Looking for a creative developer

Hi Everyone,

I currently use the 'out of the box' theme supplied by ocP. Although i really like it, i'm looking to have something more customised for my sites needs. I cant afford the services of the ocP guys, i'm very much not-for-profit, so i thought i would see if any members would be interested in working with me.

I'm not 100% sure of my requirements yet, so this post is just to get an idea of how many people would be able and willing to help me reinvigorate my site. I am happy to pay, but i cant afford much.

once i've got an idea of costs, we can have a discussion about the best way to proceed.

I know its a long shot, so i wont be offended if i dont get any replies :)

• I'm looking to have something more customised for my sites needs.

Do you intend to only change the theme or are you considering changing core features as well?

• so i thought i would see if any members would be interested in working with me.

Yes.

• I'm not 100% sure of my requirements yet…

Ah! That answers my first question/response!

• I am happy to pay, but i cant afford much.

As John Inman (Mr Humphries) would say, "I'm free!"

• I know its a long shot …

Not as long a shot as you might think - not in this forum, anyway!

 

Fletch said

• I am happy to pay, but i cant afford much.

As John Inman (Mr Humphries) would say, "I'm free!"

@Ollie, given that you are happy to pay, if Fletch (or anyone else) is happy to work for free in this scenario, then maybe you could consider buying a few credits and help sponsor a feature.

temp1024 said

Fletch said

• I am happy to pay, but i cant afford much.

As John Inman (Mr Humphries) would say, "I'm free!"

@Ollie, given that you are happy to pay, if Fletch (or anyone else) is happy to work for free in this scenario, then maybe you could consider buying a few credits and help sponsor a feature.

What an excellent suggestion!

Bob

Fletch said

As John Inman (Mr Humphries) would say, "I'm free!"

How funny. PBS has just started running "Are You Being Served?" episodes this season. As old and dated as they are, they still have some of the funniest dialog written for TV.

Bob

Thanks for such a quick and positive reply Fletch Let me sit down and put together a list of the sorts of things i've got in mind. I'm not the most creative of people, but its a good starting point! Once i start putting ideas down on paper i will be able to answer your question re core features.

Temp thats a great suggestion. I will buy some credits and maybe Fletch can point me in the firstion of a feature he would like me to sponsor

Ollie8557 said

• Thanks for such a quick and positive reply Fletch Let me sit down and put together a list of the sorts of things i've got in mind.
• Temp thats a great suggestion. I will buy some credits and maybe Fletch can point me in the firstion of a feature he would like me to sponsor

1. Take your time. I'm suffering from a domain Registrar's ineptitude and total incompetence at the moment, so I'm pretty busy hurling bombs in all directions - even up to ICANN. They (the Registrar) took my money, delivered a 'paid-in-full' invoice and ………. then forgot to renew my domain! Can you freakin' believe that? The wife thought it would be a good idea if she quietly 're-bought' the domain name to save me pulling the rest of my hair out, but baulked at the £700 she was quoted!

2. You're on your own with this one, but there are many 'gentle' hints around that might give you an insight into what seasoned users consider worthwhile.

 

Fletch said

Ollie8557 said

• Thanks for such a quick and positive reply Fletch Let me sit down and put together a list of the sorts of things i've got in mind.
• Temp thats a great suggestion. I will buy some credits and maybe Fletch can point me in the firstion of a feature he would like me to sponsor

1. Take your time. I'm suffering from a domain Registrar's ineptitude and total incompetence at the moment, so I'm pretty busy hurling bombs in all directions - even up to ICANN. They (the Registrar) took my money, delivered a 'paid-in-full' invoice and ………. then forgot to renew my domain! Can you freakin' believe that? The wife thought it would be a good idea if she quietly 're-bought' the domain name to save me pulling the rest of my hair out, but baulked at the £700 she was quoted!

2. You're on your own with this one, but there are many 'gentle' hints around that might give you an insight into what seasoned users consider worthwhile.

 

Fletch-

£700 – that's just crazy. Care to provide the name of the registrar as a caution to the community?

@Ollie-

I'll be less than gentle about it. I would really like to see tracker item 63 (0000063: Multi-categorisation - ocPortal feature tracker)  sponsored. Jean has already jumped in to co-sponsor this item. Perhaps this was on Fletch's mind when he mentioned "seasoned users."

One benefit of sponsoring this item is that I am matching all sponsorships credit-for-credit up to a total of 51 credits (half the total cost). So, when the time comes, please keep this feature in mind.

Bob

BobS said

£700 – that's just crazy. Care to provide the name of the registrar as a caution to the community?

The offer was 'soooooooo' easy to refuse that I didn't even bother looking for the @sses head under my keyboard. Just somebody that tries to make a killing based on somebody else's misfortune; snap up the domain that has just expired, just in case the guy made a mistake and now wants it back!

The sort of people you wouldn't even exchange the time of day with, when YOU are feeling cheerful.

