In response to @Buyer@’s comments, if a coder makes such threatening comments, your best bet is to place the project into arbitration, if the process has not already been initiated. The RAC arbitrator will be able to investigate any threats made by the coder, as long as the threats occurred onsite. Unfortunately, if the threats occurred offsite, there is not much RAC can do, since we cannot take offsite communication into consideration (since it is forgeable). If a coder has made such threats, they will receive a warning and possibly forfeit the arbitration.

Please note that if a coder actually hacks your website or does anything else malicious, we would need valid proof that it was in fact the coder who did this, in order to investigate the allegation. You may provide proof such as login or change logs containing the coder’s IP address from your hosting company. Again, unfortunately if this information cannot be provided, then we will not be able to investigate the allegation. This is why we highly suggest changing your server/hosting login information as soon as a project has been placed into arbitration, or as soon as your project has been cancelled.

Since we cannot take offsite threats or allegations that the coder has done something malicious on your website into consideration (without valid proof), we cannot allow buyers to continuously make such allegations. If they continue to do so, we will have to warn them of the possibility of forfeiting the arbitration for making allegations that cannot be confirmed or denied by RentACoder. Unfortunately, this may have been the case for @Buyer@.

In response to Marc de Graauw’s comments:

“…not unsurprising since the coders on Elance have to make a financial commitment themselves before bidding.” Please note that although RentACoder does not charge coders a monthly fee to work on the site (instead coders are charged a fee of 15% on each completed project), you can choose to require an Expert Guarantee on your project. This allows the coder to prove that they have the skill to complete the project and are also 100% committed to completing it on time. The process requires the coder to deposit a certain amount of money (which the two of you can negotiate) into a deposit escrow. If they fully complete the project, then they receive the deposit back. If they do not complete the project then they lose some or all of the deposit. This is the best way to find a Coder who is fully committed to your project.

Please note that the best way to protect yourself and your project on RentACoder is to fully read any information that is given to you. The site does contain a lot of information, but it is useful and informative. Understanding your obligations as a Buyer will ensure that you get the most out of your RentACoder experience!

SKT

“REST is about much more than caching” Sure. As you mention, uniform resource access is a great good. It enables linking & bookmarking, i.e. storing and retrieving resource identifiers in a uniform way, and that’s a great benefit.

I guess the situation that comes to mind first is starting a war. Suppose the only alternative to Yalta would have been to start a war against the Soviet Union in 1945, which would have meant hundreds of thousands more deaths in Eastern Europe: would that have been an alternative to the rotten (or at least lousy) compromise of Yalta? Is it up to you to decide for others whether it’s better for them to die or live in chains? My point of view is that at that time, peace + Yalta was better than more war (if we assume for the sake of argument that a better compromise than Yalta was not feasible).

Likewise in Iraq: no doubts about Saddam, he was an inhuman dictator. But how many lives is freedom worth? I think it’s clear by now Bush’s invasion was a bad idea, but it is not necessarily a bad idea to intervene for humane reasons in all circumstances (think Rwanda).

Margalit’s point of view is that the rejection of a compromise should be taken on grounds which are solely derived from the nature of the other party. If this is an evil regime, like Hitler’s, Margalit thinks the compromise should be rejected. I doubt if this holds *without looking at alternatives*.