The vocabulary
The words this site uses, and means precisely.
wants & haves
The two kinds of intent. A want is something you’d welcome if it appeared — a practice partner, a plumber, a lift. A have is something you’d offer if the right person asked — spare boxes, an hour of advice, the bike in the shed.
index card
The small, structured form an intent takes on the network: a category, a rough area, a few details. Small on purpose — no room for a name, photos, or story. (In the protocol’s schemas it’s just “card”.)
the card index
The box the index cards wait in. Machines read it to find fits; no person browses it.
the back pocket
Where a quiet index card sits. “If anyone ever needs X, I’m up for it” — held at no cost, surfacing only when the other half appears.
the switchboard
The matching engine and its rules. It connects; it doesn’t listen.
patched through
What happens after both sides agree: a direct connection between people, with the operator off the line.
the last word
The human approval every consequential step waits for. Agents propose; people decide.
safe hands
The principle that money, identity, and conversations stay with the people and institutions built to hold them — never with the switchboard.
the counter
The page where approvals happen: your own screen, your PIN or passkey.
the party line
The public murmur of the network — aggregate trends over at least ten people’s index cards, never an individual’s.