NomadicDev
What do you think we have now, where lower class people need to work to survive? If slavery is having the option between work or death, then I don't see how our current economic setup is not producing slaves. Sure, we don't treat the lower class as property (at least not normally), but they are definitely forced to work under any reasonable definition.
I love stories of little quirky & fable-like people who are known as "that X person", and they seem to be a master at whatever X is. Creates a real charming atmosphere wherever these people exist.
Pesky morals.
If you can give me super content medium fast, I'll take that over medium content super fast. It's really only at the extremes do things start to differ (ie shit content or snails pace slow & glitchy).
Of course, the ideal setup is super content super fast, which is why Craigslist is probably never going to do a major rebrand. They already have plenty of startups constantly nipping at their heels, so they may as well maintain the super fast advantage they have over them to cement their status. Their only real threat would be a super speedy, super pretty, site that somehow launches full of good content.
By the way, I like your news site, never heard of it before, thanks! And for your thingybase, have you looked into adding something like PaperCSS [0] to try the whole "sketchy" look together? Although you may be opposed to adding any css libraries lol I don't know.
I've only worked with a handful of clients so far, but the number one thing I care about most is providing an honest service. I estimate rough timelines for each major task in my head, then add a few hours depending on complexity. If I go over that limit, I'm usually working on that task for free until it gets completed (unless there's some major flaw that is causing the slowdown, like previous developer bugs or slow responses from client). The client never sees this process, but in the end they see tasks being completed in a fair timeframe.
If I'm noticing events are causing me to slow down on a client's work (by like a week, let alone the several months OP had to endure), I quickly communicate with the client to let them know & have us work out a plan.
These aren't things that make me feel like I'm doing something unique in this space, because they just feel so simple & basic to how any working individual should conduct themselves. If OP was dealing with a fresh in the field freelancer, still wet behind the ears, then sure, I guess I can see how things can get away from you in your first project. But this is supposed to be an agency with big clients? And they had this many "missteps"?
Insanity. Actual insanity. I'm not trying to rag on "Isaac" too hard here, I'm more trying to word my confusion on whether or not this is the norm for other freelance agencies. I hope not, because the recount reads like a shameful state showcasing the lack of care in this industry.