Explanation
You only access what you have offered yourself.
On most platforms, you receive before you give. You see others' photos without sharing yours. You browse names without offering your own. You read answers without having answered yourself.
This is the normal way things work — and yet it creates a fundamental asymmetry. Anyone can take without contributing.
But at Ici-Bas, we do things slightly differently: with reciprocity, and we call it "donnant-donnant".
Ask a French person for a favor, if he answers "donnant-donnant" it means that he wants to trade the favor for something equivalent now or for the same exact favor but later. The loose English translation is: give-give, or: a gift for a gift. In the same context, an English speaking person would say "You owe me one".
The principle is simple: you can only access what you have offered yourself.
You've shared a profile picture? You can see others'. You've filled in your name? You can see their names. You've answered the questions? You can see the answers of those who did the same.
This is not a barrier — it's a mirror. The more you contribute, the more the network opens up to you.
When you weigh 50 kg and stand on the ground, you push on the ground with a force of 50 kg — and the ground pushes back on you with exactly the same force. This is Newton's third law: for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. "Donnant-donnant" is the same principle, applied to human relationships.
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