Scammers break vB coders reputation...

actually, scam.com is based on the idea that the scammer will never go to the site to explain himself... lately, a lot of supposed scammers were posting there to polute the scam reports, or even to explain with strange comments how they were not scamming...

adding only ratings or comments on scams is not the only problem... i'm refering to the abandon a lot of people are when posting their requests in the paid services... due to small footprints and low budgets, they are abandonned because they are unable to have what they want for the price they are ready to pay.. the more we have that kind of posts, the more the opinion is about to change... coders here are unable to answer these requests because they are not competent enough... that is not the case but it is the image given.

[lasto]

scam.com is the only platform at the moment to vent your frustration if you have been scammed.Its not the best solution,but it gives both parties the chance to reply as both can reply to the same thread and give each others side of the story.

so if we start a sister-side for vb.org, we would need a forum to vent frustrations, we need iTrader-like system, we need a Jobs Ads system, maybe Escrow to manage transactions and disputes...

not complicated... can do that in 24h...

the problem is not the system to use, it is the responsability applied to the one in charge... Jelsoft is against that, we know because all the suggestions made in the past were refused globally... someone will have to face it with a good safety belt and a lawyer... and then, maybe then, Jelsoft would think to refer their clients to that site...

[lasto]

well to be fair we dont need that much.All we need is some common sense and for this board to review the facts when someone claims they been ripped off.If someone is reported for scamming or not paying then their access to the request section should be put on hold until someone has looked over it and decided what the outcome should be.

I still say that any correspondance between coder and client should be in a thread so then there can be no argument as to who is in the wrong.As threads are timestamped and if someone says `will be done in 2 weeks` then if 2 weeks passes and no word in the thread then its pretty obvious who is at fault.

... and we can't say it can't be done easily... http://sitepoint.com is running 100% with vBulletin, and they are using the kind of technique you're refering to, lasto...

[bobster65]

I don't see why Macro couldn't put together a paid requests review committee consisting of a combination of Staff members and regular members to meet like once a month (or on the spot for an emergency) to discuss complaints/disputes within the Paid Services area of the site.

From what I gather and see: what has some people upset is the fact that disputes/complaints have been filed and yet those members that have complaints/disputes filed against are still part of this community and the clients feel like the staff doesn't care. Im not saying that the staff doesn't care, its a general observation that I see coming from other members.

Like Danny said tho, we don't know what the staff has said or done behind the scenes, so there MAY be cases of members being suspended or banned that we don't know about.

One thing for certain is there is a current war going on between some clients (which are members) & a certain member. The War is public (both here and on other sites) and as far as I am concerned, it looks bad for the entire community. Its flowing over from the requests forum into many threads, its taking up valuable staff time and its a deterence to concept of this site which is supposed to be a COMMUNITY of support, not a place to rip people off and cut people down.

IMHO, Members (both clients and coders/designers) in this community that purposely rip people off should have certain privs taken away (such as access to the paid request forum, PMs and possible ban depending on the severity of the circumstances)..

I am confident in Marco and his staff tho and I am sure they will come up with a solution that best works for this Community.

[Jase2]

Yes, I definitely believe in a sister site, but there would need to be a few moderators to keep control of the place. I would help wherever possible, as I like helping and hate to see people getting scammed; whether it's the buyer or the coder.

As I said in a previous post, we need to take this to someone like Ashley.

Regards Jason

.. i personally think that the identification of banned users or rippers would help... if you do not go read the threads related to their threats, you never know.. but if you go see their profile, and if a tag is applied, you know if the member was banned or have bad reputation...

who knows exactly what came up with the recent scammers... were they banned or they just vanished because of any reason?... being banned by the administration is a situation we have to know.. .this indicate that the person was negative... if they just vanish, this may be a personal matter, we never know...

Originally Posted by lasto

I still say that any correspondance between coder and client should be in a thread so then there can be no argument as to who is in the wrong.As threads are timestamped and if someone says `will be done in 2 weeks` then if 2 weeks passes and no word in the thread then its pretty obvious who is at fault.

Agree completely.

[Farcaster]

I agree that user's need to research whom they are doing business with more carefully.
With the coming of vbulletin 3.7.0 and to make it easier, why not use the new profile comments and simply not allow members to manage messages on their own profiles. Clients and coders could leave brief feedback on each other's profiles. Disallow any protracted disputes in the profile comments by limiting feedback to one post by the other user and one response to negative feedback.

I do want to add that I have some (albeit limited) negative experiences with contracts I have done here, and while there is an avenue for the client to post about their experience on a specific job, the coder has limited recourse to respond. We do need some way for both parties to leave feedback in a consolidated and centralized way.