Reply to: Is ContractorUK really about Contracting?

[Scary]

If anyone is looking for a serious forum about contracting issues (specifically related to the business and contract side of things) you could do worse than try here.

[alreadypacked]

Indeed. The vast majority of so-called news links posted on here are either the same old maundering about a statistically-insignificant 0.01% shift in some metric, or deranged ramblings from an imbecile holed up in a bunker in Colorado with 14,000 assault weapons and a blog.

[MarillionFan]

and to allude to my earlier defence in another thread.

Here it is.

Interesting how some peoples opinions have changed in a month.

(To clarify. When I meant CUK, I meant General.)

[namnadasht]

We do. It's called General.

HTH

how about off-topic?

[Churchill]

I wonder if it has something to do with the fact that after a few years, every question in IT contracting has been answered somewhere up the line, and quite a few that are non-IT related too.

That being said then, all that remains for the future of CUK, and quite possibly the human race, are posts about fart jokes, sexual deviancy, petty insults, lunch diatribes, and who is the real identity of Spartacus ?
Do away with the above, and suddenly a lot of strange men (and one or two women maybe) will be wandering the streets again, scaring the horses.

I'd much prefer them to be here, to be honest.

This is a form of community service, where the weirdos get to hang out...oh wait...

I'm Spartacus, I've got the T-Shirt to prove it!

[Board Game Geek]

I wonder if it has something to do with the fact that after a few years, every question in IT contracting has been answered somewhere up the line, and quite a few that are non-IT related too.

That being said then, all that remains for the future of CUK, and quite possibly the human race, are posts about fart jokes, sexual deviancy, petty insults, lunch diatribes, and who is the real identity of Spartacus ?

Do away with the above, and suddenly a lot of strange men (and one or two women maybe) will be wandering the streets again, scaring the horses.

I'd much prefer them to be here, to be honest.

This is a form of community service, where the weirdos get to hang out...oh wait...

[Stan.goodvibes]

OK, first off this is a forum for IT people, so it's always going to be uncool.

Secondly, I have been planning a return to the UK for a year or two now but was rather put off by the *slight* downturn in the market and the god-awful weather you are having, but I do find that the Business/Contracts section and the odd thread in General are helping in discerning the state of the market.

The rest of it, like General, well most of it is tulip* but that's normal for a forum.

*Can someone please explain the origin of how 'tulip' came to mean S H I T E ?

[Spacecadet]

There must be two or three hundred thousand British IT contractors, and no more than a handful of forums specifically for them. I can only assume the vast majority treat somewhere like CUK as a "means to an end", rather like one might post a question about a gas boiler on a plumbing forum.

Most contractors (infact most people) treat forums as weirdo magnets and generally avoid them.
The only contact they'll have is when searching for something and google tosses them onto a forum with an answer

[OwlHoot]

I think this board is no different to any other. After time, communities develop and like real-life communities, people come, people go, people take some comfort from being around familiar faces (posters). ...

What always amazes me is how relatively _few_ regular posters there are on this board, and most others I've seen. The same goes for most blogs.

There must be two or three hundred thousand British IT contractors, and no more than a handful of forums specifically for them. I can only assume the vast majority treat somewhere like CUK as a "means to an end", rather like one might post a question about a gas boiler on a plumbing forum.

But in science, say, there are millions of students and experts worldwide, who you'd think would all be keen to partake in forum discussions and comment on blogs. So what stops them? Why doesn't a non-technical post on say, Cosmic Variance get tens of thousands of replies instead of a few dozen at most?

I suppose it it's a bit like the old question of why doesn't everyone turn up at the same restaurant on the same night, except that there are far fewer decent blogs and forums than restaurants.

[MaryPoppins]

General Forum:

General issues affecting and of interest to contractors.

So what's the problem?

[chef]

Surely now with everyone looking for a bargain tat selling is the way to go, you pulled out the market too early MF..

HTH

[DimPrawn]

Don't forget his "virtual" motorbike too!!

And his "executive" shed (and I don't mean his Aygo).

[shaunbhoy]

Why didn't you mention this before! There's us assuming you are another failed pathetic permie in a dead end job living in a violent, dirty and unfriendly city with only your crusty sockpuppet legion as friends.

Don't forget his "virtual" motorbike too!!

[DimPrawn]

To be honest, thats the main reason why nobody on this site is successful!

I am.

HTH

Why didn't you mention this before! There's us assuming you are another failed pathetic permie in a dead end job living in a violent, dirty and unfriendly city with only your crusty sockpuppet legion as friends.

[hyperD]

I posted some relatively useful info on this thread. Can't remember the last time I wrote anything useful though.

But in passing some of the mundane hours of tedium, this BB comes a close second to pot noodling and therapy.

It is, as cojak says, one of the many boards/blogs I frequent and contribute to and has its own member driven style.

And I have got alot of info from the esteemed members (Nick Fitz, malvolio etc) in the Technical, Legal and Business forums.