion

twistedonion — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 08:28:47 -0800

A story of a man attempting to turn a paperclip into a house book deal. Wish I'd thought of it!

By: mr.curmudgeon

mr.curmudgeon — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 08:32:50 -0800

It really is brilliant isn't it?

By: prostyle

prostyle — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 08:33:02 -0800

Stupid and horrible.

By: brain_drain

brain_drain — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 08:34:11 -0800

MacGyver could do it in less than an hour.

By: benzo8

benzo8 — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 08:35:22 -0800

I think he may find that it gets harder and harder to find people prepared to swap something better for something worse as the values increase... A pen for a paperclip (and a cool story) is one thing - a house for something worse a little less than a house - tricky.

By: OmieWise

OmieWise — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 08:36:22 -0800

There was another blog around for a while (which I can't find right now) in which some guy was trying to turn 12 dollars into 1000 dollars in a year. He didn't get too far the last time I had seen the blog.

By: fire&wings

fire&wings — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 08:42:20 -0800

He needs to be careful. The doorknob is a step down from the pen, and that was only swap number 2.

By: oddman

oddman — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 08:42:55 -0800

Isn't it funny how it really brilliant and stupid-and-horrible are sometimes really hard to distinguish? I vote for really brilliant. (In hurricane land a generator it worth ten times its weight in gold. In my book the project is already a raging success.)

By: R. Mutt

R. Mutt — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 08:49:39 -0800

Wow, the tax paperwork is going to be a nightmare.

By: GuyZero

GuyZero — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 08:56:11 -0800

More or less stupid than the Million Dollar Homepage?

By: weapons-grade pandemonium

weapons-grade pandemonium — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 09:06:46 -0800

Wow, the tax paperwork is going to be a nightmare. Exactly. And then you'll need paperclips.

By: allen.spaulding

allen.spaulding — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 09:08:22 -0800

I once turned a red paperclip into a red projectile and traded that and a rubber band for a trip to the principal's office.

By: twistedonion

twistedonion — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 09:09:34 -0800

More or less stupid than the Million Dollar Homepage? = (both are very clever first time they are done. it's when the 3 billionth person rolls out a clone that it starts to get ridiculous)

By: gene_machine

gene_machine — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 09:11:29 -0800

Sounds exactly like something that Danny Wallace would do.

By: Plutor

Plutor — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 09:13:02 -0800

This. Is. Awesome. OmieWise: "There was another blog around for a while (which I can't find right now) in which some guy was trying to turn 12 dollars into 1000 dollars in a year. He didn't get too far the last time I had seen the blog." If I remember correctly, it was a MeFite, and the blog started as an AskMe question.

By: MrMoonPie

MrMoonPie — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 09:16:53 -0800

Dude is going about it the wrong way:

By: m@

m@ — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 09:20:58 -0800

It was $14 (14bucks.com) and it looks as if it's been abandoned.

By: HuronBob

HuronBob — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 09:25:46 -0800

MrMoonPie wins.. we can stop talking about this now....

By: HuronBob

HuronBob — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 09:28:16 -0800

and..I'm sure you all noticed that the generator seems to be marked as belonging to a military unit??? this may end when he gets arrested...

By: m@

m@ — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 09:30:10 -0800

HuronBob, I noticed it was marked as such. I'm betting DRMO or MWR Recreation facility auction though. Hopefully that Marine is smart enough not to sell gov't property on base and knowing that it was part of a web site bound to get attention.

By: Popular Ethics

Popular Ethics — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 09:32:59 -0800

Truly awesome. He would be wise to diversify his assets soon by trading one object for several. The last thing he needs is to get stuck with the consequences of one bad trade. Great link greasy_skillet.

By: Shfishp

Shfishp — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 09:50:20 -0800

We could really use a portable generator...but all we have to trade is this stupid red paperclip! Regards, Rawnie and Corinna.

By: blue_beetle

blue_beetle — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 09:53:35 -0800

I will pay you on thursday for a hamburger today! Can't he just use a pen to sign a $0 down mortgage? And then default on it?

By: OmieWise

OmieWise — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 09:56:09 -0800

m@ writes "It was $14 (14bucks.com) and it looks as if it's been abandoned." That's right. Mr. MoonPie: Awesome.

By: Songdog

Songdog — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 10:17:51 -0800

I, too, wish I'd thought of this. blue_beetle asked:

Can't he just use a pen to sign a $0 down mortgage? And then default on it?

If he defaults on the mortgage he loses the house.

By: bitter-girl.com

bitter-girl.com — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 10:35:14 -0800

Hey -- anyone want to pay off my credit card bills? I'll trade you this shiny coffee cup and a ball of yarn. (At least I didn't spend money on stupid stuff like Karyn -- while we're on the topic of crazy internet money pranks...)

By: 23skidoo

23skidoo — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 10:38:23 -0800

Or, A story of a man attempting to drag out the cynics and haters on MeFi. Oh, don't get me wrong, I think this is a really cool idea, and it makes for a cool ongoing website, and I wish him the best, and anything else I need to say. I just don't think he's going to end up with a house, or an island, or a house on an island. I can't imagine what someone would trade their house for. Regardless, I think that the last item he gets will be worth alot of money, and be very large, and will make for a good read in book format.

By: scottreynen

scottreynen — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 10:45:51 -0800

Trading down isn't a major problem because he can always trade up again. He's not likely to trade down to below a paperclip. Also, the closer he gets to the house, the more likley a book deal becomes, and the more valuable each item becomes, which may offset the problem of increasing value. Few people would trade a house for a boat, but if the boat has the added value of being associated with a famous deal, it may turn out to be more valuable than the house.

By: easternblot

easternblot — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 11:17:02 -0800

I love this. My sister's class/group had to do something like this at her university introduction, as a group building activity and to get to know the city. They also started with a paperclip or something, but they quickly got to X-rated objects (I think once they got to the condom samples from the sex store, it was probably pretty easy to trade up from there). I don't remember what they ended up with, but I was surprised at how easy it is to trade crap for better things. I have lots of crap! I could have lots of better things!

By: terrapin

terrapin — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 13:40:38 -0800

Hmmm, maybe Matt can build a MetaSwap site next? People post what they are swapping and commenters bid other items for the thread item. Poster marks best item and contacts the bidder. Either swapper can then swap the same item or a different one. Eventually everyone will be happy. Profit.

By: mindless progress

mindless progress — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 15:48:55 -0800

I did something like this a long time ago in my old youth group. We split into a few groups and each started with a penny. We then canvassed the neighborhood by the church going door to door trying to trade up. As I recall my group won by eventually walking back with a kayak. This was just a couple hours in one neighborhood, so I can easily see getting something really good with more time and a wider area to draw from.

By: Kickstart70

Kickstart70 — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 19:50:40 -0800

If he gets to a brand new car, I'll trade him 5 acres of (honest) really nice land in the middle of British Columbia.

By: Ogre Lawless

Ogre Lawless — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 09:01:53 -0800

I was thinking about this last night and I think the book deal vector is right: Paper Clip→Fish Pen→Screwball→Coleman Stove→1000w genny→blogosphere→Traditional press→Book Deal→Movie option→House! Either that or he's going to get into a position where he gets up to the serious traders and finds himself outclassed. The only way he's winning at this point is that he's trading on perceived value: "I want the doorknob more than I want this stupid old stove cluttering up my garage". Fewer will say "if only I could find someone to take this Maserati off my hands..."

By: PossumCowboy

PossumCowboy — Sat, 12 Nov 2005 21:37:42 -0800

Nicely done, MrMoonPie.