Project Ideas Project

khendar

First and foremost, let me be clear that this is not a job advertisement nor is it a call for help on the project. I'm merely after an indication of whether you guys think this is a worthwhile thing to try.

That out of the way, here goes.

The Idea
A site where people can post ideas that they have had for web/software/multimedia projects. The goal is the development of ideas and concepts, and the bringing together of developers and "idea guys".

The Audience
1. Ideas guys: People who have a good idea for a project but dont have the time, motivation or technical skills to pull it off.
2. Developers: Who have said skills, time etc but cannot think of a project on which to spend them.

Features

Ranks for active members - eg Top 5 Ideas Men, Top 5 Developers etc, Most Popular Idea etc
Comments system for ideas refinement
Ability for developers to register interest for a project
Display the status of picked up projects
If the project is picked up and becomes successful, advertising links to the project's website

What it is not

Sourceforge - No project management here - just ideas
GetACoder - or any other freelancing site
A general discussion forum - Users will be limited to posting and commenting on project ideas only

Well...What do you think?
Would any of you guys utilise such a system ?
Do you think it would work ?
Can you see any flaws in my concept ?
Is there already a site out there for this ?

Any opinions would be appreciated 😃

Jason_Batten

pats you on the head You'll learn 😃

khendar

Excuse me ?

bpat1434

Don't mind him.... no one gets him since his name change... :p

Sounds like a good idea. It also sounds a lot like a beginning sourceforge. I mean, yeah you can brainstorm the ideas, or be the super-conductor for the ideas, but when the project is to be setup and started, where will they turn? Considering that the ideas are open, the code should be open-source. SF is getting slow even though they keep updating code and such. Nothing against them, but they seem to have too many projects than space to manage it.

I see this idea starting as a stripped sourceforge (just the ideas and community creation) and eventually evolving to another sourceforge. Sorry, but that's just what I see.

khendar

bpat1434 wrote:
I see this idea starting as a stripped sourceforge (just the ideas and community creation) and eventually evolving to another sourceforge. Sorry, but that's just what I see.

That was basically my thought. My site will cover that first step, getting the ideas out there and refining them. Whether the project gets picked up as a commercial enterprise or an open source/community based project is irrelevant and beyond the scope of the site. There will some minimal project status tracking, links to the successful projects etc, but basically once picked up the development stages are out of my hands. I have no intention of making another SF, but if thats the way it ends up going then so be it.

Basically I want to help out the people who, like myself, have difficulty coming up with original ideas for projects (it took me forever to come up with this one 😛) and those who have stacks of ideas but cannot follow through.

Jason_Batten

Basically I want to help out the people who, like myself, have difficulty coming
up with original ideas for projects (it took me forever to come up with this one
😛) and those who have stacks of ideas but cannot follow through.

Sorry mate, even though you live in my home city I'm going to have to spank you seriously hard. Why should other people give away their ideas to people who are too stupid or too lazy to come up with their own? If they did, they'd be stupid. People will take advantage, don't let them.

Google for "business sense" 🙂

It's a good idea but it's also a bad one.

khendar

For someone who opposes software patents you have little appreciation of community projects.

The target audience is not just programmers, web developers or project managers. The target audience would include the general public. What about people who are not programmers or developers, but would like to see a particular tool or service or website? They are obviously not going to program it themselves. The idea is to identify needs/wants, and set the wheels in motion for producing a worthwhile product. Whether its a free product or a commercial one, you've already identified that its a need.

Posters of ideas will be made perfectly aware that by posting their ideas they are risking someone taking that idea and running with it. But this is no different from posting an idea on a forum or mailing list and asking for opinions. I took a risk of posting this idea on this forum, but I'm aware of that risk.

There's another way to look at it too. By publically posting a concept on the site, you have proof that it was your idea in the first place. Whilst this will not be legally binding in any way, it is documented evidence which may have some benefit down the track.

Jason_Batten

For someone who opposes software patents you have little appreciation of community projects.

That is not true. If it wasn't for community projects I wouldn't have a forum or a news script on my run-down gaming web site at the moment. If it wasn't for OsCommerce I wouldn't have gotten any money at the start of the year. I'm taking advantage of other people's software. This industry thrives on other peoples work and ideas.

What are you going to get from the project? Experience and perhaps some good ideas? Warm fuzzy feeling inside?

It could be a good idea but it most likely won't turn out that way.

What if an idea man posts an idea. A developer comes along and works on the idea but adds his own ideas. The idea man gets up set because his idea is ruined, now he wants the developer to drop the project or change it back. The developer says no.

I don't think the idea man will come back if he's told his idea is now the developers. I don't think the developer would come back if the idea man gets his way either.

Good luck 🙂 but I personally don't have a reason to visit the site.

BTW, When I'm a millionaire developer and have no reason to work and have plenty of time for community projects then I will do that but until then I'll stay true to my name. There's a hidden meaning there, dig deep 😉

khendar

Jason Batten wrote:
What if an idea man posts an idea. A developer comes along and works on the idea but adds his own ideas. The idea man gets up set because his idea is ruined, now he wants the developer to drop the project or change it back. The developer says no.

I don't think the idea man will come back if he's told his idea is now the developers. I don't think the developer would come back if the idea man gets his way either.

I do not see how this is any different to any development community. I've been involved in projects on SF where someone had an original idea, other developers come in and add features, remove features, change features etc. Often with a group consensus, but sometimes not. I've also built commercial websites where the clients are unclear about their requirements, and I've ended up delivering something that I would not have chosen to. Thats the nature of the beast.

The difference here is that the idea originator may not have a specific set of features. They may just have a general idea for a program without giving any details. As bpat1434 stated, its more an exercise in brainstorming ideas than a guided development lifecycle.

I picture the system incorporating a branching structure. If an idea becomes too large or deviates too far from the original intent, it will branch off and become a new idea. The integrity of the original is maintained, and there's another project to be picked up down the track.

Jason Batten wrote:
What are you going to get from the project? Experience and perhaps some good ideas? Warm fuzzy feeling inside?

Well. Experience and ideas are always good. Something unique to add to my portfolio. I believe that this project will fill a need. If its not your need then thats fine, but from the early indications I've gleaned from my research and discussion with other developers, I think that there is definitely a need.

I dont care if the site doesn't make me money. I have a fulltime job, as well as doing my own commercial projects in my freetime.

Jason_Batten

Sincerely, Good luck 🙂

khendar

Sincerely, cheers 😛

Shrike

I think you have a nice idea here. The size of the New Projects thread on this very forum shows there are alot of people who have project ideas but not the resources to make it happen. There are other similar sorts of sites - but I think you could pitch the community angle - forums, email lists and so forth.

A little thought about Sourceforge. In my opinion it has just grown too big. There are likely to be a large number of projects there which solve a certain problem but it's really hard to know what is good and what isn't, short of word of mouth or installing the actual software - perhaps a problem your idea could solve?

I think I'd look at using a CMS like Joomla, really all you need is a set of groups and users.

Keep us posted on what happens.

khendar

Shrike wrote:
A little thought about Sourceforge. In my opinion it has just grown too big. There are likely to be a large number of projects there which solve a certain problem but it's really hard to know what is good and what isn't, short of word of mouth or installing the actual software - perhaps a problem your idea could solve?

Hmmm interesting thought. So perhaps I could integrate a cross site search, so that before submitting a new idea/project, it could check the active projects on SF which are similar and return a few suggestions...