Why don't you just stop visiting my site!

The BBQ Pit
1

ARRGGGGGHHHHHHH!

Let’s make the background story short so I can onto my rant. I have a cooking website exclusively dedicated to my country’s culinary culture. It so happens that not only don’t I have any competition, I don’t even have competition in print! Every week thousands of people visit our sites (one in English, one in Spanish), they do it because every Monday we (mostly I and two other friends that help me a bit) have a whole new edition.

Every week we get dozens of letters from people thanking us for providing them with something that to many is very important, a much needed connection with their roots… all this for the amazing price of 0.00. You read well… zero dollars with zero cents. This site is a labor of love that has actually cost me thousands of dollars. I think that I’ve made no more than 500 USD so far, 300 USD of them came from a publisher in the US who bought the rights to one of my pictures.

And then every once in a blue moon I get letters from rude people, people who complain that I don’t have this or that recipe, or they try this or that recipe and it didn’t come out all right (I try all my recipes, I have to make pictures), that doesn’t annoy me too much… but TODAY. ARRRGGHHHHHHHH

:::::: breathing slowly while counting to 100 ::::::

Today I got a letter from some idiot that complained that one of my recipes was “wrong” because her aunt prepares in a different way (cooking is not rocket science, especially local cooking, every household might prepare their food a bit different). Usually I wouldn’t mind, I just sent her the usual really nice email explaining exactly what I just said above.

Oh, but she had to send me another email, abusing me and even suggesting that “I wasn’t Dominican”. Not that there is anything wrong with that mind you (I am omitting the part where she got actually abusive). On top she called me an ignorant. Call me a glutton for punishment; I wrote back, again explaining that her aunt is not wrong, I am not wrong, she can follow either recipe “thank you very much for taking the time to help make our site better. Yadda yadda”.

Guess what, another email just arrived. In between a few words that I dare not repeat, she called me “a fake” who “pass herself as an expert”. Never mind that I’ve never claimed expertise in anything. I just love cooking and it was part of my chores since I was a kid, never mind that these recipes are part of our folk culture. I won’t reply to her email, that’s for sure, because for once Aunt Clara might lose her cool and just tell her to fuck off!

Stay away from my friggin’ site you bitch!

2

Just delete anymore emails from her unread. She sounds like a bitch (And I should know). Recipes get changed all the time.
Nice site btw, I looked around and added it to my favorites list.

3

Damn, my own computer ate my reply!

I had seconded Ayesha’s sentiments. Quite a bitch! Maybe you can set your email to automatically and completely delete email from her without even seeing the header. It works on my most annoying people.

I like your site very much - I’ve been looking for a good chivo recipe. I especially like the care you’ve taken with your garnishes for your photos. Well done!

Julie

4

Sounds like a troll… or an equivilent of one for emails, whatever the term for that may be.

As with most trolls, ignoring is the answer. That, or death.

5

Liked your site, too, but have to ask…what the full story on Aunt Ilana and the crash in the Brazilian rainforest?

6

She’s been all over the world and has a very complicated background. That’s her way to hint at that without going into any more details. We have a whacky sense of humor, I guess it’s easy to notice.

7

Man. Some people are such ingrates. Amazing.

I have a website that is, well, certainly not that vitally important, but as far as I can see, no one else has anything quite as big with quite as much information on the specific topic.

Usually I get very nice emails from people, but once in a while I’ll get an email from someone bitching about some part of the website. (Actually, I think I got one email that complained. So far.) But never, ever have I gotten anything on the level of this bitchy woman. Amazing. Just amazing.

My faith in people has been reinforced through the feedback from my site, and I am sure you feel the same way, Mighty_Girl–it sounds like most people are delighted and grateful for your site. Ignore this one deluded troll.

8

Well, what do you expect? Judging from your site, anybody that you feed is bound to keep coming back for more - even trolls… :slight_smile:

9

From my lengthy experience running the UnaBoard and its other areas, I’ve found there are people who will appreciate what you’ve done, people who don’t really care, people who are parasites who bitch about everything you do, and then finally criminal stalkers and harassers. For these people you should do the following:

The Good People: Love them.

The Ambivalent People: See if you can win them over. If not, then that’s life.

The Bitchers: Listen to them the first couple of times to see if they have a point. If they don’t, then ignore them. If they keep after you, put them into the Fourth category.

The Stalkers and Harassers: These people deserve no respect. Tell them that you will now publish openly for all your other site visitors to see all of their legally-available personal information, and the contents of all communications and act of harassment against you.

Sounds like you’ve got your first “letter to the public” to display. Since you are a party to the mail you can display it publically. However, you may want to change the TOS of your site to say something like “all harassing and threatening communications, as well as any communications which are part of a pattern of unwanted communication, may be published openly on this site for critical and informative purposes…”

Tell her that. She might grow up and go. Or, if she’s like the small cadre of mental midgets and psychopaths that stalk me and my site, she might think she has some sort of “legal right” to access your site, regardless of your TOS, simply because it’s not behind a password. She is of course wrong, and if you keep logging those IP addresses and communications and actions you can eventually build a case where you can go the legal route.

10

Very nice site! I get e-mails daily from wwrecipes.com…do you send out daily recipes via e-mail>

11

Oh, you can also just block her e-mail address…then you don’t have to worry about her anymore.

12

Those visitors are idiots then. Rice and beans are always acceptable; whether in a bowl or wrapped in a tortilla. Spicy cajun red beans and dirty rice or plain ol’ pintos with white rice. It’s all good.

13

My grandmother was Dominican, but from Dominica, not the Dominican Republic. She used to get a bit riled when people from the DR used that word to describe themselves, though I have know idea what the alternative is. Could that be the cause of the upset maybe?

Whatever, she sounds like a froot loop.

14

Please listen to Ivylass; she’s giving you excelent advice. The woman who is harrassing you via email deserves her very own mail filter.

15

No, I can’t. This is a lot of work as it is. I’d rather stick to something and do it well. We do add new recipes every week, and all the recipes are available in our site.

Tell your grandmother that it pisses me off more than it does her. You don’t know how many times FedEx and the likes have sent my mail to Dominica. Hello? We were here long before Dominican ever existed… we are bigger… we are many more.

As soon as I become supreme ruler of this piece of rock I will invade Dominica and force them to change their name. The nerve! :wink:

I did block StupidBitchsup[/sup]'s email address. Maybe she’s kept emailing me and asking herself how comes I am so rude not to reply. Or maybe she was so full of shit that she exploded last night.

16

Darn! See what I mean, even I get confused. I tell you, it is my life commitment to make Dominican change their name to something else. Mighty_GirlLand sounds like a good choice.

17

Great recipe site, and if the food is like you discribe a great advert to go visit the Domincan Republic.

18

With any luck she’ll get a bounce-back e-mail saying her e-mail has been blocked.

19

Mighty_Girl: The streets are paved with gold!
Bitch: What?! I have to fuckin’ pick it up?

20

Cool site. Thanks for ranting. I’d not’ve seen it otherwise.