Do NOT hire iTechArt

Posted by # December 10th 04:46 PM

It’s annoying enough that quite a few spam messages creep through Google Groups filters to the many mailing lists I’m subscribed to. Fortunately, SpamSieve has learned to bash them quite effectively. Today, however, spam on Rails-Core and Rails-Spinoffs hit the new low (right in there with people advertising pirate copies of the first AWDWR book on the Rails mailing lists a while back).

A company apparently specialized (among many other technologies, oh the irony) in Ruby on Rails development and outsourcing, iTechArt, considered it appropriate to advertise their services by spamming pretty much every Ruby and Rails-related mailing list on Google Groups. I not only think it’s pretty darn stupid to crap in your own cubicle (so to speak), I also think it’s worth giving them a lesson. So anyone considering outsourcing or buying Ruby or Rails development, please:

  1. Do not hire iTechArt.
  2. If you receive a proposal from them, let them know you won’t hire spammers.

In any case, if you’re a blogger, please spread the word. iTechArt is not worth anyone’s money.

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  1. Joon You 12.10.07 / 17PM

    I totally agree, the only way to eliminate spam is to boycott those engage in spamming activities.

  2. RubyPanther 12.11.07 / 02AM

    I support the boycott, but I don’t think “spread the word” is the best way to go about it. If you tell 100 people who didn’t know about them, and 98 agree they suck, and 2 are both looking to outsource, and already consider outsourcing shady, and so are drawn to them, then you’ve done (viral!) marketting for them. It might be more effective to tell people privately, and to keep them in mind and criticize anybody you come into contact with who’s done business with them.

  3. Jarkko 12.11.07 / 07AM

    RubyPanther: The idea is to get enough Google juice to hit the top spot in search engines when searching for “iTechArt” (I don’t think they have very good page ranks). That way people that consider hiring them would have the best chance of getting to know what kind of folks they are. And if you’re not doing a Google search for a company you’re about to hire, you’re in big trouble anyway ;-)

  4. Ryan Mickle 03.05.08 / 19PM

    Success! The post on dotherightthing.com is the #3 result on Google, when searching for “iTechArt.”