[wp-forums] Ethical practices of consultants

[James Huff]

The problem here is that someone posts a request for free help on a free support forum, then suddenly receives an email response and a Facebook message with, "I'll fix! Here's much it will cost you."

In one of the instances, the user's issue was resolved in a matter of minutes by a Codex article, but she still received an email from Gisha James offering to fix it for a fee.

To each his own, I suppose, but to me that is down-right unethical, or at the very least not professional.

________
James Huff
http://www.macmanx.com
http://programnotes.wikia.com

On Jun 30, 2010, at 7:02 PM, Austin Matzko <austin at pressedcode.com> wrote:

> On Wed, Jun 30, 2010 at 8:12 PM, Joni Mueller <joni at jonimueller.com> wrote:
>> The key is to simply let everyone know what the rules are, especially the members who might not be aware that unsolicited offlist contact is grounds for reprimand at the least and banning at worst.
> 
> Several people in these discussions have labeled this behavior as
> "unethical" without any explanation.  What you're calling "unethical"
> is applauded by much of the business world as "making a cold sales
> call."  I don't like sales much myself so I don't plan to do this, but
> just because it's distasteful to us doesn't mean it's unethical.
> Lying; defrauding; continuing to contact after having been asked not
> to--I suspect most would agree that those are unethical.  But just
> offering paid help to an adult?  I don't yet see it; please explain if
> you can.
> 
> As a thought experiment, would you think it unethical if someone at a
> prominent site that hosts WordPress MS cold-called or emailed a famous
> blogger to offer their hosting services?
> 
> Nevertheless, if adults post their contact information in public
> Internet forums they should be capable of handling the inevitable
> solicitations.  And if someone is creating a problem that can't be
> fixed by a click of the "delete" button--for example continual spam or
> harassment, they're probably not going to be deterred by a list of
> rules found on a forum.
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