68 replies to this topic

[DunWeb]

Quote

Too much commercialization could be the final straw to osC.

Actually, this is the evolution of open source software.  Other carts have already changed thier structures to generate income from the software that help them with the development of the software amoung other things.  I would predict that this is just the first step in the climb towards a more commercial osCommerce project.



Chris

[14steve14]

I agree with Chris, and at the end of the day, this can only be good for oscommerce. If it takes money to get oscommerce up to date, why shouldnt the people who are binifitting from this new forum pay.  The community sponser program prices are far too cheap for someone who will easily make the cost of sponsership back on the first job they get. Surely a percentage of the finished price would be better.

My other comment would have t p be what rating system is in place to allow a person asking for help to make a correct choice. I do hope there is something in place, if not the other forums will be full of 'do not use this person' type posts.

[burt]

GemRock, on 12 April 2012 - 02:25 PM, said:

i suspect 'community sponsors' would find them compete with people from the east, who would soon register as a 'sponsor@ (while its still cheap!), and then bid for the jobs on offer with the lowest fee yet reasonable coding skills (yes there are no shortage of good developers from that part of world - you know where IT/software jobs have been 'outsourced' to dont you?). abused is the word coming to mind.

Ken

This is precisely why I wanted some type of certification.

Even if that certification was as simple as;  you have 500 posts of which 50% are helpful to others...now you can pay £$x and access the commercial forum

[Biancoblu]

GemRock, on 12 April 2012 - 10:42 AM, said:

.....'community sponsors', some of whom look very much like purely online business owners who have no interest or expertise in technical support be it either 'commercial' or 'free'.

Ken

community sponsorship is open to everyone, as stated here. Being a developer is not a prerequisite. I have been a community sponsor for quite some time as that's my way of saying thank you for all the help I've been getting here and for meeting some fantastic people.

Do I have expertise in technical support? no, I don't, but I do have interest in it being available, not so much for myself as I have found a terrific developer with whom I will stay, but for others who have not yet found the help they need.
It makes complete sense, in my view, to come to the official oscommerce forum and be able to ask for technical support.

[Hotclutch]

It will be interesting to see if the number of corporate sponsors increase now, as there are many capable people out there, some forum members, who are not currently listed. All that is missing now is some reliable system of reviews and ratings of sponsors.

[DunWeb]

Quote

All that is missing now is some reliable system of reviews and ratings of sponsors.

I don't think that another system is required.  The post counts and reputation system are two avenues that can be used to seek out reliable help.

burt, on 12 April 2012 - 03:03 PM, said:

This is precisely why I wanted some type of certification.

Although I don't think an elaborate system should be created, a minimum post count or minimum membership length might be a means to ensure some osCommerce knowledge is present before being able to 'quote' on members needs.



Chris

[GemRock]

i believe i certainly am not ignorant and surely know 'community sponsorship is open to everyone' BUT to my huge surprise, theres (currently at least) much fewer webshop owners sponsors than would be developer sponsors. webshop owners benefit directly the most from open source oscommerce software with minimum cost to own an onlineshop, whereas developers do not neccesarily need to be sponsors who make money by offering their time & expertise, as well as offering helps in these forums for nothing (sometimes dont even get appreciated by way of thankyou or feedback).
i would expect much more webshop owners (take the live shops, eg) to be community sponsors, and do not see much point for developers paying a few £s to be sponsors - dont get me wrong, you are still welcome to be a sponsor,and its 'legal' to be one.

Ken

Edited by GemRock, 12 April 2012 - 06:34 PM.

[multimixer]

I think that the right to see and respond to commercial enquiries should not be connected to the "community sponsor" status. A community sponsor is just somebody who wants to support osCommerce with a small amount per month, not more not less.

Connecting this with the right to see commercial posts, follow the assumption that each one who is a community sponsor has a commercial interest in osCommerce it self. And that is not the case always

I think that it would be better to sell this right, to view and respond to commercial posts, separately, maybe as a new section of "commercial sponsors", it don't need even to be called a "sponsorship", because it's not in this case.

Regarding certifications or qualification indicators: This can be a very complicated thing, so I would suggest not to use any and leave the decision, like in any market, at the buyers and any criteria they want to use.

Indicators like post count and the so called "reputation" don't mean much in my eyes. What does the post count mean? Just that somebody made the x amount of posts. Does it say anything about the quality of the posts? No. The "reputation", the problematic part here is that it is called "reputation", it's in fact just a counter about how many "likes" somebody got. I personally got a "like" for a post asking "what version do you use" and not any for a post where I wrote a half tutorial. Does this make any sense?

An other point: If accepting post count and "reputation" points as quality indicators, what is the plan then to handle complains?

I remember that recently somebody was hunting after a forum member here, requesting his money back. I don't know about the issue and can't judge it, result was anyway, that all his posts got removed.

That was al right at that time, because the forum had nothing to do with any commercial agreements, but how will it be for agreements made through and because of this new commercial section?

All in all, I think this commercial system is a good idea. Lets not forget it is still a forum section and not a market place. It is about letting people post their commercial enquiries instead of telling them "go away".

Have a nice day all, leaning for Easter holidays, we are one week later in Greece

[toyicebear]

A small suggestion...

Add a disclaimer on the new forum channels to the effect that the osCommerce team are not involved or in any way liable and that any job posted and agreed upon is a mater solely between the person  posting the request and then one he/she chooses to perform the wanted tasks.