I want to quit a long-term volunteer position *UPDATE* *UPDATE 2*

[BoomerD]

I've been webmaster of a support site for parents of certain disabled children for a good 10 years. There are some desperate families there, I've gotten to know a lot of them online and watched their children die.

The site founder is fanatical about their cause. Which is a good thing - except that the last couple of years the site has grown a lot. And the job of taking care of the site is mine alone. It's too much for me now.

The site founder has also become more of a spokesperson than a supportive caring fellow parent, and I'm getting ordered around a lot these days, and I don't like it.

I'm also the internet fund raiser, but I don't keep any of the money raised, and I'm expected to pay for all the tech expenses myself, as a donation. It's getting expensive. Besides my time (way too much), all the domain names, site hosting & design, security services, advertising accounts, verification, charity registration, etc are in my name, bills paid by me. The only thing that goes to the site founder is income.

Site founder has no concept that web sites take work and $$ to keep going.

I've considered asking someone to take over, or a few people to share the job, but after much thought I wouldn't want anyone to have to deal with the mess that this has become.

Any other volunteer web folks ever run into this? Thoughts anyone?

UPDATE - Called the guy, said I was quitting - offered to help with transition. He said "good riddance", I don't do what he wants. Now, what to do with the site?

What a dickhead...Who owns the site?

If it's you, just take it down. Offer to sell it to him...for an inflated price.

Otherwise, take any hardware/software that you have personally paid for with your unreimbursed money.
It that causes problems...tell him to piss off...or pay you for your time and expenses.

 

[JTsyo]

Called the guy, said I was quitting - offered to help with transition. He said "good riddance", I don't do what he wants. Now, what to do with the site?

Wow what an ass. If others aren't depending on the site just walk away and let him deal with everything.

 

[BeauJangles]

UPDATE - Called the guy, said I was quitting - offered to help with transition. He said "good riddance", I don't do what he wants. Now, what to do with the site?

Take the high road, it isn't worth stooping to his level.

Turn over the login info for the site, inform him that he needs to assume responsibilities for the billing from here on out, etc. Make sure you're firm about the fact that you're done and that you're providing zero support beyond transferring the essentials over.

 

[highland145]

Nice guy.

Not.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Take down the website and put up a page that says "Sorry this site is no longer functional because [his name and email address] took all the money and ran."

And link us the site

 

[sonicdrummer20]

Backup everything to NAS, let him know the system is going to drop on such and such a date unless ransom(read salary with benefits package) is paid. If he doesn't pay, then the website goes down and you take back what you paid for out of donations. If he does pay up then you get pay and job which you are already familiar with.

 

[Ns1]

What a dickhead...Who owns the site?

If it's you, just take it down. Offer to sell it to him...for an inflated price.

Otherwise, take any hardware/software that you have personally paid for with your unreimbursed money.
It that causes problems...tell him to piss off...or pay you for your time and expenses.

this

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

I've been webmaster of a support site for parents of certain disabled children for a good 10 years. There are some desperate families there, I've gotten to know a lot of them online and watched their children die.

The site founder is fanatical about their cause. Which is a good thing - except that the last couple of years the site has grown a lot. And the job of taking care of the site is mine alone. It's too much for me now.

The site founder has also become more of a spokesperson than a supportive caring fellow parent, and I'm getting ordered around a lot these days, and I don't like it.

I'm also the internet fund raiser, but I don't keep any of the money raised, and I'm expected to pay for all the tech expenses myself, as a donation. It's getting expensive. Besides my time (way too much), all the domain names, site hosting & design, security services, advertising accounts, verification, charity registration, etc are in my name, bills paid by me. The only thing that goes to the site founder is income.

Site founder has no concept that web sites take work and $$ to keep going.

I've considered asking someone to take over, or a few people to share the job, but after much thought I wouldn't want anyone to have to deal with the mess that this has become.

Any other volunteer web folks ever run into this? Thoughts anyone?

UPDATE - Called the guy, said I was quitting - offered to help with transition. He said "good riddance", I don't do what he wants. Now, what to do with the site?

You make a general announcement on each website saying you are resigning for personal reasons as of <such and such date>. Then, when that date arrives you do nothing. No updates, no renewing site hosting, no phone calls, no data transfer or back up, AND, MOST IMPORTANTLY, DO NOT POST AGAIN ON ANY OF THE SITES AFTER THAT DATE!.

 

[Jaepheth]

I doubt you can recoup lost wages that have already been "donated". If you purchased hardware/domains for the site to use and it's still in your name you can probably sell those (either to the foundation or to a third party) and recoup those costs.

