What is the Values Exchange Community?

The Values Exchange Community is for deep thinking and constructive debate. The Values Exchange helps us understand each other, solve conflicts and overcome misunderstanding.

The Values Exchange Community gives everyone a real say about issues that matter most. Respond to issues you find interesting - or create your own: social, personal, work and beyond. Seek advice just from your friends, or open your issue to the world.  You choose.

Why do I have to register?

Currently the Values Exchange community is primarily a closed network, so you need to confirm you are from a licence-owning institution.
We also have a free site for young people, which anyone may join. To do so you must add some basic details about yourself as you register.

Since many children use this site we insist that while you may use a pseudonym you must never represent yourself as other than who you really are.  If you do you will be banned for life and we may take legal action against you.

How do I respond to an issue?

Each site has a case mosaic filled with issues presented in Case, Survey, Poll or Forum format. Once you have created an account, you can begin responding to the issues.

What’s a Case?

A Case is the most powerful way to get advice and see what other people suggest. Cases use the Think Screen to help everyone focus as deeply as possible. Responding to a Case, or setting one up, gets you the most ranking points.

What’s a Survey?

A survey allows you to ask your own questions – as few or as many as you like. Set up is a breeze; you can open the survey to as many or as few people as you like, and the results are immediate and open to all who responded. At least as good as the very best professional survey tools.

Everyone responds to surveys in the conventional way.

What’s a Poll?

A poll is a ‘hands up’ vote. You respond to or set up a proposal - the results update instantly. Polls won’t always tell you very much, so you can also add survey questions if you like.

What’s a Conference?

A standard Web 2.0 way to chat and discuss – but with all the VX bells and whistles!

How do I post an issue?

You sign in and use the left hand menu panel. Hit ‘post an issue’ the choose the response format you prefer.

What are ranking points?

You get points for setting up and responding to issues.

Posting or responding:
Forum: 1 pt
Poll: 2 pt
Survey (4 questions or less): 4 pts
Survey (more than 4 questions): 6 pts
Case: 25 pts

Here are the ranks and the points you need to get there:

Newbie: 0 – 99 pts
Apprentice: 100 – 299 pts
Worker: 300 - 599
Senior Worker: 600 - 999
Designer: 1000 - 1499
Thinker: 1500 - 1999
Senior Thinker: 2000 – 2999
Sage: 3000 – 5999
Oracle: 6000 – 9999
The Boss: >10000  ......

... and 5 further levels after that.... which will remain a mystery until you get there!

Do I need anything special to use the Values Exchange?

No. You just need a browser, an internet connection, and an open mind. However, you will need to be a member of a subscribing institution, for example, a school or a University. If your institution does not subscribe to the Values Exchange then you may wish to encourage it to do so. Contact us for more information.

How do I make friends?

After you’ve created an account, you can search for friends from your site or the wider community.

Can I debate issues further once I have submitted my views?

All issues are open for debate once you have responded to them. Simply click the debate button to discuss.

Can I remain anonymous?

At the Values Exchange Community we encourage decision-making transparency since openly sharing feelings and thoughts improves communication, understanding and tolerance. Using the Values Exchange helps people become more open to new ideas, more willing to compromise and less likely to want to impose their own biases on other people.

However, we respect everyone’s need for privacy so we have added the option of remaining anonymous. This function can be enabled from your Profile Page.

What do you do with the data?

We protect all private data. We do not use or sell your emails other than to send VX notifications to you from the Community. We do not track your use of the site (we use cookies, but only to improve the user experience). We do take advertising and market products to VX members on selected sites, but never on privately owned sites.

Much of the data are in the public domain, available to anyone who responds to issues. We reserve the right to collate trends from these data, with identifiers removed, and to sell reports on these trends to social and commercial organisations, so long as we are assured that these organisations are of an acceptable ethical calibre.

We may also invite members of the VX Community to join one or more survey panels. We are particularly keen to give young people a voice in the world and so young VX members may receive invitations to join trusted panels.  In order to ensure the trustworthiness of the data, and also to ensure the protection of the children, anyone under 18 years of age will require parental permission to join a panel.

Membership of the VX Community itself does not require parental permission, however we strongly encourage young people to inform their parents and, if they wish, to invite their parents into the VX Community itself.

Still can't find an answer?

Feel free to contact us. We undertake to respond to all queries within 24 hours.