[atlas] Three improvement suggestions

On 2017-05-30 14:23, Michael Oghia wrote:
> Dear all,
> 
> I have three suggestions for how to improve the Atlas program:
> 
> 1. Set up an automatic transfer system? That way, if someone accrues
> credits they would like to transfer, we can set it up to do so
> automatically once we hit 1,000,000 credits (think of it as similar to a
> bank's auto-pay system).
> 
> 2. A system where, if someone needs extra credits, they can
> automatically request them to be deducted (with those who opt-in) from
> someone like myself with unused / extra credits.
> 
> 3. Email notifications of when we have accrued 1,000,000 credits (my
> apologies if this is already a feature).
> 
> I say this because I don't use my credits, so I don't want them to go to
> waste. It would be much more efficient if someone who needed them could
> access them any time (assuming I already gave permission for that
> (opted-in)). 
> 
> Let me know if anyone needs clarification about my suggestions.
> 
> Best,
> -Michael

Hello,

As Hank mentioned, the "standing order" is indeed the function to solve
(1), and "share access" lets you authorise others to tap into your
account mostly solving (2) within a trust realm.

Even though we don't have email notifications about accumulated credits,
there's an API to interact with the credit system, documented at
https://atlas.ripe.net/docs/api/v2/reference/#!/api/Account_GET going a
long way to self-build (3).

The idea of a "credit marketplace" came up a few times before and so far
it has mostly been handled by community interaction, i.e. users asking
each other if in need or they have excess amounts. We could of course
work on a more automated mechanism if this is widely considered to be a
useful feature. The risk is this will evolve into a whole separate
banking system, perhaps being a bigger undertaking than building RIPE
Atlas itself :-)

Regards,
Robert Kisteleki
RIPE NCC