[thelist] developer ethics?

[David Kutcher]

Hi all.  I came across a weird situation recently and I'm curious what all
of you would say.  I was asked by a friend to look at a site that a
consultant had been commissioned by his company to build.  He had a few
concerns and was wondering what my thoughts were (being a professional in
this industry).

Upon reviewing the site, I came across blatant usage of a WYSIWYG editor
being used (not even cleanly), horrible usability concerns, and general bad
practices in coding (embeded tables 6+ deep in some areas).  Now, some of
you might take offense at this statement, but I think a professional should
NEVER use a WYSIWYG editor for a client project... but that's getting away
from the point of the story.

I illustrated these issues and more to him, and he said that fit in line
with other issues he had.

Technically, the consultant filled the contract.  But... beyond going and
hiring another consultant to fix the work, do you think the company should
press the consultant to fix these issues at no extra cost or take some other
actions?

I have no input into this, nor will your responses alter anything that's
going on, but I'm just curious what your feelings would be towards this
situation.  Should independant, outside consultant approval become a norm in
these times where companies are turning towards more and more freelancers
instead of large consultancies?  How would you feel if a company went to
another consultancy to "verify" your work and would you consider that a
worthwhile safeguard or a breach in confidence?  If you did work that, upon
immediately completing the work, the client wasn't happy with, what actions
would you take?  (keep in mind time == $$)

Please, no flames  :)

David
www.confluentforms.com
(new site!)