Folks, I have been writing code since most of you were a twinkle in your grandfather's eye ('77)

I have done hundreds of contracts, some free lance and others with firms. I too have been ripped off, not paid, given bad paychecks at xmas, the works. Two way street.

As with any thing, buyer beware. I never pay for it all up front, I ask for phases, and I only remit once I am satisfied my idea's are being represented in the code.

Given that I am an old dinosaur mainframe assembler guy, they have me managing two seperate staffs these days. These peeps are in India and Malaysia, and my fat arse is in America. These peeps are paid to follow specs and write code, build systems, etc. That's even a challenege, and I KNOW THESE GUYS- I go see them for a month twice a year! :D

My point here is to think thru what you want, and then how to break it into chunks and order the payment according to result. NEVER PAY all the coin up front - A retainer is fine, but it should not be more than 10% of the bid in any case.

Also, avoid an hourly rate, unless you really like tossing coin out the winder. Request a Fixed bid, and if it takes some time to find the right person.. be patient

77? I have socks older than that. ;)

You notice I Didn't say "Which" century :D - I was there..with Hollerith :p

Any how, just remember, we are only as gullable as we allow ourselves to be. When we realize we been taken, we get all sorts of pissed off. Hindsight'll do that to a fellow...

Cheers, all

I wondered where that smell in here was coming from :eek: Bob, I deleted your PM by accident..can you resend it?

--Resume rant about being ripped off--

I feel like we just had this discussion. :D


The users on my site do trading a lot and you have good trader and bad traders. So, we have a Good & Bad Traders forum and ask that users start a thread using the format of "Good Trader: Username" or "Bad Trader: Username". If someone starts one of those threads about someone, we ask that they give some details or why they rate them Good or Bad. It works pretty well and is easily searchable.

I agree, it's high time there was a user feedback system here. I'm proud to say I've only ever had one dispute out of dozens of clients, and that's when he refused to pay me for the work that I did. Reward those who do good work, and disgrace those who do bad work.

the only problem i see with the actual situation is that the actions taken against scammers are always private... the guy can continue to scam outside the site, nobody will know... i've seen that lately... someone is posting a paid request, and a scammer who re-registered with a new username is answering the request via the email provided by the client... it's outside vb.org because there is no pm, no discussion online regarding the proposal...

having a note like "this user was banned because of scam", or anything, would be just enough so everybody know that he was tagged... i can say that 90% of the freelancer sites are doing it... don't know why vb.org would not be able to provide this... it is not because of privacy statement... but what privacy if someone can rip others via a false account...

the only way someone could be verified as a real person and not a scammer with multiple personalities is to permit the entire access to the paid request forum only to valid license owners... the guys can then track who this person is from their own clients database, and lock their access to the forum if they are tagged as scammer... multiple-personalities could not avoid this restriction because you can always be verified to check your situation...

anyway, this was suggested for the last 4 years i'm here, nothing was done, i suppose it's useless to start over again... even Paul is right,.. they do not have time to code such a verification system or anything...

a feedback / rating system can be abused - it will only create new problems

the best form of promotion (or selling your services)...
is to act appropriate (whenever posting), release great products, write great articles, and offer support.

your actions dictate:
- Who you are.
- What type of person you are.
- How good you work with others.

once you start doing this employers/buyers will start contacting you

TIP:
Large employers are often lurking in these forums - looking for qualified personnel. The actions you take here can make a difference in your life. By standing out, you will start getting offers too good to pass.

Princeton, this is a good demonstration of job ads, but you forget something... nobody here can provide a portfolio or curriculum in their profile... if you think it's a good place to promote ourselves, why don't you add some userfields to let the guys list their capabilities ?!

The person who hires should be able to Keep Note on the users Profile....about the work..as feedback..so the one who hire can go to the person's profile and read it..

that will be easy to count on people before they get ripped off easily...