Freelance coders - Ethics ??

[a_modified_dog]

I am more than happy to help people who are stuck with AS, its syntax and implementation.

Occassionally I am asked to undertake projects for commercial use.

I'll receive the usual emails - we are honest, xx yrs in business, small
returns from this initial project but on completion the client will send
more work our way and you WILL get paid....etc

After recently completing a rolling ad-banner (text file driven for
easy editing) I heard zilch for 3 weeks, so contacted the client
and informed him that the file contains a date-comparitor and
would cease functioning after April 1st ( i had not included the
comparitor, but felt this would gain his attention )

His response was that i was acting unethically, my response was
that i was sick of being ripped off !!

How do other freelance coders protect their work from abuse ?

[tongxn]

I casually put a password on mine, generally I make a flash password with a unbreakable frame after that (nothing really, just a frame with AS gotoAndStop(1) on my animations. But that don't always help with animations. :P

I am so paranoid that I even put a decay Vir- never mind that - on one of my e-mails.

[kortex]

The unfortunate truth is that when doing freelance, sometimes you get ripped off. This exact issue came up on the kirupa forums and I made this suggestion there: perhaps a forum where freelancers and employers can be rated. So if you get ripped off by someone, you can warn other people. Also this can help potential employers identify those from the forum who have provided quality work so that they don't get ripped off (as much) either.

This is more of a damage control solution, but it might help.

[NTD]

Hi,

If you were contracted to build something and not paid for it, you have every right to disable the provided work. There are several ways to achieve this. One easy way I tend to use is to load a blank textfile from my server into the project. This is my "prefinal" version. Once payment is complete, a final file with that method removed is delivered. If payment is not received, I add a line of text to the textfile, something like........ "Please pay for our hard work!". I usually only do this with projects where there is no money down upfront. I always inform the contractor that this method is in place until final payment, so it is not a surprise "if" they see the text update. By being up front and honest about this method, people wont think you are being "sneaky". The method is defeatable by an accomplished programmer, but if they were accomplished to begin with, they wouldn't be contacting me.

With that said, most of these kind of problems can be solved with clear communication before a project begins. "Get it in writing!"....... is a good phrase to stick by. If you have something on paper that you and the employer both sign off on, you have a verification point that can't be changed or disagreed upon. Often times I find people who want to extend the original design to include "something they thought of last night". I have no problems at all with this, but I charge for extra work beyond what was originally agreed upon. In fact, I draw up a new work order for each redesign and submit it for approval, complete with updated charges. When I first started freelancing, I ran into situations like you described several times, but since I organized my method of delivery and acceptance from the contractor, I have not had a single issue.

Regards
NTD

[tongxn]

How do you add a Txt from your server to another um, then?

[1stMoogwai]

There is no absolute way to cover your ass. I always ask for a down payment up front. I haven't found anyone that has a problem with that. If anyone shys away from a down payment, chances those are the jerks that would skip payment.

I also keep the files posted on my website until final payment is collected (exchange files for final payment).

1M.

[NTD]

There are seveal ways. However, I have not had to do this in a long time. I usually only employ this method if I suspect problems may arise. As long as your honest and complete in your communication of what you can and cannot do, there is usually no need for something like this. With that said, in the same manner you would populate a textfield with contents from an external text file, you simply do the same only define a file path for the text file to be loaded from. The textfield is a dynamic textfield place across the movie with no border. As long as the textfile contains no info, the textfield is never seen. If I add text to the file, the text is displayed in the movie. I have also not tried this with Flash8. I know it works for versions before, but Flash8 has some new sandbox security features which prohibit loading information from another domain without a cross domain policy in place. In that case, something like a time/date expiration would probably be eaiser to employ, but that allows for the user to simply set their system clock back to defeat it.

Time date method....

add this to frame 1 of your movie...

code:

---

function clientOkay(){

var date = new Date();

var year = date.getFullYear();

var month = date.getMonth();



//Our deadline year

var deadlineYear = 2006;

//7 means August to Flash

var deadlineMonth = 7;



/*deadline is greater then we have time*/

if(deadlineYear>=year && deadlineMonth>=month){

//Client has time

return(true);

}//End if



}//End function



//If client has time

if(clientOkay()){

play();

} else {

stop();

}//End if

---

Easy to defeat but just another preventative method for disableing flash movies.

[enpstudios]

I peronally use an external .as file that resides on my server, if they don't pay the site doesn't work

I also get 50% of the project costs up front