With web design, you can very quickly scroll through a lot of portfolios and find a style you like. That wouldn't work at all with web developers and backend code.
We're going to be launching the index page shortly and it'll become even clearer why this form only works for visual works.
Turns out those things are really hard to get a feeling for in isolation, but in comparisons, people are really good at it. I know I want an iPhone app; I come across http://www.flingmedia.com/, and the contact us form gives me his rates. Then you try to see if Brian's rates are valid; the pricing itself gives a marker of credibility. If Brian's rates are in line with what I see elsewhere, and his portfolio seems directionally suggestive enough that he can build what he says he can build, at the very least, I'm going to contact him. The conversation with Brian will tell me, as a client, if he'd be good to work with. Sure, it takes more work - you can't make judgments based so heavily on portfolios - but I really think Haystack would be really helpful to both clients and developers. (So, please, add developers!)
Semi-related, I'll bet you a dollar that people will be looking for local designers before they look at portfolios (rather than starting with portfolios) because you give them that option. For developers, I bet they'd do the same. You'll be able to track that relatively easily.
- There's a higher likelihood they share networks, or have the potential to share networks, which provides additional incentive to do a good job.
In short, all the reasons that geography still matters in most businesses.
http://37signals.com/svn/posts/466-sketching-with-a-sharpie
http://37signals.com/svn/posts/1880-the-different-sketch-sty...
All of my freelance clients in the last few years have been startups in the Bay Area (where I live) so I understand all of those reasons and the benefits of proximity. Hell, I wouldn't have moved up here if I hadn't read Hackers And Painters in 2005 - I wanted to be where the action was. But I've been slowly doing less and less on-site work and have gotten to the point where I don't do much more than weekly meetings and not even that with some clients, so I can't help but realize that I could've technically been anywhere in the world for all intents and purposes. And these aren't low-paying entry level portfolio builders either, it's real paying work with the same challenges as always.
So again, are the reasons for working with a local designer more important than overall skill and portfolio?
Since "near this city" is filter 1 and price range is nr. 2, people are going to pick their city to shorten their options from several hundreds to a couple dozen to make it easier to choose.
Not too big of a deal right now, but once there are 10x as many designers on there, this is going to be one of those straws clients will grasp on to, even when geography really isn't that relevant to them.
Interesting to see the contrast b/w 'visual' search to search by 'algorythm'. Less work involved, product gets out quicker and works. Will the machine, the algorythm make selection better (easier for users). I'm thinking of Demand in particular ~ http://stephenlaughlin.posterous.com/demand-media-uses-algor...