If a rating system were implemented, I'd suggest that at the start of each project the person hired and person hiring agree to being rated, by this I mean..

Something along the lines of the applicant clicking a link which says 'apply to job' within the person hiring's thread at the requests forum, which would give them a text area to PM the thread starter. The thread starter would then read through the PMs, be able to reply if they'd like, and click something like 'job granted' on the PM of the person they hire. Afterwords, both the applicant and the person applying would be given permission to rate one another, with each member's given & received ratings displayed in their profiles.

This could prevent people from rating whoever they like(/dislike) even if they haven't worked with them, and only allow for ratings between people who have actually agreed to work together.

Hopefully what I said wasn't too convoluted, it's 1am and I've got plenty of work on my hands right now...

I say this in every thread about a trader system, if you get ripped off you generally don't do your research. I have outsourced work to people here on a few occasions in the past, and every single time I have asked for 3 references. I asked for their past clients phone # and email and chased up every single reference asking lots of questions, surrounding competence and punctuality. I have not had a single problem to this date :)

well dean c aint you lucky.
Just because u do your homework does not mean u are safe.
I checked up on the last person and everything seemed fine but obviously it was`nt.
Seems more are against a sort of trader system than actually helping members on this board.Im starting to think these kinds of posts/threads are actually a waste of time simply because they fall on deaf ears and nothing will change because the board itself does not want to change how it operates.

Anyway as a final Note Dean c - what would your attitude be if u did get ripped off on one of these jobs ? - would you just put it down to experience,and not bother if the scammer was still able to get further work on here ?

As stated previously...
There are tools already available what makes you think that a "custom feedback system" will make a difference?


FACTS:

• 80-90% of "ripoff" complaints that we hear about are jobs not even posted in our Paid Requests forum.
• vbulletin.org is a place for "vbulletin programming" knowledge and FREE modifications.
• A new system / feature should be added only if it fixes the problem at hand - adding this "feedback system" will only create new problems

With that said, there are many things that we would like to change. However, we are bound to work within our limits:

• limits placed by Internet Brands
• limits placed by Jelsoft
• legal / liability issues
• the community / target audience
• etc

well i must be in the 10% slot because my job was posted in the request forum (infact the 2 i got stung on where) - hows that for unlucky.

You know yourself its not working - and needs changing but you will always find excuses to not change anything.Its been like this for yrs now.

Like your sig says `there's room for improvement` - except when it comes to helping members.
In theory i could proberly sue jelsoft,as they where acting as the middle man when i requested a job (you provided the platform so must take some responsibility).

Seeing as all my chat was done in PM and records kept on this board then they should have a legal obligation to act on my behalf and sort out my problem.
I requested the job from this board and was forced to do all dealing by way of the pm system which is sort of underhanded if u ask me.

You may want to get the group of victims and ask them about the legality concerning vbulletin.org acting as the platform for Paid requests. I suppose, if there's enough of you and there's grounds to sue jelsoft then this would probably enduce change more than words.

All I'm saying is you definitely want to look into the legal area and research to see if jelsoft can be held responsible. :)

They can not be held responsible because there is a notice on top of the forum that indicate that they are not responsible... reading it or not is the responsability of the user on that forum, that means if you do not take all the actions possible to be informed and protect yourself, you can not put the other party responsible for your own misactions.

Then your screwed lasto - for the 3rd time.

Are u a lawyer as im certain that is untrue.If i was to follow your way of thinking then,if i put a notice on my website saying No warezs allowed - but still allow people to post warezs then im not responsible because i put a notice up,so im covered.

The law does not work that way and Shelley maybe i am screwed for the 3rd time but i will certainly be looking into it because this board wont protect us.

i'm not a lawyer, you are not either... i "translated freely" what Jelsoft guys are always saying when someone is whinning about not being supported when scammed... you read it already, and that's what they say...

i personally think that you do not need a lawyer each time something bad come to you. if you can not protect yourself without a lawyer, do not go online. a lawyer is just there to apply what is stated in the laws. there is no laws about scammers on the internet yet, and even the american government have hard time finding the right way to protect the american citizen on the internet...

so yes, my interpretation may be flawed, but everybody is free to accept it or not...