Recommend any contractors' fora?

**doodab** · 9 March 2010, 06:56

Not a forum, but I would thouroughly recommmend any IT contractor join the ACM.

http://www.acm.org

**TheFaQQer** · 9 March 2010, 07:56

shout99 is the only one I can think of - IIRC, wendigo is over there these days and denny might be there as well.

Never used it, so can't say whether it is any good.

**expat** · 9 March 2010, 08:49

Originally posted by RichardCranium View Post

Can you recommend any useful forum worth trying for IT contractors? (Because this one is now pointless. Link.)

Are there any useful contractor's fora out there? Once that doesn't scare of newbies and consist of personal attacks?

I won't pay for PCG membership again (and when I was a member their fora were an utter shambles). So that rules out theirs.

I have heard of Shout99 - is that any good?

Any others?

Or anyone thinking of setting one up as a Plan B?

(I suspect Troll's 'moderation' tag is meant to be funny since the five sub-forums on CUK do NOT list him as an actual moderator, but it would not surprise me either.)

It's the members that make a forum. People come here mostly for fun, so that's what you get: lots of posts, little content. In the days when there was stuff on Usenet, uk.consultants was good, but most of its contributors seem to post on the PCG now. I won't join it again either, and especially on the subject of its fora, I resent having to pay the PCG for something that is not really a PCG product, the posters' contributions.

It's a bit like contractors and agents: one lot (the posters) are the people who actually do it; the other lot (those who run the boards) see it as their property and use it for their purposes, whether advertising (like this one) or paid membership (like the PCG, who have essentially privatised the public resource of contractors' knowledge, and taken ownership of it).

Thet's why I don't use most boards much any more. Career- or skill-oriented boards can still be found that are worthwhile, the best are invitation-only (and no-agent).

**cojak** · 9 March 2010, 09:08

And LinkedIn Groups are no better, I'm afraid most groups in my specialism are now being overrun by Indian people asking for hooky training material and basic 101 starters advice...

**malvolio** · 9 March 2010, 09:41

I love this - we haven't been there for years, but that doesn't matter since they are run for the locals, thay have no value, I won't pay to read them, we own them anyway.

Jeez, will you listen to yourselves? There is more solid, informed and experienced advice on the PCG boards than you ever get on here, and they don't attack newbies or the naive.

HTH

**administrator** · 9 March 2010, 10:11

Originally posted by RichardCranium View Post

Can you recommend any useful forum worth trying for IT contractors? (Because this one is now pointless. Link.)

Are there any useful contractor's fora out there? Once that doesn't scare of newbies and consist of personal attacks?

I won't pay for PCG membership again (and when I was a member their fora were an utter shambles). So that rules out theirs.

I have heard of Shout99 - is that any good?

Any others?

Or anyone thinking of setting one up as a Plan B?

(I suspect Troll's 'moderation' tag is meant to be funny since the five sub-forums on CUK do NOT list him as an actual moderator, but it would not surprise me either.)

Hi Richard,

Sorry if you took the joke with Troll the wrong way. I have fessed up to it being a joke. He hit 5k posts and was due a custom title, this has since been removed. As well as him not being on the forum leaders list (which you noticed) he also had the word "NOT" next to his mod tag, it was in white though but thought that it may have given some clues to show that this was just a prank...

I know what you mean about this place being a bit harsh for new users and some changes needing to be made. Plans are afoot and new mods in place is just the first part of this.

Hope you stick around as I value your comments and experience.

**expat** · 9 March 2010, 11:27

Originally posted by malvolio View Post

I love this - we haven't been there for years, but that doesn't matter since they are run for the locals, thay have no value, I won't pay to read them, we own them anyway.

Jeez, will you listen to yourselves? There is more solid, informed and experienced advice on the PCG boards than you ever get on here, and they don't attack newbies or the naive.

HTH

Damn. I was wrong to come back. This proves the point.

**malvolio** · 9 March 2010, 11:36

Yeah, that's the problem with facts. They do rather tend to bugger up your preconceptions.

**NeverBeenNorthOfTheM25** · 9 March 2010, 11:50

Originally posted by RichardCranium View Post

Can you recommend any useful forum worth trying for IT contractors? (Because this one is now pointless. Link.)

Are there any useful contractor's fora out there? Once that doesn't scare of newbies and consist of personal attacks?

I won't pay for PCG membership again (and when I was a member their fora were an utter shambles). So that rules out theirs.

I have heard of Shout99 - is that any good?

Any others?

Or anyone thinking of setting one up as a Plan B?

(I suspect Troll's 'moderation' tag is meant to be funny since the five sub-forums on CUK do NOT list him as an actual moderator, but it would not surprise me either.)

Oh please you have the nerve to complain about us, yet youre the one who's paranoid ....... off you go, dont let the door hit your ar$ e on the way out.

Recommend any contractors' fora?