Site is down right now. I'm wondering if there's any mechanism to verify the developer you're paying for help. If I'm going to be paying, how do I know this person is actually knowledgable about my problem domain and good at troubleshooting?

On the helper's side, since it's by the minute, it's not much risk if the person is completely over their head and beyond any reasonable help, you're still getting paid while you try to figure that out. Except that the pay is somewhat low versus the going rates for consulting work in the western world.