Do people that solely do things for money/profit piss you off?

[bliss_eternal]

I found this really cool website a few years ago. It was a wonderful resource and I admired the woman that created it, as she was filling a void that existed. While I wasn't a site 'regular' or a 'member' of her 'special area' I appreciated that it was there.

Over time, I noticed more frequently the woman complained that 'no one was supporting her site.' I donated, as I thought it was a great resource, and appreciated the time and trouble she put into it. I even wrote her personally to tell her so. In time, the tone of her site notes grew angrier and more hostile. She said for all the hits she got, barely anyone supported her site, and she was fed up--blah, blah. She went on to say she just wasn't making any money with the site and was going to take it off the web if more people didn't support it. That turned me off a bit, so I went away for a long time. When I returned to it, it was worse. She was chastising people that visited her site, saying no one supported her, she didn't make near the profit she should, blah, blah...she was going to take it off the web.

People offered to buy the site from her, or take it over after she left. She refused, then went on to complain about how 'burnt out' she was from giving so much and getting no money from it. :wtf: All this from someone who initially, proudly touted that they were proud to be a resource for an almost ignored population.

Something that seemed to come from such a good place originally, took a very dark turn.

Sure, she could have just got burned out, I suppose. But the kind of site it was and the population it served, I couldn't imagine ANYONE turning a profit from it, or even wanting to. If it wasn't just out of love of the subject I have no idea why she even bothered.

It also made me so sad that all the people that derived inspiration (as I once did) from her site, were just left w/out the resource because they weren't deemed worthy or 'profitable.' When I'm done with being sad, I just get pissed! Because she apparently didn't really give a shit to begin with and did it for the money. That's fine I guess to try to make some money from something that you care about, but it still pisses me off...(btw--I don't subscribe to the starve for your art club--I believe people CAN make money from things they care about.)

Why is it some people can ONLY find value in something if there is profit involved? Does this piss you off, too?

Thanks for letting me rant--please share on this.

:hi:

[KitchenWitch]

1. I hate that attitude

What site was it (PM me if you are not comfortable broadcasting).

[bliss_eternal]

3. Me too--

I can tell you because the site is gone now. It was called Blue Diamond Dance, a site for adult beginning dance students. People that just LOVED ballet and dance and for one reason or another had to give up their dream, or never pursued the dream for one reason or another. Her site offered encouragement to people (and a little support system)that were returning to or trying to dance as adults.

There were boards for a while, but that was the first thing the bitter thing took away. She offered technique newsletters that people could buy (of course), and even lists of reviews of dance schools and studios that catered to the adult dance student.

She offered pages that featured stories from people about their strides in the dance world as adults. There were stories about women that had raised their kids and returned to dance and performed in the corps of a Christmas production of Nutcracker--just amazing, wonderful stories. It was great, and so inspirational.

It was hard for me to go and even enjoy that stuff though, once she showed her true colors. :grr: :mad: :grr: Just seems kind of selfish and mean.

I'd feel really shitty if I'd spent all this time on DU bonding, only to come here one day to see a post about how we all suck because we have all these new members and hardly any donors, and they were going to shut it all down because it's too much work and not enough money. kwim?

[KitchenWitch]

4. Oh man, that sucks

I knew of a site, will not mention the name, that posted a lot of Paint Shop Pro tutorials, and she also "sold" a CD of all of her tutorials. Many of the images she used in her tutorials were not hers, and she got called on copyright infringement and she really got ugly.

She was informed that she could no longer sell the CD, and she just went ballistic.

[bliss_eternal]

6. Are you serious?

That's crazy! She knew it wasn't hers... What did she expect? Was she going off on visitors to her site like this chick was?

[KitchenWitch]

7. Pretty much

Her webhost ended up dropping her, then she found another webhost and basically spent some of her venom slamming the previous webhost.

[bliss_eternal]

10. Pitiful--

couldn't move on or learn from her mistake. So sad.

