On Wednesday 19 December 2007 22:14:13 Drew wrote:
> Howdy folks,
Hi Drew,
>
> I would like to take this opportunity to announce a
feature at the User
> Community Forum that may be of interest to the folks on
this list.
>
> The 'Paid Support' forum.
>
> What is it?
>
> Simply put it is a segregated area where users can ask
for services that
> they are willing to pay for.
>
> Why is it there?
>
> To address a situation that would come up from time to
time at OOoForum and
> to do so in such a way as to keep it out of the
volunteer based support
> forums. When this would happen at OOoForum it could
cause some rather
> awkward situations - from the stand point of the person
looking to acquire
> the service, not wanting to insult those that are
offering their help for
> free. - for those willing to offer their services not
wanting to look like
> a troll.
>
> Yet the fact remained that these where legitimate needs
by the user
> community.
>
> How will the paid support forum work and what it is
not?
>
> Well, first it is not intended to replace the
Consultants Listing!
> - The forum contains a sub-forum 'Consultants Listing'
linked to the
> consultants page and is the first thing displayed to a
user entering that
> forum.
>
> It is not a place for advertisements either - the idea
is that folks
> looking for services would ask for offers. A job
request board if you will.
>
> It is not a full blown business exchange service, ala
rentacoder.com - this
> is just a bulletin board.
>
> It simply offers a place for a requester to be
contacted by suppliers
> without having to put their email address out to the
world. This is
> accomplished in one of two ways
> - A requester could select to only receive messages
directly on the Board
> via the Private Message feature. - More likely, they
will list an email
> link. You send an email to a member via a web form at
the site, the email
> is sent to the member from the forum administrative
email account and your
> return address is included in the body of the email.
The service requester
> decides then whether to contact you directly or not.
>
> There are two ways to monitor the request forum.
> First - if you register with the forum you can
subscribe to a forum(s). You
> will find an option for this at the bottom of a forum
main index page. Once
> subscribed an email notification will be sent to your
registered email
> address each time a new posting is made to that forum,
included in this
> email will be the subject line of the post and a link
back to the post.
> Second - an RSS/Atom syndication script is under
development for the forum
> that will allow you to have a configurable feed for new
posts. Currently an
> alpha release of the syndication script ( have a few
open issues on it ) is
> in place. I hope to have it ready for general use by
middle of next month.
>
> This is something new and how much activity it will
generate is anyones
> guess. Currently there are only two requests on the
board, one for a
> database development and one for OpenOffice.org
training.
>
> I would be very interested in any ideas or suggestions
from those here.
>
> Thanks for you time
>
> Drew Jensen
Excellent initiative.
May I suggest that there be a sticky thread for once only
Promos for
organisations. (The once only promotion should be strictly
enforced and only
in the thread designated by the Mod. Probably guidelines on
Promo content
limits would be a good idea as well.)
This will have two benefits. Only subscribers to the forums
will be able to
put in a promo.
Promos will only be put in by people who are active (One of
the downsides of
the Consultants list) (further:.. delete the thread every
six months or so
that it requires people to remain active on the forum and
the list then
always remains fresh...... actually I'd do it every three
months)
Cheers
GL
--
Graham Lauder,
OpenOffice.org MarCon (Marketing Contact) NZ
http://
marketing.openoffice.org/contacts.html
INGOTs Moderator New Zealand
www.theingots.org.nz
GET DRESSED : GET OOOGEAR
Gear for the well dressed OOo Advocate
www.ooogear.co.nz
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