PC Nerd Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 Hey guys. I know a number of users here who have used the freelancing board to get a numebr of small freelancing jobs in their spare time... I know I certainly started here on phpfreaks. However I'm aware that a number of new users have also had a numebr of bad experiences with jobs. I understand that phpfreaks take no resposibility for people on this board etc... however I though it might be useful to let users alert other users of people that havent paid up, disapeared only paying half etc. Let me know what you think..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GingerRobot Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 It's just not feasible. Three immediate problems spring to mind: 1.) Who's to decide who is added to this list? If you suggest the staff, then the problems are two fold - firstly, most of the staff here are busy and wouldn't want to have to add to their workload and ,second, they would have a tough time deciding anyway as they'd need to see a lot of evidence to prove that the person hadn't provided what they'd been paid for or hadn't paid etc. If you suggest that anyone could add to this list, then it would just get so messy. No doubt there'd be a fair few counter claims too. 2.) So someone gets added to this list. What do they do after? They'll just create another account, indirectly creating more work for the mods. 3.) The biggest problem of all. If there is a list of people not to trust then, by implication, phpfreaks would be seem to be providing some sort of guarantee for those not on the list. This wouldn't be acceptable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naihab Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 Hm. Interesting idea, but I think that trashing someone's reputation deserves a thread of its own, no? Many people do do business under their real names (me, for one), so the username-changing issue might not be that big. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PC Nerd Posted August 25, 2008 Author Share Posted August 25, 2008 well heres my reply ( as you can probably tell im in support).... 1) the thread woudl be open to anyone on the community. the staff dont have to add the names - as i agree that woudl be impractical. The thing abuot not being paid and evidence.... its more a "btw guys, just keep your eyes open for <email>, as Ive jsut had a bad experience <insert experience>" or similar. 2) Its not a thing to remove users from the forum and break up the comminuty, quite the opposite... many people that contact freelancers arent members of the forum, thus that wouldnt be the biggest problem. Its also to strengthen teh comminuty spirit we have here, to make sure that fellow programmers are aware of teh issues that other peopel have faced. 3) As an initial thing on the first post we would say its not a garentee - just a community measure to help those who have been good. alternatively we could post great experiences with fellow members and encourage that comminuty more. the first ( or second) post in the freelancing board is the non-garentee of the board, and we coudl append a message to that stating that posts here dont garentee ( or prove) the trustworthiness or (non-trustworthiness??) of individuals, simply personal experiences. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.josh Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 Our official stance is that we are not responsible, nor will we get involved in disputes coming from the freelance board. That's pretty much why we don't allow responses to posts; it's supposed to basically just be a calling card for services offered/needed. But in principle it's really no different than opening a thread ranting about some experience. People do it all the time and nobody seems to be bothered by it. So in principle, having a single thread dedicated to posting experiences shouldn't be a problem, either; in fact, it might even help make things more tidy. In addition to that, we do have all kinds of threads dedicated to people endorsing (or flaming) other things like hosts, books, programs, scripts, etc... so I don't really see how a list endorsing/flaming programming services/clients would be any different. We will explore and consider whether this or something like this is feasible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ober Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 It's just not feasible. Three immediate problems spring to mind: 1.) Who's to decide who is added to this list? If you suggest the staff, then the problems are two fold - firstly, most of the staff here are busy and wouldn't want to have to add to their workload and ,second, they would have a tough time deciding anyway as they'd need to see a lot of evidence to prove that the person hadn't provided what they'd been paid for or hadn't paid etc. If you suggest that anyone could add to this list, then it would just get so messy. No doubt there'd be a fair few counter claims too. 2.) So someone gets added to this list. What do they do after? They'll just create another account, indirectly creating more work for the mods. 3.) The biggest problem of all. If there is a list of people not to trust then, by implication, phpfreaks would be seem to be providing some sort of guarantee for those not on the list. This wouldn't be acceptable. I have to agree with Ginger here. The responsibility to deal with a client is purely on the part of the developer. Things to think about when dealing with clients: 1) Always demand a percentage up front (I always get 40%). 2) Never deliver until full payment is made (requires a testing ground on your server). 3) If you do deliver before final payment, make sure you have a way to shut down what you've delivered if final payment isn't made. The freelance board is at your own risk. Sorry, but that's the only fair way I know to spin it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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