Freelancer Directory

[Stephen Gornick]

I was trying to come up with a decent solution for a directory where contractors and freelancers could offer their services.

Then I realized the solution might be sitting right there in front of us: The Bitcoin Wiki!
   http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Category:Freelancers

To add a user as a freelancer, simply add the [[Category:Freelancers]] tag in the user page.
e.g.,
  http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/User:Sgornick

I then added a few wiki pages for freelancers who had announced their services here in this forum.  That showed me that a wiki page does serve adequately as a method for listing freelancers.  The criteria I was looking for:
 - Free service: no charge to add a listing
 - Self-service: the freelancer can submit their own listing and edit the content.
 - Access is open: If a volunteer wishes to add to the directory or to modify any listings, access to the content is available.  This is particularly useful since wiki syntax does have a slight learning curve.  If access is open, then having a separate submission mechanism (such as this forum thread), would work and a third party / volunteer could add the new entry to the directory.
 - Searchable: the site provides a search tool, and the site gets indexed by the search engines.


The main concerns I have for doing this type of directory using the Bitcoin wiki are:

1.) As Bitcoin grows it will become more obvious that the Bitcoin wiki is not really the best place for this.  For one, a wiki is not the best tool (see #2) and the freelancer listings really don't fit here.   So that freelancers needn't wait any longer, perhaps this less-than-optimal solution will serve just fine for a while until a better service is available?

2.) Tagging service categories is awkward.  More granularity could be added using subcategories, but again, a wiki project isn't the best tool for this.  I added one such subcategory, Technical Support, to show how subcategories might be used for this.

3.) Fully editable pages -- depends on honor system to prevent vandalism, misinformation.

Incidentally, here's the list of users on that wiki now:
  http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Special:ListUsers

Is using the Bitcoin wiki in this manner acceptable?  Or are there any other thoughts on this?

[Edited]

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[ribuck]

A freelancer directory really needs a time limit so that listings expire unless they are renewed. Otherwise it eventually becomes filled up with out-of-date cruft.

[genjix]

Good point. Have monthly pages where people re-add themselves.