I shall keep this generic because I don’t want to embarrass anyone…
We are complex animals, us human beings. We’re capable of being simple at times, but the naked truth is that we have more levels of – at times conflicting – personality that sometimes even our best friends don’t know us.
And that’s part of the ‘being human’ thing, that’s part of what makes us tick.
Just when you think you know that person at work, you discover some totally left-field thing about them that forces you to re-evaluate your entire perspective.
It may be a good re-evaluation, it may be not good. My point is that an unexpected piece of information is revealed and you’re suddenly looking at a person who isn’t quite the person you thought it was.
But it doesn’t only happen with people at work, does it? It can happen with anyone, anywhere, any time and, sometimes, for the most unexpected reason.
You might think you know everything about me but…
You may or may not know this, but I host websites for people. I do this as well as most of the commercial webhosting concerns – and better than some!
My hosting is inexpensive, ultra reliable, provides a 24/7 helpdesk (which, frankly, is so seldom used it’s actually gratifying) and has annual downtime which, for the current year, is being measured in units of 1 second.
And, because I’m occasionally (as Ian so elegantly put it in a recent email to me) soft, I will take a view on what my hosting service costs people.
Some months ago I took on a young guy – he’s in his 20’s – as a hosting ‘customer’.
He produces a daily conversation-based podcast and, due to a variety of reasons, he had run in to a number of issues with the company who hosted his podcast website.
There were unpaid bills and, as corporates do when bills are outstanding, they took his website down. This had the effect of removing him – and his podcast – from the internet.
Because I liked what he did, I offered to take him on.
So I bought a new domain name for him, I set him up with a hosted website, I gave him unlimited webspace, I gave him unlimited bandwidth transfer and I gave him an FTP account and a bunch of email addresses.
The key word here is ‘gave’; I have not charged him for any of these things, it never was my intention to charge him for any of these things and that’s an understanding that we both have.
Had.
Last night I visited his website, just to see how he was doing. While I was there I noticed that on every single page he has a funding widget.
The text in this funding widget says:
Running Costs:
It takes $1,000 per month to run (name of his podcast/website). If you enjoy what we do, please think about supporting us.
Hang on one cotton picking moment!
He produces a conversation-based podcast. What that means is he sits in front of a microphone and he talks.
He has no costs.
He has no Performing Rights Society licence to buy, he sits in the attic of his parents’ house and all of his content is self-produced.
Anyone who listens to his podcast knows these facts.
And for the grand sum of no pounds and no pence he has a free domain name, unlimited webspace, unlimited bandwidth, a bunch of email addresses and an FTP account.
But he doesn’t tell his website visitors or his podcast listeners that he has these things for free.
Instead of telling them this fact, he has put up a funding widget that says ‘it takes $1,000 per month to run’ his project.
And yet he has, on a number of occasions, told his listeners that my organisation hosts his show.
Therefore, by clear implication (in my head at least), he’s telling people that his hosting costs are $1,000 per month – not free as they actually are.
Be honest folks.
Am I justified to feel a sense of outrage at what he’s done?
Do you think I have overstepped the mark by writing to him, telling him that my organisation is going to raise his hosting costs from £0.00p to $1,000/month to keep in line with his funding widget?
Do you think I should continue providing a service for nothing while he tells people that his product costs $1,000/month to run?
Come on, be honest.
Because even now, 12 hours after discovering his funding widget, I am still fuming about this.
You’re going to have to talk me down.
You’re going to have to talk me down.
Not from this corner – I’d be fuming too.
Could be a mistake, just ask him to remove it. He’s young and therefore probably doesn’t things through to their fullest.
I’d be bloody annoyed as well. He might be young but unless he’s completely stupid he can work out that if he pays nothing towards hosting his blog but then claims it costs a grand, this is what is technically known as ‘a lie’ and is blatantly trying to make a few quid profit off hte back of someone else’s graft. If he’d asked first and you’d agreed then fine, but he didn’t so he’s taking the piss.
I remember you telling me when you helped this guy out. To say it is a kick in the teeth is an understatement to say the least, especially given your unhinging generosity to help him out when he was otherwise dead in the water.
I’m torn between telling you to have a quiet word with him, asking him to take down the funding widget and replace it with a ‘this service is provided FoC by Brennig Jones, thank you so much’ or sending him a backdated invoice at $1,000 per month since it all went live.
I’d hope a quiet word would suffice, he might just not have thought through the consequences of his actions.
As I said on Twitter, I’d call his bluff on it. I’d contact him and say that as he’s taking an income from the site, he can now pay his costs and send him an invoice for continued use of the service.
He’ll either pay it or he’ll bluster about how he isn’t taking an income, in which case he can remove the sponsor blurb.
I’d pay to see his face when you do it 🙂
I think the actual term I used was “floppy” and it was written inside a hand-made Valentine’s card I left under your pillow…but that’s another blog post entirely….
Anyhoo.
Yes, do something for free and getting shafted. A very familiar tale which has turned me into the hard-bitten money whore that I am nowadays. No, wait, that’s wrong I’m still a big
floppysofty and do loads for nowt. He’s a cheeky git who needs it highlighting to him that his pleas for cash are inappropriate, although I understand that really he’s just trying to get himself some extra cash. In a way it’s obtaining money by deception and anyone that has paid him on the basis that they think he’s struggling against burgeoning fees might be rightly indignant – to the point of demanding their money back.His statement also cheapens those of others who really ARE paying huge fees just to toil at a labour of love with little reward. [looks towards Brennig]
Some time ago when I was looking for some hosting, I checked this guy’s site out as I knew he was hosted by Brennig Jones Industries.
But when I saw how much you charged him each month, I looked elsewhere, thinking “Bugger that! Jones charges way too much. What a shyster”.
Of course, none of that is true.
But it could have been.
He’s taken advantage of your good character and your kindness. He may even have slurred your good name into the bargain.
Send the boys round.
I think you have been taken advantage of, and if I was in the same place, I’d be a tad hacked off.
If you have a previous understanding in place, it’s going to be tricky to raise backdated invoices.
I agree with Perpetual, he should have a section of his front page singing your praises with a large contact button.
I would also suggest to him that it was now time for the arrangement to change, and that you will be sending out monthly invoices.
Unless the widget is an honest mistake, he has taken advantage of you, and is being deceptive with his prospective donors.
Make a quick inquiry, and if he dissembles, crush him (his website, actually) like a grape.
Just a thought – they way I interpreted it was slightly different. I assumed that the running costs were an attempt for him to turn the podcast into a career, by garnering a wage from it.
But, on the other hand, I can see how it could be interpreted that the running costs of £1000 are attributed to you. I would let him keep the funding widget, but do as Gumpher says and get him to say ‘website hosted for free by Brennig Jones Corp.”
Oooof. What a cunt.
Thanks for your thoughts, folks. I appreciated what everyone had to say. I’m amazed I slept last night, I was so furious.
24 hours have passed since I discovered the situation/left a terse comment on his website. There has been no response as yet. I’m still absolutely livid but not, at least, in such a rage. We shall see what transpires, but I do note that the funding widget has gone – for now at least.