Shaping the sub-forum discussion

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Patrick

Administrator
Staff member
Dec 21, 2010
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The purpose of this forum is to provide a place to post jobs whether they are full/ part-time hires or if they are just for bounties to get something specific done.

Here is a thread to start this off with a few areas I would like feedback on:
  • Minimum Post Requirement: STH has many lurkers. Should we have a minimum post requirement?
  • Tags: Should tags be for "full-time, part-time, bounty", geographic, or other?
More to come, but I figured we can add discussion here.

Credit for posterity goes to @Layla for pushing this sub-forum creation.
 
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MBastian

Active Member
Jul 17, 2016
205
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Düsseldorf, Germany
I do not think artificial hurdles would be a good thing. That said, what happens in this forum should stay in this forum. I'd hate it if members, for whatever reason, start PMing me about paid help or *gasp* the-best-job-ever. I've enough of that already.
 
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Patrick

Administrator
Staff member
Dec 21, 2010
12,511
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Good point. Just maybe report it if you are getting spammed by PMs or something.

I mean, on balance I would prefer if we had more job opportunities for STH readers than fewer so a job board here is not a bad thing.
 
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Samir

Post Liker and Deal Hunter Extraordinaire!
Jul 21, 2017
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HSV and SFO
I never knew about this forum until right now. :)

Some feedback:
  • Typically this type of forum is a sub-forum under the 'classifieds' type of forum since something is being exchanged except it is services for the samll jobs. I've typically seen 'hiring' type of posts in their own forum like the 'job board' you mentioned, and this wouldn't necessarily be under classifieds
  • I would apply the same forum/user restrictions to this/these new subforums as classifieds as they can become a spammer entry vector otherwise
  • I think geographic with 'employment' or 'gig/small project' would be great tags, but what tags to use will become apparent once there's a lot of posts. I think a geographic tag should be mandatory and a good start as we do have a lot of international members.
To me the challenge is to provide a new feature to the community without it become a liability or headache for administration. Policing bad users selling non-existent products is a lot easier than someone doing shody work or is posting scam employment opportunities that are only discovered later.
 

eduncan911

The New James Dean
Jul 27, 2015
648
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eduncan911.com
Interesting forum!

Minimum Post Requirement: STH has many lurkers. Should we have a minimum post requirement?
IMO, yes. But let me suggest a different restriction for this forum:
  • Service Requests Only (no service "offerings")
There are too many "jobs" and "services" sub-reddits, Craigslist, etc. At least on Craigslist you have a separation between Job Postings and Looking for Job.

I recently ran across a sub-reddit that restricted the postings to only Job Postings. It was perfect, just a full list of jobs and services people needed filled. No person advertising.

So I suggest we follow that model. We all here can do quite a lot ourselves. From making patch cables in bulk to building DIY racks. It's when someone needs a niche specific service that I think a post should be made. Like, uh, someone with great eye sight that can fix bent pins. LOL

And with that said, there aren't a lot of spammers that would come asking for a service to be performed. So only a minimal set of restrictions could be implemented.
 

tommybackeast

Active Member
Jun 10, 2018
286
105
43
I'll start : I am looking to pay someone for phone help in setting up my homelab. I have good hardware (dedicated box for pfSense with intel 520-da2 ; Brocade 7250-48p top of rack, Brocade 7150-c12p downstream switch for home-office; Ruckus r510 AP, Synology NAS, Dell server running ESXi for VMs. common collection of Apple and Android phones and tablets, PC Workstation, laptops.

I have spent hours watching videos on VLANS and how to setup a secure home network and I do not get 'it' ; however, I know myself, I am smart and learn by doing something while someone is helping me .

Setup pfSense new install (ZFS RAID1); design my VLAN IP structure (right now, everything is 192.168.1.0/24).

Setup VLANs, DNS, DHCP on pfSense box & Brocade 7250-48p. Once that is done, wish list is then clean up my ESXi vSphere network as I know its not done right.

Also, I know good Security is a giant pain the ass, but that's my desire - good homelab security.


This is home use and not a business, and while I have no set sum of $ in mind, gently said, it's not going to be the sums a business would pay. USA - East Coast. can be done daytime, nighttime or weekend.

Payment via Paypal
 
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kapone

Well-Known Member
May 23, 2015
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My humble opinion is that ... this sub-forum will become a fluster-cuck of nonsensical posts, will take up too much time/effort to keep clean, the "jobs" offered won't be worth it, and interest will die after a while, leaving the spam in place.

Your call @Patrick :)
 

tommybackeast

Active Member
Jun 10, 2018
286
105
43
My humble opinion is that ... this sub-forum will become a fluster-cuck of nonsensical posts, will take up too much time/effort to keep clean, the "jobs" offered won't be worth it, and interest will die after a while, leaving the spam in place.

Your call @Patrick :)
I gently disagree. While I appreciate spam might enter, if I still owned a small business; and was looking for SMB class tech help $; I would love to have used a forum site like this.

I would be able to peek at a poster's comment history to gain some insight into their knowledge and how cleanly they can explain complex topics.

Yes, Craigslist exists of course, but if someone posts some short term tech job or task on CL , there's no history of comments available for the CL poster to ascertain experience. A month ago, I posted an ad on CL for a Finish Carpenter to make some custom wood molding; and raised panels - even when the spam was ignored, it took me lots of time to try and ask for photos and voice talk to them for I just knew many were sending me pix of work they hadn't done themself. etc. Just my thoughts
 

Layla

Game Engine Developer
Jun 21, 2016
215
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I second this - STH has a unique value proposition for a forum like this compared to huge impersonal behemoths like craigslist/reddit/etc. This is (for the better) much more of a focused community, and reputation is much more meaningful here, IMHO.