[TYPO3-UG US] questions / concerns about typo3.us

[Zach Davis]

Jennifer, et al:

There's been a lot of back and forth discussion on this list. I've been 
watching and not contributing much, mainly because I've been busy and 
haven't had a chance to.

I can't speak for others, but I suspect that there are many freelancers 
and agencies that would be willing to help out, given some instructions 
on what to do. I'm certainly happy to build a custom extension or two if 
that would help -- and I see that my name is on the schedule to work 
with Greg to implement the template in XHTML / CSS. I'm ready to get 
started on this as soon as I get a design from which to work.

I do have one question / concern -- there may be a lot of folks working 
on this project, potentially, who may not be putting up a case study and 
who may not want to pay $250, $500, $1000, $2000 or whatever to be on a 
list of consultants, especially the freelancers among us (assuming this 
idea is still on the table -- maybe it was shelved and I missed it). How 
is typo3.us going to represent the agencies and freelancers who spend 
time developing the typo3.us template, editing documentation, putting 
together industry specific packages, developing custom extensions, etc?

Obviously, I'm all for giving back to the community and whatnot -- 
goodness knows I've put hundreds of hours into the forum with almost not 
monetary compensation. I see this typo3.us site primarily as a marketing 
venture, as others do, I gather, and as such I'm wondering how we 
foresee it helping the freelancers and agencies involved in its 
creation? Is the idea that it will generally promote typo3 in the 
states, which helps everyone (is this necessarily true? Will the little 
guy benefit as much as the big guy?), or will people who help build it 
be rewarded primarily through advertising spots on the site (in this 
case, who will decide who gets the primo spots? Will there be a process 
for this?). Will there be a contact form on the site that people who are 
interested in finding a developer fill out (who decides who gets first 
shot at the job? Who's checking the email for the contact address?).

If all these questions have been asked and answered, and I'm just being 
dense and/or negligent in following the newsgroup, please forgive me.

best,
Zach