Hi all,

Is there a place on the Xoops.org site, in the forums or elsewhere, where I can advertise my skills as a XOOPS web site developer?

I would like to promote my services in theme, template and module modifications, especially module cloning. I am open to all jobs, big or small, and have something for every budget.

On a related note, does the XOOPS community even want posts of a commercial nature on the Xoops.org web site? I guess that is another thing for everyone to think about...

I have started the website http://www.xoopschallenge.com , to act as an independent XOOPS web site design contest. At the moment, I've put this contest on the backburner, due to a lack of initial interest (there is nothing on the site right now). I will continue to develop the XOOPS challenge methodology, and will bring this topic back in due time. I am also open to having part of this site available (in a discussion forum, or elsewhere) for other XOOPS developers who want to advertise their development / code hacking services. I think having a place where you can quickly go to find someone to help you with your XOOPS project would be good for the project as a whole.

I don't think that such a place would be detrimental to the "spirit of free helpfulness" that currently exists on the main XOOPS site. For example, one of the things that I personally would offer as one of my own services would be module cloning, as this can be a tricky thing to do. However, I will also freely point out that I have written about this myself here
as well as there being numerous posts on the subject that I can point people to. I would just like to offer my help in this manner for a small fee to people who do not want to figure all of this out for themselves.

So, to sum up this long train-of-thought; is there a place on Xoops.org where I can advertise my commercial services, and if not, would anyone else be interested if I created an area for this on my own, undeveloped site, xoopschallenge.com ? If you are interested, please post here.

(btw...I was thinking, that if people were to advertise their services, listing of service prices would not be allowed...potential clients could PM you if they want to get a quote on something. This way people can decide for themselves who they want to work with, and there isn't that insane "lowest price possible" effect which sometimes occurs when people advertise their services on the internet. I think everyone would be happier this way :) )

It seems that for the moment it is not envisaged on this site
except using google adsense with a parameter setting adapted like one could recently see it with Inbox Solutions .

To propose sales departments based on XOOPS on the official site of the project is an interesting idea, but one should not therefore accepting anything. It will thus be necessary to find rules and conditions for that. I can subject this request to the XOOPS council.

On XOOPS France we have started to think of this question for several months and we will propose soon sites for that but in certain conditions.

Perhaps this is an area more suited a Community site?

jeffgr - can you raise this issue on XoopsInfo as well please?

Thanks

I don't think sneaking in an occasional plug for a design service would be a problem, but allowing commercial promotion in the forums would just encourage spam.

Actually, (on-topic seeing you mention them) I am disapointed that the SmartFactory modules now carry prominent advertising in the admin screens for InBox commercial services.

I always leave the module developer's credits intact and don't object to a small link. However, much as I appreciate their talents I do not want my customers mislead into contacting InBox if they have a problem with one of my sites.

I have had to forgo using the later versions of their releases until I have time to hack-out the ads.

An occasional plug for some commercial services might be OK if it related to the topic at hand.

IMO, I would like to see a XOOPS sponsored contract exchange service.

I have seen a couple of such sites on the web, some were scams, some were being scammed. Most are not worth the time to even register.

We are not ready for such a venture yet. However, maybe the Project Council Might look at this as a long range project.

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I disagree. I think that would ruin a support site. Instead of threads revealing solutions for everyone to benefit from, they would be stopped dead by posts like "I can fix that, PM me for a price". That's why no other support forums allow it.

It would be better to have a commercial services page, or the SmartFactory 'Partners' module block on every page with rotating banners. That would allow XOOPS professionals to advertise their services without spamming the forums (if admin can put up with those pesky InBox ads!).

Why not look at what other projects do? I like the Drupal approach where developers wishing to be listed on the Drupal site as offering commercial services must contribute to the community. This is done either by maintaining a module or contributing code to the core.

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Not for every single issue that comes across, however for the more complex issues, commercial plugs might be allowed as an alternative.

Here is an analogy that might help. For simple things around that house that need to be fixed, like leaky faucets, I can fix that, however more complex projects like replacing the plumbing, I may ask the advice of a professional and take on the project myself or If I decide it is too complex for me to handle I may hire someone to do it for me. The idea is having the choice of doing it myself or hiring someone else.

In XOOPS Simple things like moving the website to another directory on the server is quite simple, most people can do that. however developing a custom module can take a bit more, while we can provide instruction for free, having the alternative of hiring someone to create it may not be a bad option.

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Yeah, but that's a bit different in that you would post saying "Hey, I need a custom module developed and am willing to pay...PM me if you're interested in developing this". I think most people would be OK with that around here, and as a matter of fact I think that is well within the spirit of this project. I am assuming that some of the more knowledgable folks provide support around here to develop their reputations and obtain business this way. But, all gain by this because the knowledge is left for everyone to use.

Peekay is dead on and is talking about the real problem of creating an atmosphere of people charging for help on an open source preoject support forum.

I think that Bender's the list of "Xoops developers for paid projects" is what we are talking about.

Hopefully Bender (or somebody else) update it and (better) place it in a block or something...