I don't know what your financial situation is or how much the assets are worth, but it may be worth it to just make a final donation of all the relevant material. That way you keep a clear conscience, maintain the moral high ground, and get to walk away and be done with it quicker, and perhaps get a nice tax write-off.

 

[sourceninja]

I would deliver all materials to him on a disk or some other persistant form of media along with a letter detailing that your support ends on X date and he will need to secure hosting, transfer content, and take over all other responsibilities. Then cancel your hosting and walk away on X date.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Normally I'd say take the high road, but if the guy is going out of his way to be a jerk after all you've given him, then fuck that douchebag. Provided you own the site and the hardware, you've got the power. This guy needs to be taught a lesson that he can't treat people like shit. If he's as fanatical about this as you say, he'll pony up some dough when he realizes that you have him in a bind vis-a-vis ownership of the website and hardware that he needs to run it.

You say the hardware you bought were considered donations. Were you ever given receipts for in-kind donations? Did you ever have anything in writing verifying that you were supplying the hardware as a donation? If not, he can't claim ownership; it's all still yours.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

What a dickhead...Who owns the site?

If it's you, just take it down. Offer to sell it to him...for an inflated price.

Otherwise, take any hardware/software that you have personally paid for with your unreimbursed money.
It that causes problems...tell him to piss off...or pay you for your time and expenses.

:thumbsup:

 

[phoenix79]

What a douche...

UPDATE - Called the guy, said I was quitting - offered to help with transition. He said "good riddance", I don't do what he wants. Now, what to do with the site?

One word, PORN

 

[Miscthree]

One word, PORN

This sounds more like a stupid battle cry than a solution..wtf kind of suggestion is 'PORN'

 

[Spikesoldier]

Just walk away from it. you have no obligation to help this greedy douche, nor should you have any guilt on your conscience. i wouldnt try to repossess anything, and simply just forget about it.

charity takes many forms, but charity along with many other things can be used for both good and evil.

 

[Spikesoldier]

This sounds more like a stupid battle cry than a solution..wtf kind of suggestion is 'PORN'

deface the website with porno and insult visitors/customers

 

[mrjminer]

Normally I'd say take the high road, but if the guy is going out of his way to be a jerk after all you've given him, then fuck that douchebag. Provided you own the site and the hardware, you've got the power. This guy needs to be taught a lesson that he can't treat people like shit. If he's as fanatical about this as you say, he'll pony up some dough when he realizes that you have him in a bind vis-a-vis ownership of the website and hardware that he needs to run it.

You say the hardware you bought were considered donations. Were you ever given receipts for in-kind donations? Did you ever have anything in writing verifying that you were supplying the hardware as a donation? If not, he can't claim ownership; it's all still yours.

This.

Also, I'd change all the pages to a 404 and get the cached results removed from Google, too: http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=164734&from=92865&rd=1

 

[rasczak]

wow, that sucks balls. I'm in agreeance with the high ground approach. take the hardware to the highest tower you can find and let that shit drop to the ground while recording it for youtube research. send a copy of said video to owner with a nice worm embedded.

 

[Blackjack200]

Wow, I'm just amazed that people can be that callous. Well, at least you don't have to feel bad about walking away anymore.

 

[BoomerD]

A lot of the suggestions might "feel good" at the time, but could expose Princess Ida to legal problems...

That's about the last thing she needs...IANAL, so any advice I give should be "taken with a grain of salt," and in fact, consulting with a lawyer might be a good course of action for her as well.

 

[Miscthree]

Wow, I'm just amazed that people can be that callous. Well, at least you don't have to feel bad about walking away anymore.

Agreed, it's rare to find such a big asshole like that.

 

[rasczak]

Wow, I'm just amazed that people can be that callous. Well, at least you don't have to feel bad about walking away anymore.

Most of them are just jokes as per OT protocol. She sounds like she has a good head on her shoulders and a good heart and will most likely take the high ground.

edit*

derp. I thought you were talking about OT being callous.

 

[Theb]

This sounds more like a stupid battle cry than a solution..wtf kind of suggestion is 'PORN'

It doesn't matter what the problem is, porn is always a viable solution.

 

[halik]

UPDATE - Called the guy, said I was quitting - offered to help with transition. He said "good riddance", I don't do what he wants. Now, what to do with the site?

Ha,
email him the passwords and cancel all automated billing. Some people...

 

[Blackjack200]

Most of them are just jokes as per OT protocol. She sounds like she has a good head on her shoulders and a good heart and will most likely take the high ground.

edit*

derp. I thought you were talking about OT being callous.

Heh, actually, I thought that might happen. It's part of the reason I put the second sentence in there.