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You said: " A bunch of people posting "I wouldn't take that job for less than..." messages in reply to a question to an online forum don't come anywhere near to having that ability."
The potential legal exposure is really for the list owner rather than any of us as subscribers. I agree; it's a theoretical risk more than a real one, like being audited by the IRS over questionable deductions.
However, I also remember attending a workshop presented by a staff attorney for the Justice Department in D.C. His comment to the group was that whenever DOJ attorneys enter a hotel, they look at the list of meetings and events for professional and trade groups. They say "I bet..."
Again, it's not about whether one can speak of setting fees - it's a matter of how one conducts the conversation. I steer way clear of the issue and, based on my listserv administration experience and the legal counsel I've received, encourage others to do so when I encounter such conversations online. What the list owners and other subscribers choose to do is up to them.
Finally, I have posted extensively on the practice of consulting, including how to set fees. This has made some list administrators very nervous, but I'm careful to speak generally about approaches to professional practice rather than specifically about what to charge.
Michael L. Wyland
Sumption & Wyland
818 South Hawthorne Avenue
Sioux Falls, South Dakota 57104-4537
(605) 336-0244
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