Why did the open collaboration idea with Freemly change so much.

 

At first I thought it to be a great idea to create a collaboration site for developers and designers, and innitially it looked like it was going that way, but now it looks more like a private forum with entrance fee.

 

Anybody else feels that it is loosing track?

 

I started this topic cause I am confused, and can only post on Freemly after paying, and there is no info available without paying first.

 

Perhaps I am missing the point and Freemly is only meant for a select group.

It's an awesome idea but unfortunately it runs off buddypress at the moment so it's pretty much just facebook with forums and groups (that you have to pay premium membership for to access).

 

Unless there is some hidden magic I wouldn't get your hopes up, buddypress sites rarely take off.

Edited May 17, 201214 yr by 4colourprogress

ok guys. Thanks anyway, it did take a lot of effort and planning but no worries.

 

You may find what you need on WDF?

 

.I can only post on Freemly after paying.

 

Just needed to clarify that people can post and access a lot of the features as free members.

 

In fact nearly all of the members are currently free members.

 

The £1.99 fee for pro members is a way to promote a healthy group section and collaboration area and I feel this amount is not excessive and is a simple measure to frevent a load of spammers and such flooding the site with rubbish.

 

A lot of time has already been spent making the site look and feel right (unpaid work). While the main site runs on buddypress (a fact I am not ashamed of) it has a lot of small touches that are not obvious. The aim was to make freemly a nice place to be, and I think I have achieved that.

 

I am sorry that the site does not live up to your expections. Feedback is crucial (http://www.freemly.com/beta/) and I will look to improve freemly over the coming weeks as time permits.

 

Thanks again.

 

Simon

Edited May 17, 201214 yr by oakleaves

Can I offer a piece of advice?

 

It might be better if it displayed the users username around the site rather than the users real name as they might not want that shown.

It might be better if it displayed the users username around the site rather than the users real name as they might not want that shown.

 

Yeah, good point. I'll change that this evening. Thanks.

 

I am going to add a page to the site soon where members can all throw in their suggestions etc.

Edited May 17, 201214 yr by oakleaves

I am going to add a page to the site soon where members can all throw in their suggestions etc.

 

Good idea. Would be good if members can up and down vote others suggestions and comment on them. Really get the community involved.

will do buddy

Hi Oakleaves, did not mean to step on your toes here, I consider your (innitial) freemly concept to be great.

 

I know these sites do not create themselves and a lot of work goes into it.

 

I also understand that it is your creation and you can do whatever you want with it, I just saw more potential in the initial concept, especially the collaboration part.

 

This is not an attack on your work, it just seems a big change from the Freemly site a few weeks ago.

 

Again, I might just miss the point, and I am not here to create a "lets diss freemly" thread either.

 

I see that you removed my profile, as I requested, but my question also showed the need for an "unregister" option.

 

As I am not an established web developer and my skills are very limited, I am not going to be of any help to the members of Freemly and I thought that a list full of non-active members should be prevented.

 

But I will keep on checking the Freemly site cause I am interested in how people deal with projects like this.

 

Good luck

 

P.H.

I think it's a great, commendable idea, but like any community site, it will need a huge amount of work and attention, not just by Oak but by all the members.

 

I've some reservations about the design and the Buddypress basing too. I'm thinking the main page should be a grouping of projects, but it's an activity feed. Why do we need an activity feed fro a collaboration tool, except on a per project basis?

 

IMHO, the main page should be something similar to Kickstarter: http://www.kickstarter.com/discover

 

A lovely list of projects that people can dive into and get stuck into. To be honest, the sites function can be very similar to Kickstarter to I think that site could serve as great inspiration.

 

Absolutely not stepping on your toes here either Oak - it's just my two cents.

 

Edited May 17, 201214 yr by brightonmike

I second Brighton's idea. For people to use it, there needs to be a clear goal; collab'ing with others.

 

I think a rep system would be good so people can see who is in the top of their field on the website. a list of projects that have been created. Project proposal's on the side so people can sign up to them or discuss more about them (similar to the groups section) either public (anyoen can join) or private (request access)

Thanks again guys, some very good points - will look at implementing over the coming weeks.

 

I hadn't been around much and went back to it today and my account had been deleted or something. I tried registering again but never got the confirmation email so I don't know what's happening.

I hadn't been around much and went back to it today and my account had been deleted or something. I tried registering again but never got the confirmation email so I don't know what's happening.

 

This should now be fixed. Thanks.

 

If anyone needs to get in touch urgently email: info [at] freemly.com or also via twitter @freemly_project

If you noticed with CSSMania, their website was free for a number of years and just recently they have started to charge $10 per submission. Why $10? Simply due to the fact that they receive hundreds of thousands of visitors a day and many hundreds of submissions a day.

 

I don't think the website is ready to charge 1.99 for a premium membership, instead I would try and implement some kind of system that deducts a percentage to you for each job collaborated on or generate some revenue with advertising, hell, I'm sure web designers would love to put their name in a big banner to say "Collaborate with me!".

 

I was really looking forward to using this website only to find my account has been removed yet again.

 

Regards.

 

I was really looking forward to using this website only to find my account has been removed yet again.

 

 

No user account has been removed since the relaunch except seedisms at his own request.

 

Your observations have been noted. If you have any further comments contact us on the methods above.

 

Thanks.

Unless there is some hidden magic

 

Yes, we have something in the pipeline due to be added within the next month or so (in between trying to earn a living).

snip

 

 

snip

 

Actually guys, I think I owe you both a big thankyou for these points (and also to seedism for highlighting the overall direction issue in the first place). I'm not sure why, but sometimes when I am working on a project I get bogged down with minor trivialities and cannot see the wood for the trees.

