Web Developers: Cooperate on database of deadbeat clients?

This message is for web development shops.

Would any of you *use* and/or *contribute* to a website where web developers / hosting cos. could post, anonymously and regionally, warnings about companies utilizing design/hosting services and then not paying for the services?

It would be a forum-style resource for developers, self-supporting through donations, free to access and post to, much like this forum.

It would *not* be a place to slanderize companies or 'vent' but to simply post some very, very basic facts about project type, the nature of the problem, and actions taken by the developer. It might also provide a way for developers to private-message, anonymously, between each other.

It's a sad thing that I see a possible need for it, but we are finding some companies "developer surf" leaving in the wake a litiny of unpaid invoices and damaged dev companies. I've found this in three seperate potential clients already this year through phone calls to previous developers.

I just got off the phone with a web shop whose ex-client wanted to hire us after working with them. His firm was owed $2100 and it was causing him a great deal of problems. The reason, I learned, was that the client wasn't getting to the top of Google for 'popular term here' quickly enough. How quickly was it expected? Try two weeks! It didn't happen so they withheld the site development fees and paying him for PPV/PPC work. We turned down the work after speaking with him. It was a sad situation - he'd invested a lot of time and money. Turns out, after speaking with the PREVIOUS TO HIM developer that the *same thing* happened. I was able to figure this out using 'waybackmachine.org' ... and this idea was born for this deadbeat database.

If this is a silly idea, or if it's been tried, let me know what you think? I don't want to waste energy on something that would not work, or if there are some legal implications I've not considered...etc.

Sounds like a good idea. But that might be considered a "Black List" and I think they are illegal.

I'm no lawyer, but you might look into that.

Defamation of Character is illegal, it's like giving a company a bad reference. You can't do it... not to say that you can't get away with it...

You should probably think about joining something like the International CHarter, they maintain a supplier network (ISN) listing, while this is not exactly a black list I know that some companies with bad ISN rating dont get contracts from other compaies, not sure how it works though.

It would be easier to use standard operating procedures to enforce debt collection. This sounds like a juvenile idea. Contact agencies like citizens advice bureaus/ free legal helplines.