FilePro Programmer Needed

[Fairlight]

I didn't consider it a waste of time.  I was actually trying to help the
guy out.  I know you can't see that or you'd not have posted what you di,
so I'll explain.

1) I might have been interested myself, had the request actually given some
notion of what the application did, or some kind of context.  It's not like
I'm a stranger to web application programming.  It's simply impossible to
make an informed business decision with no hard facts or data.  [And it's
even more lopsided to stipulate a deadline without providing either.]

2) If I'm in that boat, so is anyone else approaching the post.  Which
means he's likely to see little to no response.  What responses he does see
will be based on his original premise, which more or less invites someone
to either take him for a financial ride and deliver nothing or shoddy work,
or just fail the objective entirely.  That isn't going to be good for him
or his organisation.

3) I'm not saying -all- the particulars should be posted publicly, but
John..."a VB application" is so little as to make it next to impossible
to guage whether or not one should bother following up.  I showed him
enough respect to say what I thought was wrong with the request instead of
blowing it off as a crank post, deleting it, and going on gaming.  I gave
him time and effort to try to help him rethink his methods so he would reap
more benefit.

4) That kind of request -is- a red flag to most freelancers that someone
either doesn't know what they want or can't elucidate it, and it will turn
into the proverbial Project From Hell that either never ends, or ends with
the contractor deep in the red.  Been there, done it, won't do it again.
Got private mail from another party that said the same warning bells went
off for them on this post.  I know I'm not alone here.

So why tell him?  So that maybe he can rethink his approach and put up
something that will actually generate the kind of help he needs, rather
than getting either nothing or possibly screwed over.  Sure, I could have
hit delete.  He wouldn't learn anything then though, nor be likely to
possibly increase his odds of success.

While I don't feel hostile about your post or your or anything, your other
post lumping me in with Walter's bashing fP is not quite deliniating
enough, IMHO.  I didn't bash fP.  I said fP talent is far more scarce/rare
than VB, basically, and that's absolutely true.  VB coders are dime a
dozen.  That, and I cited the possibility that someone might confuse fP and
FileMaker Pro with such a vague proposal, which we all know happens quite
often in general anyway, as has been cited probably hundreds of times on
this list.  That's about the only "negative" stuff that might possibly be
construed about anything I said about fP in -my- post.  I wouldn't say I
was bashing fP, John.  At all.  Didn't even question the direction of the
migration.  In fact, given VB, I'd actually say it's a really -good- idea
to go that direction.

Ordinarily, I'd take your point about the difference between $300k vs $30k.
However, having actually gotten burned by horribly vague offers and jobs
that remained vague as far as halfway through the project (and then being
asked for a complete spec change), I think it's also safe to say that from
my end, I'd rather make $30k doing $30k of work than $30k doing $300k worth
of work.  Know what I mean?

filePro's strengths or weaknesses have -nothing- to do with the situation
or the post, IMHO.  Pretty much most things can be translated to most
other things given enough time and resources.  Yes, I have seen Alan
Mazuti's wonderful work on his web interfacing.  He's done some gorgeous
stuff.  The technology has nothing to do with my post.  I'm not against
the direction they want to go.  If I was, I wouldn't be selling a product
that helps facilitate it.  I'm for sane business practises like saying what
you're actually starting with (at least in some minimal specific detail
other than "an application") if you're going to make a public request for
help--especially one stipulating a deadline a mere month away.  That's what
it all it boils down to.

I can't speak for Walter, nor do I want to.  Whatever he said is his own
opinion.  He may have agreed with what I said, but please don't lump me in
under fP-bashing when I wasn't, even if he actually may have been?  Please?
Pretty please with one of those great big delicious sundaes on top,
complimentary cherry included?  :)

Seriously, my thrust was exactly what I just said above--nothing more,
nothing less.  And in my mind, it did serve a singular purpose; get the
person to rethink how they're asking for help so they have a better yield
on results, both in quantity and quality.  I don't think that's terribly
ignoble as a goal, no matter how ineloquent I was in conveying it.  I'll
admit, my execution could have been better.  The intent, however, was
nothing untoward.

I believe I understand your reaction, and having reread my post twice in a
row just now, I believe I understand how I was taken the wrong way.  It was
poorly written, to be honest, and not necessarily from the best of moods,
at that.  The fact remains that my -intent- was sincerely to help the
man get better results than what he posted is likely to generate.  And I
still wholeheartedly maintain that that kind of vague description sets off
sirens, klaxons, strobing laser light shows, car alarms for three blocks,
and the K-Mart blue light special light--for anyone that's ever followed
up on something written that vaguely, tried to see it through, and been
burned really badly by the end of it.  In the interest of wanting to see
him -not- drive people away or turn them off automaticlaly, I suggested
that he rethink his strategy and noted why.  I also gave what I consider a
sound strategy to follow.  He is, of course, free to follow whatever path
he likes.

I would hope that clears up my purpose in posting what I did, to a
reasonable degree of satisfaction.

Bests,

mark->