Rant - Brother In Law A Real Jerk

Azoth

Senior member
Jun 7, 2001
226
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Okay, don't get me wrong... I really like the guy, however lately he has turned into a few banned words, so I will refer to him as a total jerk...

A little background. About 4 weeks ago, my brother-in-law messaged me and asked if I would help him with a site that he was working on for a college. It was basically an information network, so I said, sure, I will help out. Mistake Number One - Never Ever Volunteer To Help, Always Be Busy

He came by, with his server, some layouts of how he wanted the site to look, and a brief overview of how he wanted the site to function. Basically, he described a typical phpnuke based site. He dumped the server here and basically told me to configure it. I am no linux guru by any means, and refused to even touch his server. I do not want to thrash his OS just because I tried to install Apache or MySQL. So I sat his server in the corner and set up a subdomain on a remote host to configure everything. I figured I could tell him what he needed to install and once that was done, I would move everything to his server.

I went ahead and downloaded PostNuke, and started configuring it, adding modules and the like, waiting for him to come by and help. Next thing I knew he decided to move half-way across the sate, so the whole site was dumped in my lap. I thought to blazes with it, I'll do him a favor. Well, no matter what was done to the site, he was not satisfied. It did not look like he had envisioned.

Well, last night, when I was adding another module, he decided to remotely tinker within the control panel and totally scrogged the MySQL database of which I did not yet have a backup, as I did not think I should worry about dumping it until I had all of the modules installed and working.

Needless to say, I got angry, because I had to start over yet again. He stated, "well just because the database is dead does not mean the source code is no good". Anyone who is familiar with the Nuke based portal systems, or any systems that use a database as a back-end know that they are almost entirely database dependant. I used the analogy of well, you just ripped your engine out of your car, does not mean the body is no good. Mistake Number Two - Never Let Anyone Who Is Inexperienced Into A Control Panel That Has Full Database Access

Well, I stewed all night, and this morning I decided, okay, there is still time to get something done, so I knocked out a quick site using includes that had the basic (and I do mean basic) functions that he wanted. He hopped online this evening and I showed him what I had been working on for him and he basically said it was not good enough for him. He said he could get an extension with the college and then I could set up and reconfigure the entire nuke site, at which point I basically told him where to shove the whole site. He seems to want a massive corporate level portal system for no money and with no development team.</SPAN>
Why is it that every time I try to help soneone out I get the short end of the stick? :|

I am still wondering if I should just finish the site the way he wants and be done with it, or wash my hands of the whole thing.
 

d33pt

Diamond Member
Jan 12, 2001
5,654
1
81
you've done way more than your share of work (zero).. just quit it..
 

BigPotato

Banned
Jun 3, 2002
714
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STOP NOW.

you're doing his homework for him, don't be taken advantage of...i'm surprised you're still doing it!!
 

kranky

Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
21,014
137
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He's being paid to develop the site, but you are doing all the work for free? That ain't right.
 

Azoth

Senior member
Jun 7, 2001
226
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Originally posted by: kranky
He's being paid to develop the site, but you are doing all the work for free? That ain't right.

I am not sure if he is being paid to develop it or not. He just recently graduated, and when he left was in chare of the Student Network, however, the old site is still there and I am still wondering why he has interest in the site once he has already graduated. It is my opinion that either he made bigh promises that he can not keep to his professors, or he is getting paid.
 

Stark

Diamond Member
Jun 16, 2000
7,735
0
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if he's doing this for his education, don't help. he's not learning.

if it's for a job, you need to get paid before you do any work. I made a few grand of an uncle who wanted a basic website with a shopping cart. If they don't want to pay, you don't have to waste your time helping them make money.
 

diskop

Golden Member
Jul 14, 2001
1,262
0
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So it looks like he 1) dumped the whole project on you, and 2) messed up the DB. I would say be a nice guy and just finish up this project asap, but don't help him in the future.
 

dribgnikcom

Banned
Feb 21, 2002
221
0
0
My philosophy:

You can never do someone a favour without getting kicked in the ass later. My experience, at least.
 

goodoptics

Platinum Member
Aug 18, 2000
2,652
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Originally posted by: dribgnikcom
My philosophy:

You can never do someone a favour without getting kicked in the ass later. My experience, at least.
True...How true...:frown: