Listings¶

Browsing¶

Both offers and requests can be browsed with or without search filters. If filters are used, the criteria for filtering can include:

Posts by a specific profile
Posts containing specified keyword(s)
Posts by profiles with specified ratings
Tasks in a specific price range
Tasks in a specific category (e.g. development, writing, research)

Keyword Suggestions¶

Keywords from task offers and requests are recorded and saved locally, and used for keyword suggestion when posting a new task offer or request. This helps standardize keywords by promoting common terminology.

Clients may opt-in to irregular broadcasting of keyword lists to the network for the benefit of newly installed clients

Posting Tasks¶

Tasks are separated into two types – offers and requests.

Both offers and requests can contain optional information which helps potential clients be aware of the required terms, licenses and payment arrangements for a task before spending the effort to respond to the offer.

Offers¶

Offers are made by service providers. As the offer itself is not a binding contract, it may be as broad or specific in detail as desired. Offers are broadcast to the offer channel.

An example of an offer might be a 3D graphics designer offering their services to the community for a fee. The offer might include samples of their work, as well as their requested pay rate.

Requests¶

Requests are made by clients seeking task completion. As the request itself is not a binding contract, it may be as broad or specific in detail as desired. The more detailed a request is, the more information a service provider has to go on when judging whether or not the task is right for them.

If the client is unsure of which contract template or license to choose, or what other details should be included, it is best to leave them out in the initial request. These details can be discussed with the service provider during negotiation, later adding them to the final agreement.

Categories¶

Whether offers or requests, tasks fall into selected categories. Many categories have sub-categories for more specific organization. Some of these categories and sub-categories might include:

Writing > Blogs > Science	Editing > Proof-reading
Design > Desktop Publishing Development > Python	Voice acting > Female > Irish Data entry > Email > Invoices
Video editing > Mastering	Research > Security > Pentesting

Categories and sub-categories have 2-digit hexadecimal identifiers that are used when referencing them on the network. The Ids are compounded in a tree format for easy processing.

Writing / Editing A1

∟ Blogs / Articles 22: ∟ Science CD

Example category ID of A122CD

Size Restrictions¶

Task titles and body can contain Unicode characters, but are limited in length to 640 and 6,400 bytes respectively. This cap attempts to provide the best user experience while limiting unnecessary spam, network traffic, and local CPU usage for proof-of-work calculations.

As the taskhive and bitmessage projects mature, these restriction may be removed or modified to better serve the network.

Deadline¶

This deadline is for receipt of deliverables upon receipt of payment from the client, and is EPOCH UTC. This is not to be confused with the expiry of the task offer/request, which is a maximum of 30 days from initial posting, whereas a task deadline could be infinite.

Payment¶

There are two payment related fields in a task – base currency and payment method. The base currency decides the fee that should be paid to a client for their services. The payment methods are multiple options for receiving said fee, and can range from bitcoin to bank wire, depending on the task, country, level of privacy and risk, etc.

Data¶

Task requests and offers have an identical JSON array format, differing only in task_type.

   [{
   "task_data”:{
        “task_type”:“offer”, 
        “task_categories”:[ A1,  C4C1,  F122, … ],
        “task_title”:“Write a short story for my cat blog”,
        “task_body”:“I have a cat blog that needs a story written for it. I will pay for a story about cats.”,
        “task_keywords”:[ “cats”, “blog”, “writing”],
        “task_references”:[ “URL1”, “URL2”, … ],
        “task_cost”:“0.001”,
        “task_currency”:“BTC”,
        “task_payment_rate_type”:“task”,
        “task_payment_methods”:[ “BTC”, “DOGE”],
        “task_deadline”:1482710400,
        “task_license”:“CC BY 4.0”,
        “task_escrow_required”:1,
        “task_escrow_recommendation”:“BITCOIN-PUBKEY”,
        “task_address”:“TEMP-BM-ADDRESS”,
        “task_owner”:“BITCOIN-PUBKEY”,
        “task_id”:“YsBGsF3dc9But9GN5mXOTwEFIZWZ8=”,
        “task_entropy”:“LATEST-BLOCKCHAIN-HASH”,
        “task_expiration”:1482710400
   },
   “task_data_signed”:“IKQ2TXYsBGsF3dc9But9GN/TNhW5mXOTwEFIZWZ8=”
   }]

For task terminate requests, only the bare verifiable identifying data is needed.

    [{
   “task_data”:{
        “task_type”:“terminate”, 
        “task_id”:“YsBGsF3dc9But9GN5mXOTwEFIZWZ8=”,
        “task_owner”:“BITCOIN-PUBKEY”
   },
   “task_data_signed”:“IKDrBFLmzUJyG1d6iuoP7zZDley8bBYh=”
   }]