Back before the bubble burst and the GNU GPL was extra cool, I used to
be able to find sites where people could list a project.   Coders
could bid to do the project for X dollars; then people from all over
could pid some of the X until the threshold was met.

It was really neat, 1) it helped produce more GPL code; 2) everybody
won.   I can't find a single site like that today... and I've been
looking.

What I'd like to find, is a site where I could list a project, have
other people join in my funding, and have some coder offer to do the
job in order to get her X amount of cash.  Are there any site like
that out there anymore?

I looked at rentacoder, but their interface seems to be too broken to
use.  I'm not even sure it's what I want... possibly.

One last thing, off topic, ... I've asked a couple questions before
and people tend to answer them in the comments rather than actually
answer the question... while that's neat... why would they do that?

Hi spottedkangaroo,

In response to your on-topic question, there are several reasonably
popular sites that allow you to post projects that freelancers bid on.
 The best know would be Elance, which is now a part of eBay:

http://www.elance.com/

Note that they not only support coding projects, but also projects
that range from designing icons to writing business plans.  Speaking
from past experience, you will find that Elance service providers
offer very aggressive pricing, and much of the work is done outside
North America.  Note that since Elance is a business, there is a fee
for posting projects -- actually, the fee is extracted once the work
is done.

Another fairly popular site (based on the number of projects listed)
is DevX:

http://devx.newmediary.com/

The interesting thing about DevX is that it is part of a linked group
of "marketplaces" all hosted by Newmediary.  This enables a broader
scope of developers that can potentially work on your project.

One aspect to your question I cannot find, nor have come across, and
that is the ability to gang together with other "funders" to pay for a
project together.  That may exist, but I have not seen it.  Of course,
that type of thing can be done "out of band" with the project proposal
and bidding process and need not involve the person doing the work.

I hope this helped answer your question, and good luck on your
project(s).

This is an answer to your off-topic question.  To be on-topic, I post
it in the Comments section  ;-)

Only approved Google Answers researchers can answer a question (and
get paid for it), other GA users can only post their views on the
subject in the comments.  Another issue is that a researcher who has
an answer she thinks is incomplete will often post this in the
comments field, to prevent the asker from paying for an inadequate
answer.

I have heard good things about this site:

http://www.allfreelance.com/indexx.html

Regarding why answers are sometimes found in the "Comments" section,"
blazius has summed it up nicely. Many of the better comments are made
by GA users who hope to become researchers in the future. The comments
which come from GA researchers are usually fragmentary information
which the researcher is contributing for free, since he or she does
not feel that it is sufficient to qualify as an "Answer."

Sometimes, as in the case of light-hearted questions (such as "How
much wood would a woodchuck chuck...", which has been asked at least
twice,) there is quite a bit of researcher input in the Comments
field, simply for the enjoyment of sharing a laugh.

Hi spottedkangaroo!

In regards to your off-topic question ---

I just looked at your other 2 questions.

Q: Russian Stolichnaya 
https://answers.google.com/answers/main?cmd=threadview&id=47991

The "answer" you liked was given by Rubik, who is not a researcher, so
he/she can't provide a paid answer. It would be decidedly uncool (and
risky) for a "real" researcher to post something less suitable (or
even similar) in the answer space since you appeared happy with the
comment.

Q: browser independent discount online broker?
https://answers.google.com/answers/main?cmd=threadview&id=39242

The clarifications and comments seem to indicate that what you are
looking for does not exist. Hence, no answer given.

In short, we researchers really want to make sure we provide a correct
and complete answer before we ask a customer to pay. It's just how we
are. :-)

-K~