 

I have missed the big picture here and I am not too proud to admit it. The direction was definitely wrong and that needs to be addressed as a first priority.

Edited May 18, 201214 yr by oakleaves

I absolutely admire wbsite developers/designers who take the chance to create something themselves, especially the few outstanding ideas that can become an incredible site.

 

the idea for freemly is fantastic, and I am sure that you will pull it off, and dont be surprised to see me again in the registrant list eventually.

 

I understand that it is almost impossible to start a site without testruns and bug solving, and only going beta can help us discover these things.

 

To be honest I was a bit shocked to see the major overhaul after the last offline period, but I also see that a lot of positive technical changes/implementations have been made.

 

I have no issue with paying 1.99/month for a good service, part of the many micro-investements some designers have to make, and I have to mention that it is all VAT deductable.

 

As for your personal investement, I guess that Freemly as a collaboration site will quickly become more than self-sufficient.

 

I hope you dont mind if I continue the Freemly thread here on WDF, I am here a lot and like the way how many others join in the conversation, in my eyes Freemly does not need lots of threads not related to a collaboration project.

 

Again, much respect for your work oakleaves.

 

P.H.

Right guys, tonight I decided to open up Freemly to everyone. NO MORE PAID MEMBERSHIP.

 

The site is completely free. Hopefully the site will be as useful as I originally intended.

 

Check it out if you specialise in a particular field of web design, development, graphic design, SEO, PHP, Javascript etc. It may be of particular interest to anyone who has an idea right now that they would like to collaborate on.

 

http://www.freemly.com/activity/

 

For feedback:- http://www.freemly.com/the-big-fat-feedback-thread/

 

Old fashioned register form:- http://www.freemly.com/register

 

Sign up using Twitter or Linkedin here:- http://freemly.com/login

 

 

Thanks.

Having problems Oak. The site is super slow, takes about three minutes to get onto the activity page. Might be an issue somewhere, but I'll check at home too to make sure it's not me! This has bags of potential btw.

Having problems Oak. The site is super slow, takes about three minutes to get onto the activity page. Might be an issue somewhere, but I'll check at home too to make sure it's not me! This has bags of potential btw.

 

Cheers Mike

 

The server has had a couple of issues that I am aware of but I'm on it. Also looking at some performance tweaks - if you have any advice please send me a message over at freemly, I know you are good at that sort of thing.

 

Depending on how popular it gets I would have to move it to a dedicated server but for now it just isn't viable.

Edited May 22, 201214 yr by oakleaves

It was really slow last night for about 10 minutes but then seemed OK. Thought you might of been "tweaking".

Freemly looks great! Wow! I was really impressed.

Freemly looks great! Wow! I was really impressed.

 

Even if just 1 collaboration idea comes to fruition because of it I think it will have been worth it. Looking forward to seeing the results.. The best projects will get their own feature on the mainpage (eventually!)

What's new with Freemly: me. That's right, I'm back for the third time (damn public betas) so if you want to join me and the rest of the cool kids, Freemly's the place to be.

What's new with Freemly: me. That's right, I'm back for the third time (damn public betas) so if you want to join me and the rest of the cool kids, Freemly's the place to be.

 

+1

 

Was thinking it might need another redesign..

 

(just kidding)

Still no luck for me I'm afraid

 

Finally got it working! But it is really slow.

Edited May 23, 201214 yr by brightonmike

Still no luck for me I'm afraid

 

Finally got it working! But it is really slow.

 

strange, I'll ask renaissance his opinion see what he reckons. He might be able to advise

 

adding cache and minifier now

Edited May 23, 201214 yr by oakleaves

What's happening with Freemly (aside from the obvious)?

What's happening with Freemly (aside from the obvious)?

 

Nothing, focusing on paid work at the moment. Too much work for one person to maintain plus I am no longer convinced about the benefits of collaboration.

Fair enough, we were going to use it for networking with freelancers but I fully understand about lack of time - if only we didn't need sleep!

Perhaps somebody else would be willing to take it over if Oak is too busy?

 

Surely that would demonstrate the whole point of it too - collaboration?

Perhaps somebody else would be willing to take it over if Oak is too busy?

 

Surely that would demonstrate the whole point of it too - collaboration?

 

People have had plenty of chance to lend a hand. That is all I will say on the matter.

To be honest I only heard of it recently, is it in a position to be taken over or is it a WIP?

 

I'm sure a few of us here could help admin it if it meant widening our network of work.

 

For me it's not about getting work, we have enough, I signed up to find freelancers to work with us!

Anybody that is SERIOUS about taking this further, will dedicate the TIME NECESSARY, and has the SKILLS REQUIRED, sets the time every week to COMMUNICATE PROGRESS and will put an agreement IN WRITING, then please contact me.

*tumbleweed*

*tumbleweed*

 

huh

I'm kidding. But I have a serious point, and that's that I don't think you're being realistic. You can't expect written obligation for a project like this, you need to rely on trust. People have to be free to come and go, when you have paid jobs too they have to take priority - nobody getting paid for their work can guarantee hours to this.

 

You have to find 2/3 other people who share similar ideas and a similar methodology, so you're not constantly in disagreement, and you have to just trust their dedication to the cause.

 

Also, this just popped up on Forrst: http://www.freelancingmap.com/

 

Looks very similar to me so would be interesting to see how Freemly will be different. Git integration, perhaps?

whatever mike