Behavior & Marketplace

I have been a member at (tf) for nearly a year and have been lurking for much longer than that. Maybe it is just me but it seems that (tf) is on the down and doesn't seem to be what it used to. So I am just going to put out some comments, just in general.

I don't think the Administration is the problem here at (tf) but rather it is the members. Many of the members here are under aged and act the part. If members are going to act like ten year olds, they are going to get paid like ten year olds. But these same users are causing the rest of (tf) to provide legitimate services at prices which are severely less than what they really should be.

This is the same reason (tf) is still dealing with pitiful market transactions no more than a mere few dollars. The marketplace is what brings most of (tf)'ers here and is one of the most vital aspects of the community. I think this community could (and still can, with effort) evolve and produce higher profits/revenues for the freelancers if they simply conducted business appropriately.

Because honestly, let's face it, nobody wants to get paid $3.00 (USD) an hour. Minimum wage is $6.15 (USD) an hour where I live which is really sad. The reason I haven't quit my real life job making $20.00 an hour is because these freelancers here work against eachother instead of with eachother. Honestly, (tf) should be producing wages in the $15 - $50 an hour price range with ease considering the amount of traffic the web site gets. The same work that I do at my job in real life for local businesses is the exact same that is usually listed here on (tf). However, our other freelancers here are driving the costs further down than really necessary.

The community looks like a sad flea market. There are numerous approaches to fixing this and raising this absurd poverty level throughout the community, but I just wanted to know if there are any others that agree with me on this.