There was a forum that someone invited me to come and be a gmod of. I was happy about this. I worked hard on this forum. I customized it and listened to what the administrator wanted. He liked what I wanted. Everything was going great. Then, since I started my new job this past week, he made someone else a gmod over there and he changed everything that I worked so hard on. He erased tables and color schemes, and basically everything that I did. And with the fact that I wasn’t in a good mood, for whatever reason, plus having my car receive $350 worth of damage to the wheels from hitting that piece of wood, I was not very happy at all what this new person did. They changed all the smilies, another thing that I spent a lot of time doing, to smilies that drive me crazy. Then, the language on the forums turned nasty. Well, since the administrator is the boss, I can’t do anything about it, but I felt violated. Noone even asked me if it would bother me to undo everything that I put into that board. This was time I should have spent searching for jobs. They behind my back and changed all this stuff.
Imagine that you are working on something, such as a paper, or a computer program, and then someone comes along and changes all the work you had done. This is how I feel right now.
Yesterday and today were the first days in a long while, at least a month or two, that I’ve dipped into this horrible depressed and miserable mood. I guess this venting didn’t really help things, but here it is. Thanks. Maybe if I get more sleep tonight, I will feel pretty good tomorrow. I might leave this board if the foul language and the “what I call” immoral stuff doesn’t end. This is in the administrator’s rules, so he doesn’t enforce his own rules. Again, Thanks for letting me vent like this.
Ah. Screw him. I totally understand how you feel and why you feel the way you do, but it’s a lesson to be learned–some people don’t give a rat’s ass how hard you work on something. They just don’t understand, nor care. The project wasn’t “yours,” (it was his board) therefore, the time and effort you spent on it doesn’t matter. That’s the way he’s probably seeing it
I am reminded of the times that I worked very hard, volunteering to do artwork for other people’s projects. I did what they asked me to do, I invested money in materials, time, effort and I really cared about doing it right. And what did I get? Nothing. Sometimes, only the barest of thanks. A few times the work I did was barely used–the people “changed their minds” and didn’t need it anymore but never bothered to tell me. Other times they changed their minds mid-stream and looked at me as if it was my fault that I could not read their minds.
The thing I learned from these disappointments was this:
To not invest all of “myself” in someone else’s project, because a lot of them really don’t appreciate it or “get” the time, effort and emotion I put into it.
To do the work for the work’s sake, for my own enjoyment and gratification, and to not expect that any of it will be appreciated or even used. Because there’s a risk (sometimes small, but still a risk) that it won’t be used or even acknowledged.
If you can’t volunteer for a project without remembering these two basic realities, or if certain projects would bother you a whole lot if you found out that your hard work was not going to be appreciated or used, then don’t volunteer. Don’t put yourself through that. Because you’ll only end up getting really upset, and the people that shit all over your hard work (not that they realize they are doing it, or realize how they are affecting you), well, these people will be completely oblivious to your distress.
Because I’m tellin’ ya. Some people just won’t appreciate it. They don’t care. Obviously not everyone is like this, but I’m telling you–a lot of people that you would not anticipate would do this to you will do this to you. They make all the right sounds and they act like they “get it,” but they don’t. It’s a chance you take.
Not trying to be flippant about your ordeal, but such is the life of a computer programmer. Many of the programs I wrote got hacked or simply tossed into the trash. But then again, when I came in to “fix” someone else’s program, I did the same thing. Unfortunately, it’s just the nature of the business. I finally rationalized the whole process, when I saw my creations being destroyed, I would simply say, “Yeah, it was due for a re-write”. I could live with that, and it also unloaded any weapons the new guy might use against me.
I don’t blame you for being ticked off – I would have been, too. Have you asked the administrator about the foul language and immoral material? If so, has he responded? Maybe he’s asleep at the switch? Or maybe he has no objection to the way people are behaving, in which case you may be better off without him. I’m sorry it happened.
That was a depressing rant, if you can even call it a rant. I think you need to get it out of your system, I may have missed it but I don’t think you even called the admin. an ungrateful piece of shit who is not fit to clean your keyboard.
I know how you feel. I spent some years gradually renovating my house. I put the nicest oak cabinets in the kitchen, etc. Then I sold the house about two years ago. I was proud of what I had done. A year after I sold it I went back to pick up some things I had left behind and I was appalled. The new owner had renovated the place leaving in place the things which needed changing and taking out what I had already done. My brand new oak cabinets were disintegrating in the open weather of the back yard. I felt awful. After so much effort it was all for nothing.
Whenever I sell a house or a boat again I never want to see it again. Just like when I break up with a girlfriend. Better to make a clean start and leave the past in the past.
I used to fix up old cars, buy a beater, replace parts, new paint and bring them up to snuff. Got tired of seeing how people would then trash them…I feel your pain…
I spent a year developing a sales force automation tool for a sales force for Dunlop/Maxfli/Slazenger a couple of years ago. A year. I learned not long ago that they trashed it.
Thanks. I know it was weak. I accidently did that to someone at work. Hopefully, they were able to fix it. I only did it because my boss had me do it. It was an honest mistake, but it got the one section or whatever pretty upset.
Well, this idiot just banned me. I guess I don’t have a choice, but I feel like getting it shut down. I think I will vent about him in a forum that hates his guts. I guess I was duped by him also.
I guess I overreacted. He banned me because I kind of said I would get the board shut down if this new administrator didn’t stop changing the board like they were. I later told him that I didn’t mean it. I did say it out of anger and frustration. But anyway, I don’t really care anymore. I know now not to do anything for free like this anymore.