Honestly, I've been through this with one group already here in Phoenix.  Usually if something happens someone doesn't like, they evoke the hidden and mysterious powers of moderation.  Behind this somewhat ridiculous fig-leaf is some callow sheepish dude who has the password to the listserv.  Very funny stuff in my view.

  I can say this: without clear leadership, there will be no clear purpose.  If the person who recently offered up his grandfatherly opinion of the whole thing feels he is in the position of leadership here, he should make that abundantly clear.  Not because I am challenging that leadership, I would just like to know who is running the show if anyone.

  I am in touch with Jason and I want to make it clear that it was not my intention to smear him.  I do not make any claims against his character.  He has made job postings on here after our work engagement and I made no attempt to interfere with that.  I asked for a simple thing, and my intention here was to help clear up some confusion.  I will make a sincere attempt to reconcile our disputes.

  In a general, I have recently moved out of Phoenix, primarily because I found the work environment here quite lacking.  I could tell you quite a number of stories of my experiences around here[1], but there is a sufficient trail of listserv activity to point to some of my experiences.  I think that Phoenix is currently facing some serious challenges as a city... and there are going to be inevitable changes whether they are welcomed by old-timers or not.  I am quite sure that recent activity in financial markets has hit a number of people on this list directly.

  To address Joseph S.'s comments, for a list or a business venue to function correctly, you have to support buyers AND sellers, employers AND employees.  I know that a number of regular contributors are of the hobbyist temperament, and see these kinds of points to be irrelevant and annoying.  Banning feedback on job ads may seem like a great way to attract employers, because they feel safer in making whatever claims they please.  The problem is, that the actual value of the ads degrade, and developers start to take a somewhat non-committal attitude towards working with these parties[3].  What phoenix currently needs is some kind of reputable venue for IT contracting, and I've voiced these concerns before[2].  Silicon Valley (where I currently reside) is literally bulging at the seams with out-of-control cost scales and somewhat of a vacuum of lucrative ideas.  There are people here who make $300K a year designing applications to scrape your address book from your gmail account.  Phoenix /does/ have potential in that sense, but it lacks the legal and commercial infrastructure to support the kind of commercial activity found in Silicon Valley.  This infrastructure was built by folks not unlike yourselves, who just have a basic fascination with technology and its possibilities and decided make the government work for them instead of against them.

   Alan, I appreciate your attitude here- I think you are looking out for whats best for all the participants here.  thanks.  jmz




[1] there is one person on this list that I responded to a job ad, and his 'CTO' refused to give me his last name!  this person later was recommended by someone else on this list!

[2] there are key deficiencies in AZ law as compared to that of CA law.  some of the more important aspects are employment law and NCAs.

[3] 'no flakes' is perhaps the most common request in web development job postings.