[Jamastiene]

2. It might be different if they are trying to break even, but

to have a profit only attitude and to get nasty with visitors is no way to attract the donations that the person wanted. Something about more bees with honey or something. Maybe with her attitude, she shouldn't be profiting from the web site.

[bliss_eternal]

5. Exactly!!!

I felt she might have thrived at some point, or even been introduced to other avenues to bring money to the site had she had a better attitude, and not been all pissy toward people.

Would DU keep growing if the guys here constantly posted notices on the site talking about how much they resent the time they spend on it, and about how they don't make a dime, etc.?

What about all the bloggers that just do it because they passionately believe in getting the word out? Are they just going to shut down or start talkin' shit to visitors that don't 'donate' when they visit?

[OrwellwasRight]

8. It definitely pisses me off.

People need to be able to enjoy life without obsessing about money. I also get irritated when all people can talk about is how they pay so much in taxes (but it is only because they have so much property and income than everybody else).

If taxes keep you from enjoying what you have, don't have it.

If you can't enjoy a job or pastime because you are making sufficient money, find something that you do enjoy.

I would have gotten burnt about dealing with the woman you describe and not thought much of her except that she was money-grubbing.

[bliss_eternal]

12. Pretty much the impression I was left with--

even though I do understand that it may have been costing her more than it was allowing her to break even. But her tone and attitude was so unprofessional and nasty... I don't know.

I was a waitress, that got fired. While it was over bullshit, ultimately I had to face the fact that I hated what I did and that had to carry over into my working attitude. In time, I took responsibility for that and chose not to go back to that kind of work, because ultimately I disliked more about it than I liked.

[Omphaloskepsis]

9. Well, I have had a few sites that cost $10 per month at first..

That turned into a few hundred per month. I never came close to making shit off ads and fund raisers.

Also, wait until you get a flood of email bitching about every little thing about a service you are providing at a loss. It gets really easy to pull the plug. The shitstorm at a forum with a thousand members after you lose 6 hours of the database is enough to never want to deal with the shit ever again. Keeping a big site up is actually really hard work.

[bliss_eternal]

11. I can understand that--

and it's important to consider the other side of the issue, too. I've never run a website, between what you've shared and what I've read about it, I'm sure it can get pricey. She had a webstore as part of it. I've read that can be very expensive, especially when you aren't selling things on a regular basis. Being somewhat of a 'niche' item, she probably didn't sell much all that frequently...

[hfojvt]

13. speaking as a former business owner

who was never in it for the money. I did it for seven years before I gave it up. How much was I supposed to do for free? After a while the free-loading town started to wear on me. I had a used bookstore and almost every day it seemed the first person in my store would want to sell me their books. But where is the quid pro quo? They were apparently buying books, but they had not bought any from me. So where was I supposed to get the money to buy from them? Suddenly they know where my store is when they want to sell me something? Other people would give compliments, which was nice, but I cannot buy my groceries with compliments. Spending forty five hours of my week, six days a week, and working another job seven days a week, it would be nice to get a little compensation for my time and effort.

I still help alot of people, okay maybe not alot, but I seek out people to help, and never charge for that. It would be great to get paid to do that, but I do not really have the resources for it.

I gave up reading Herbert and Krugman on-line when the NYTimes started charging for the privilege. Fortunately there are still plenty of free things to do.

[bliss_eternal]

14. That sucks--

from that perspective, I totally understand why you felt the need to close your business. I'm sorry that people tried to take advantage of your kindness in your business. :hug:

Yes, as a business owner you were/are completely entitled to be compensated for your time and effort. Ultimately, a business (I'm guessing here) goes into business to be profitable.

On the flip side, I thought the woman I spoke of started the site to be a resource. Sure maybe it was also for some selfish reasons in the beginning--she probably wanted to talk to and be supported by others with similar interests.

Who can really say what happened to create the shift, where she became (or seemed to) become more concerned with the 'profit' side of things. I'm not sure. Those that tried to inquire, were pretty much shot down for taking the time... Oh well.