[Aubrey14775]

Hi Chris
Made the post below on the "Freelance Venting" thread and akozlik suggested that I post it here too so here it is.

Quote

Hi guys
If DIC is going to start a freelancing section, why not
do it right from the beginning?
Most of us have tried (successfully or not) to get started
at Rent-A-Coder or similar and we have all run smack
bang into the problem of "a youtube clone for MAX $50".
To make matters worse, there are people out there who
will submit a bid at this price.
At university they taught me that my business must
have a "Unique Selling Point" (USP) to allow you to
stand out above the crowd.
How about a USP that projects will not be released
unless they offer a reasonable return to the coder ?
And also that bids will not be processed unless they
are in a reasonable range.
Aha! But who will do the moderation? you ask.
Well, if DIC makes a percentage of the total project
cost, then knowledgeable members of the DIC community
can be appointed as moderator of a particular
programming subset and remunerate them a percentage
of the income that DIC receives for the project.
The duties of the moderator:

1. Ensure that ridiculous requests are filtered out.
2. Ensure that the bid is categorized correctly (as to
programming skill requirement)
3. Advise the client if MAX is too low or skills they
selected are incorrect
4. Ensure that ridiculous quotes are filtered out.

I think it will be a slow and difficult birth but once the word
gets out that DIC has a freelance portal that does not
tolerate bullshit projects or quotes, the more discerning
clients and coders will start using the portal.

Just my thoughts for what they are worth.
All the best
Aubrey

While we are on the subject of getting our community to the top of the pile, may I be brave enough to ask you too have a look at My Blog entry for 4th December 2008?.
Toward the bottom of the post I do a little analysis of one of the sites pages and make some suggestions as to what to do to get the site to fly.
(As noted in the blog, this is not a flaming exercise!)
All the best
Aubrey

[KYA]

We need searcahble snippets ASAP. I ended up submitting a duplicate about string reversal that I did not know was already done.

[skyhawk133]

K, Give me a day or 2 to get a google custom search setup just for the snippets area.

[maggie_noodles]

Wow Sky, DIC is growing/developing pretty fast! This rebirth is a huge evidence. I'm so happy for you and the entire community.

[capty99]

just because it hasn't gotten enough votes :

do SOMETHING with the search.

also, the newest recommendation is awesome.

[skyhawk133]

Would anyone be interested in using your Facebook account to login to DIC? Exploring the new Facebook Connect platform and trying to gauge interest.

[KYA]

No

It would lead to an abundance of absynthe-ness

[skyhawk133]

Not sure what you're talking about. The question pertains to the OpenID, Facebook Connect, Google Friend Connect, and Open Social platforms that allow for centralized profile/authentication management so you don't have to manage separate identities every place you go. It would still require registration here at DIC (just like OpenID would), but all of these new platforms allow you to have a single sign on and single profile.

[KYA]

Oh I see. I was thinking about that backwards. i.e. DIC would be advertised a la' facebook.

[skyhawk133]

KYA, on 5 Jan, 2009 - 08:56 AM, said:

Oh I see. I was thinking about that backwards. i.e. DIC would be advertised a la' facebook.

We've been advertising on facebook for a couple months now with great success. But we are targeting a very narrow audience of people interested in programming, not the broader facebook audience as a whole.

With facebook connect integration, people you "Friend" here at DIC who are also on facebook could show up in your facebook friend list. Or when you post a new topic it could show up on your wall at facebook.

I'm still researching, but I like that Facebook gives YOU the control of what others see and don't see. So if you don't want your drunken pictures showing up in your profile here at DIC, you can turn them off. Or you don't want your new tutorials/snippets posted to your wall for others to check out, you can turn it off.

I'm hoping we can achieve more integration with services like Facebook, LinkedIN, and others to help contributors especially, get more exposure for their own content and help promote DIC.

[P4L]

skyhawk133, on 5 Jan, 2009 - 08:11 AM, said:

KYA, on 5 Jan, 2009 - 08:56 AM, said:

Oh I see. I was thinking about that backwards. i.e. DIC would be advertised a la' facebook.

We've been advertising on facebook for a couple months now with great success. But we are targeting a very narrow audience of people interested in programming, not the broader facebook audience as a whole.

With facebook connect integration, people you "Friend" here at DIC who are also on facebook could show up in your facebook friend list. Or when you post a new topic it could show up on your wall at facebook.

I'm still researching, but I like that Facebook gives YOU the control of what others see and don't see. So if you don't want your drunken pictures showing up in your profile here at DIC, you can turn them off. Or you don't want your new tutorials/snippets posted to your wall for others to check out, you can turn it off.

I'm hoping we can achieve more integration with services like Facebook, LinkedIN, and others to help contributors especially, get more exposure for their own content and help promote DIC.

Skyhawk,
I think this is a great idea. I have a lot of friends on Facebook that are programmers that don't know about DIC.