Help Wanted

[Alan]

Interesting problem I encountered this morning; and this is a warning to people here about asking for help.

If you have a project that suffers from some issue, be it a code problem, a data problem, a spam problem etc and think you need help from one of the developers here, then be prepared to give them what they need; i.e.; access to your code, access to your data etc. Otherwise how are they going to fix your issue?

I dislike wasting my time in signing up to somebody's project with a view to looking to see the problem for myself so that I might be able to advise on how to fix it only to be told that the owner can't possibly share the credentials with me.

I won't mention the individual in question as that is irrelevant however I've wasted a good 20-30 minutes of my time; for nothing.

Yes, I realize that trust is something that is earned however you have take a risk now and again. Just don't waste out time by inviting us into discussions then backing out as you've not thought things through.

Edited June 11, 2019 by Alan

[DAMINK]

So one person is risking there entire project and all there hard work by giving access to someone.
The other person is risking wasting 20 minutes.

Perhaps your looking at this through just one set of glasses here Alan?

I had employed 4 or 5 different coders from here on different occasions.
Some are now known to be scammers but when i employed them they were credible here.
Some were out right horrible coders who should never have even claimed they can code to order.
But they all claimed to be able to code what i needed.
And were VERY willing to take my money.

Clarity is whats important. But trust is equally important.
Without spending the time to establish trust it becomes hard. One needs to look at other things to draw a conclusion.
Currently posts here is about all they have to make that assessment.

Exact requirements should be addressed before any changing hands of money or commiting to work.
ie needing ftp,  sql access, turnaround times etc.  To say i will have a look, then ask access is wrong.  That would trigger alarm bells for me.

I literally just went over this issue a couple of days ago.  I needed some work done i simply can not do.
The best way for the fix was to give access to my game and sql.  I struggled giving access despite me trusting the person in question.

Only a few months ago i had a game owner offer to give me his base code. 
It is v1 GRPG for which i own anyway and paid for! (now freely available anyway) Obviously i was not happy to hear that.
Safe to say he did not pay for it thus he was willing to give it away.

This is the problem.  Once your code is out there its there for everyone forever. 
I recall a very long time ago there was a mafia script for download which was someones version of v1 GRPG.
I still have that copy amongst my stuff.  (Yea i downloaded it)

All that said.
Some sort of "credibility" meter or rating system on coders here would be good. (specific to there coding ability and honesty not forum presence).
I think i recall DP had something similar years ago.
People who use there service can rate there work.
It would take the fear out of a lot of peoples minds.

Rant over. 

[Alan]

Clearly you misunderstood the point of the post; not that I wasted 20-30 minutes; but that owner/admins have to be prepared to provide access to files/data etc.

[DAMINK]

 

 

Quote

Clearly you misunderstood the point of the post; not that I wasted 20-30 minutes; but that owner/admins have to be prepared to provide access to files/data etc.

Clearly you did not read my reply as i addressed that.
But you yourself did have a cry about the 20 minutes of your life that was wasted not me.

Edited June 12, 2019 by DAMINK
because i can

[AdamHull]

Even if you do not trust the Dev with access to your files, use team viewer with access to your PC so you can watch what they re doing? 

[DAMINK]

9 minutes ago, adamhull said:

Even if you do not trust the Dev

Not in my world.
If i dont trust you your done. Thats it, that simple.

Trust takes time to establish, this is not a new thing mate.
Even when trust is established its often broken. 
This is life.  Its a gamble which is best to be minimized as much as possible IMHO.
Ifs and buts mean jack shit to me and i suspect most that have put in great effort to create something.
Just my thoughts.
Go ahead and teamview with people you dont trust. 
Personal choice i guess.

[Alan]

2 hours ago, DAMINK said:

Clearly you did not read my reply

Well obviously I did - otherwise why would I respond?

I stand by initial point: in any situation, if somebody asks for help they have to be prepared to provide some form of access and not waste people's time.

A remote session, whether by TeamViewer or similar technology,  is a form of access as it grants the ability for the helper to see information which would not be otherwise available to them. I've no issue with them even as the viewer only however when I'm in called to fix issues, those issues usually require a more hands-on approach as often the person or persons requesting the help have exhausted other avenues.

[DAMINK]

2 minutes ago, Alan said:

Well obviously I did - otherwise why would I respond?

I stand by initial point: in any situation, if somebody asks for help they have to be prepared to provide some form of access and not waste people's time.

A remote session, whether by TeamViewer or similar technology,  is a form of access as it grants the ability for the helper to see information which would not be otherwise available to them. I've no issue with them even as the viewer only however when I'm in called to fix issues, those issues usually require a more hands-on approach as often the person or persons requesting the help have exhausted other avenues.

Blah blah.

If i was to employ someone then i would expect them to do whats expected.
ASK = THIS.  PRODUCE = THIS.  Simplez!!
If i was from the standpoint of someone paying for services.
I would EXPECT them to outlay what THEY require to do said job yes?
And inform them what is required to do said job.  

With me?

If from a standpoint of someone selling my skills.
Then i MUST inform them of what i need to produce the result they require.
This is STANDARD. Not unique to MWG mate.
You cant ask someone to concrete your driveway then they ask you to supply the concrete!

Like i said from the start you need to look through both lenses IMHO.
 

[sniko]

In any case, surely someone asking for help would have a development/testing environment that they could give someone access to and instructions on how to replicate the bug/issue or a detailed bug report, instead of giving them access to production.

[MNG]

You want us to give full access to our hard work to a stranger?  I'm horrible at PHP and I have  helped people on this forum with problems without even having to access cPanel. If you are a reputable developer (like you are alan) then I already expect you to know the problem.

Imagine paying developers over thousands of dollars on a project then boom you take a "risk", now someone selling copies of your project for 100 bucks.

It's many ways to prevent this though

A) Teamviewer (I use this with everyone who I have ever hired)

B) Go to the section for that specific engine, i'm sure someone with a lot of knowledge of that engine knows (I usually prefer to hire developers that have knowledge of the engine I'm using) 

C) If it's a problem just google the error