I think the NS propagation has just about run its course, and I'm not getting as many 'breaks' (they aren't 404's - just a notification the domain has 'expired') in my site as I was getting earlier, but I'll hold off celebrating until tomorrow!

 

It's still pretty bad that the registrar showed the domain as lapsed given you have an invoice paid in full.

I am always pretty careful to renew my domains anywhere from two weeks to a month early so I always have time to argue with whomever should such a mistake happen. I think I will start making that a month just as a matter of course after hearing your nightmare.

Bob

Good to see your site back on line, Fletch!

My connection to it was fine just now.

If I recall, a domain would still be locked for an extra 30 days after expiration for just this sort of catastrophic event. It seems to have worked out well for you.

That is a scary thing to live through!

Cheers!
Jean

Fletch said

The offer was 'soooooooo' easy to refuse that I didn't even bother looking for the @sses head under my keyboard. Just somebody that tries to make a killing based on somebody else's misfortune; snap up the domain that has just expired, just in case the guy made a mistake and now wants it back!

The sort of people you wouldn't even exchange the time of day with, when YOU are feeling cheerful.

This same thing happened to me 3 months ago. The domain had decent ratings in terms of viability and value and the @#$%&*! holding company that snatched it up was circling overhead just waiting for it to expire.

I refuse to buy it back and i'm thinking about starting a campaign to devalue the name.  

BobS said

… from two weeks to a month early …

Yeah, me too. I renewed on 27 April; it was due to expire on 14 May.

But how do you legislate for an incompetent domain Registrar who invoices you, takes your money, issues you with a receipt – and then does nothing about renewing your domain?

The first you hear about it is when you, or several of your visitors, discover that the domain is …

'parked', 'awaiting renewal' or 'expired' (followed by opening up an extra tab for a YouTube video about Stella McCartney)

… all triggered by a JavaScript enclosed in an iframe, which immediately conflicts with ocPortals JS calls in the header, and then refuses to close.

I could go on, but there were so many red-herrings being served up that it was almost impossible to start to track down what was wrong.

'Hacked', 'virus', 'rootkit', 'Chrome gone berserk', 'FF and IE playing nice - oh no, them too' etc. etc. was some of the floundering I did, assisted by my web hosts who tried to help but didn't, other than advising me to contact my domain registrar - which, in effect, was the right advice!

I was going to put up a 'warning' post in General, but I'm all cleaned out of new adjectives to use to warn the unwary about!

 

You ask some good questions, Fletch.

My OCD tends to have me double- and triple-checking my registrations at the registrar's website but I've never even thought of what might happen should their system reflect one thing and the actual registration through ICAAN  had not been completed.

It sounds like that may be similar to the problem you had and I can just hope to never have to deal with such a matter. I'd be needing to double up on my anxiety meds.

Bob

Fletch you have 30 days after expirey to still renew at old price from your registar. They have to hold it before releasing it. Also there is another 5 days waiting period after that before it is released to the public. Don't talk to any auction houses about buying back your domain (unless its something like cocacola.com of course but then your pooched anyway) because that'll raise their radar that your interested in it. Wait till the day it is ready to go back up for sale and just snipe it on your own it is really easy to do and you don't have to pay the damn auction houses anything. They'll try to convince you it is better to go with them cause they have multiple servers programmed to snatch at it when it's available (which is technically true but as I say if it isn't a super sought after domain they aren't hunting it) so no need to pay them a penny.

What are the registrars you guys used BTW?

Well I have my own direct Programm to the Registrar I can buy and install, remove and renew all domains bu myself

And yes after Removing the domain is isolated for 30 days before the domain is 100% removed by the domain organisation

Duck said

Fletch you have 30 days after expirey to still renew at old price from your registar.

Harry-S said

And yes after Removing the domain is isolated for 30 days before the domain is 100% removed by the domain organisation

Thanks for confirming my understanding of the rules'n'regs concerning domains.

HOWEVER, my point was a different one. Once you find that your domain hasn't been renewed (whether by you or your Registrar's incompetence in my case) it is too late to do anything about the "parked, awaiting renewal or expired" message that hits the user who is trying to access your site.

EVENTUALLY, after floundering about helplessly and hollering abuse in all directions, the domain status is reinstated (possibly accompanied by an apology for the 'inconvenience', similar to the one I received from my Registrar), and you have to add another 24-48 hours to the already substantial down-time for the Nameserver to be propagated to DNS servers worldwide. Since my incident was over the weekend and since there was NO contact available at my Registrar (they even had a recorded message saying they were closed for the weekend, so try again on Monday - not even a 'please'!), one has to sit on one's hands and await the internet juggernaut to blithely trundle along!

That for me is unacceptable, and I fully intend to take up the matter with ICANN, naming names and demanding 'justice'.

Now that I've used the word, perhaps I should consider submitting this tale of woe to Ollie to highlight as a travesty of users rights as far as dealing with faceless domain Registrars is concerned.

 

@Ollie

My abject apology for starting something that got the thread hijacked.

We will work together elsewhere … !!