Why is there no central directory of consulting companies / freelancers for Qubes OS support?

[adw]

@solene

Do you have an opinion on this @marmarek / @adw ?

I previously posted my opinion here:

Paid Qubes support?

It would probably be easier just to have a forum section for it and link to the entire forum section from the website than try to maintain an ever-changing list of support offerings directly on the website. (For example, every time someone wanted to edit their own “post,” it would require a pull request and complete review and merge of that PR due to the website repo’s security policy, whereas here everyone can edit their own posts at will.)

One advantage of this approach is that it give the listings some visibility from the official website while making it clearer that they’re essentially unvetted self-promotions. Also, a forum thread allows you to be more verbose, use special formatting, embed images and videos, etc. It also allows your (prospective) clients to ask questions and leave reviews and testimonials in the comments.

But I’m no longer the website maintainer, so it’s not my call. I see the merits of the arguments on both sides and have no strong opinion either way at this point.

FWIW, I do think that a healthy OS ecosystem includes independent experts offering unofficial support and consulting services to users, and I’m glad to see such offerings grow around Qubes.