My quandary is this: whenever it comes to Christmas time, I know that each of my family members wants two or three things. What I don't know is if the nine-odd other members of my family know about those two or three things as well, and whether they plan on getting the individual in question one of those things. It soon becomes a nightmare, finding out who is getting who what.
My proposed solution: some form of program that allows me to discuss presents with the rest of the family for a given person, while excluding that person from the conversation. The system would have a 'forum' for each unit, so in my case there's a forum for my family. I can access everyone's page except my own, and that holds true for everyone else, the only page they can't access is their own page. I can announce on my grand-uncle's page that I've already bought him that new telescope he wanted, while my brother can ask if a new iPod would be appropriate for my cousin.
The system would either be run on a website or on its own specific program, and signing up would be of minimum hassle; enter your name, email address, etc., then join your family group, and begin your discussions. Of course, groups of friends could set up their own pages, and anyone could be a member of several distinct groups.
Finally, you could have everyone with their own profile, where they can post their interests, their wish-lists, and other things relevant to what they might get for Christmas.-- duh_don, May 31 2009 [21 Quest] As far as I understand, gift registries are simply glorified wish-lists that department stores use to peddle their wares, without the idea of restricted discussion pages and covered with irritating ads; correct me if I'm wrong, but I think my idea is a significant development on that. Also, I'd like to express my most humble and sincere apologies about my obviously mendacious formatting, it has been expressly corrected.
(cloud nine) I'm stuck as to how to categorise it, I've changed it to "Culture: Celebration: Gift" but I don't think that's quite right either. And thanks, I'm glad to be here.-- duh_don, May 31 2009 Of course, this is true, but again, it's complicated and difficult, and not purpose-built. A specific program/site would make things much easier and a lot of people who otherwise wouldn't bother would see a useful utility and participate.-- duh_don, May 31 2009 I disagree with the MFD. That's too all-purpose an objection, I think. With a wide enough definition, you could say the halfbakery is a social-networking site. You're casting too big a net, 21 Quest.-- tatterdemalion, May 31 2009 I haven't read the idea yet, but I just wanted to say I was positive this idea was posted by [XSarenkaX]. I'm disappointed that it's not. She left on uncertain terms and I miss her. Now I'll read the idea.-- blissmiss, May 31 2009 I should not speak for her. She didn't leave as far as I know. I think she thought she had lost her "baking touch".-- blissmiss, May 31 2009 On-and-off use of the halfbakery is a sign of sanity, I think. Going by her blog, she's having fun turning her backyard into a native plant garden. Why not drop her a line if you miss her?
I'm siding with tatterdemalion and the poster on the MFD tag (keep the idea).-- jutta, Jun 17 2009 There's a sign up for sanity here? Oh shit, I musta missed it a lllloooooooooooooooooooong time ago.-- blissmiss, Jun 17 2009 random, halfbakery