Terminology & Conventions
Fyndow uses a small, consistent vocabulary. The same word means the same thing in the product UI and throughout this book. This chapter defines the canonical terms — the actors who use the system and the core objects they work with — so that later chapters can use them without re-explaining. For the exhaustive list, including secondary terms, see the full Glossary in Reference.
Why a canonical vocabulary matters
When a term drifts, documentation and product drift with it. The mobile roadmap, for example, records a deliberate terminology migration — "Spaces" was renamed to "Communities" so that one concept did not carry two names across surfaces. This chapter exists to prevent exactly that kind of split: each concept below has one canonical name, and synonyms are noted only to point you back to it.
The actors
There are four roles, and every meaningful action on Fyndow is gated by one of them.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Customer | A person who discovers, books, and pays for services or buys products on Fyndow. The demand side of the marketplace, and the default role for a new sign-up. Also called a member in some product copy; Customer is the canonical term. |
| Provider | A person or business that offers services or products — taking bookings, sending quotes and invoices, getting paid, and building reputation. The supply side. A Customer can be upgraded to a Provider (the "become a provider" path). |
| Organization | A higher-tier account that runs gated communities and publishes targeted content to subscribers. Organizations operate communities rather than the business toolkit. |
| Admin | An internal operator of the Fyndow platform itself — handling moderation, disputes, and credential verification. Distinct from a Provider, who runs their own business, not the platform. Admin accounts are provisioned internally, not through public sign-up. |
Role vs. account. A single account can hold more than one role over its lifetime — most commonly a Customer who upgrades to become a Provider. The role determines which surfaces and capabilities are available, not which person you are. The full model is in Roles & The Permission Model.
The core objects
These are the primary things the actors create and act on.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Business | A Provider's storefront and operating unit on Fyndow — the entity that owns services, products, a business page, availability, and reputation. A Provider can run more than one Business from a single account. |
| Service | A bookable offering of a Business — work done for a Customer at a scheduled time. Services drive bookings, quotes, and invoices. |
| Product | A sellable good of a Business — purchased via the marketplace cart → checkout → order flow, as opposed to a scheduled Service. |
| Community | A topic- or business-centered space where people post, discuss, and subscribe. The canonical product term is Community; you may occasionally see Forum used for the same surface from a more technical angle. |
| Happening | A time-boxed post — an event, promotion, or ad with a start, an end, and an audience — that surfaces while it is relevant and retires when its window closes. Covered in detail below. |
| Credential | A verifiable claim about a Provider — a license, certification, or qualification — submitted for verification and surfaced as a trust badge. |
| Reputation | A weighted, composite score for a Provider derived from signals such as reviews and credentials. The single number that summarizes how trustworthy and well-rated a Provider is. |
How services and products differ
The distinction between a Service and a Product runs through the whole system, because they follow different lifecycles:
The full state machines for both lifecycles live in How It Works, and the money mechanics that underlie the payment steps are in Money & Trust.
Happenings vocabulary
A Happening is Fyndow's time-boxed post. It always carries a type, a display mode, a reach, and — for most types — a run-window. These four words appear throughout the book, so they are defined here once.
Type
Every Happening is one of three types, chosen first because the type decides what the post needs.
| Term | What it is |
|---|---|
| Event | A real-world gathering — a market, class, meetup, launch, open day. Time-and-place anchored: it needs a start, an end, and a location. Anyone signed in can post one. |
| Promotion | A business advertising one of its own offerings — a sale, a service special, a limited deal. Requires a Business you own. |
| Ad | A business raising broad awareness of its brand or storefront. Requires a Business you own. |
Display mode — Flyer vs. Compose
The display mode is how a Happening is presented, and there are two:
- Flyer — You already have a finished poster image, and that image is the post. Because the poster already carries the copy and details, Fyndow asks only for the image and a short caption.
- Compose — You don't have a poster, so Fyndow builds the card for you from an image plus typed details (a description, and for an event the date, time, and place).
Both modes work for all three types; the choice is purely about how much creative you've already prepared.
Reach — Community vs. Public
The reach is who sees it, and it is where the free-versus-paid line is drawn.
| Term | Audience | Cost | Goes live |
|---|---|---|---|
| Community reach | Approved members of one community | Free | Immediately |
| Public reach | Everyone on Fyndow, geo-aware | Paid per post | After Fyndow's review |
You pay for reach, not for the act of posting — and the price is the same whoever you are and whatever the type. The economics are in Paying for Reach.
Run-window
The run-window is the start-and-end span during which a Happening is live. When the window closes, the Happening auto-expires and drops out of the feeds — which is what keeps the surface honest: nothing lingers past its relevance.
Reaction
A reaction is a one-tap emoji response to a Happening (like, love, fire, clap, wow). Each person holds one reaction at a time — tapping a different emoji switches it, tapping the same one removes it. Reactions sit alongside comments, a lightweight one-level-deep thread, as the two ways viewers engage.
The complete story — open posting, the review gate, lifecycle, and engagement — is in Happenings.
Trust terms in one place
Three terms above — Credential, Reputation, and the trust badge — combine into Fyndow's trust model alongside Reviews (mutual ratings between a Customer and a Provider). At a glance:
- Credential → a verified claim (e.g., a license) → shown as a trust badge.
- Review → a rating left after a completed interaction.
- Reputation → the weighted composite of those signals into one score.
The mechanics, weighting, and the multi-level trust tiers are covered in Money & Trust.
Conventions recap
- The canonical term is the one used in headings, tables, and prose. Synonyms are noted only to redirect you to the canonical term.
- Product names (Community, Happening) appear in user-facing prose; occasional technical synonyms are noted where they help.
- For any term not defined here, consult the full Glossary.
With the vocabulary established, you are ready to start with the substance of the book. Continue to Foundations.