The way the website design 'market' has been the last few years, the jobs are few and far between, unless you are a whiz kid who can knock up a website overnight, so sometimes the bills pile up and you take on jobs you really know you shouldn't.
I offer much cheaper services than the 'big guns', because I can't do all the gadgetry and bells and whistles that they can, so why charge exhorbitant rates? I don't charge that much because I can't write my own scripts, and while I'm familiar with databases and can pull some php scripts apart, I'm nowhere near as experienced as those who do it as a full time job. Web Design is a hobby for me. I learn as I go, and have fun making sites because I love to do it. Getting a little pocket money for it is just a bonus, but I do charge according to the time it takes to put up a quality site, and some can take many more hours/days/weeks than others. No two websites are identical in the time it takes to put them together.
One of the downfalls of offering cheaper services, is that every now and then, someone comes along and they set your inner alarm bells ringing. They came to you because you're different, AND cheap, and they want the world for a dollar. Every bone in your body tells you not to take them on, but you have bills to pay, so you do the work.. to the best of your ability anyway. And even though you tell them that you don't think you can do everything they want, they decide to 'hire' you regardless, and that's how this warning came to be.
A few years back, a woman came to me, sent me a URL and said she wanted her site tidied up. On first glance, I thought the site was a bit weird, a bit 'out there' and not a topic that I knew anything about (nor wanted to), so I decided not to do the work. That was the end of it, until the same woman came back a few months later (possibly a year) with another site. I knew the name was familiar, but I couldn't place it, and the site was completely different from her other one.. seemed like a worthy cause, plus I needed some cash to help with some massive bills, so I decided to take it on. (Nov 2003)
I logged into the site with the password she gave me, downloaded the files, and set about prettying them up (and removing all the Front Page stuff which was a massive effort). It took me a LOT of time to fix the site, but something weird was going on behind the scenes..
She had wanted me to do the site because I was in Australia, and because of that, I was "safe", and the American government wouldn't be able to stop me publishing due to the international laws or some such nonsence. In all the fuss, I completely missed the point that she was Canadian (although she hides that fact), and she was going all out to discredit anything American. But that's just the beginning.
A guy had sent me an email, and warned me about the woman I was doing the site for. He said it was his actual website, and that she had registered his domain name, stolen the contents from him and locked him out with a password. He also said she was a bit of a nutcase and to be very careful of her. I brushed it off as bad sportsmanship and even helped her flush him out on a couple of email lists. She told me he had been sending viruses and had tried to hack her computer (which effectively caused me to not trust what he said). She had been dragging me into clandestine msn chats with 'secret' associates, and when she started talking about the FBI and people being watched, my alarm bells went off once again, but I kept working on her site and had it looking pretty good in a couple of weeks.
Because the site was such a good cause, I copied it and put it up on another domain (one that I had registered and hosted) because I thought that more people should see all the effort she had gone to to collect articles from all around the internet. She was thrilled when she saw what I had done, and couldn't thank me enough, even sending out emails to her list, saying what a wonderful person I was and how grateful she was. This site was a freebie!
She then wanted another type of site, but the same style.. outing the government for wronging the public. She registered the domain name, I made the layout and put up a working site, ready for her to add the contents to. Once again, the glowing email to her list, saying how fabulous I was and "isn't this great, etc etc". She never did add anything to that site. And it was the same for the next 2 sites as well. I got the site up and running, and she left it as it was.. with all the default text that I had put there (the standard lorem ipsum space fillers and a couple of dozen articles she had sent me in email) and nothing more was done.
So far we have 5 sites in total, one a freebie, and one more in the works which I was waiting for content for (a site for another woman, paid for by my client), and all in perfect working order, although she had not entered any new content into any of them. She was sending me dozens of emails daily, with articles which she wanted to have added to her sites. I had added a good portion of the articles, but then I told her that my job was done, and it wasn't up to me to add the content.. I had written her an extensive "how to" which showed her how to login, how to add content, how to edit her DNS and work in her registrar control panel.. the lot. She continued to send the emails. And then the phone calls started..
Because I had given her my mobile phone number, to be used in case of a website emergency, she thought it was ok to call me and chat about what she wanted on her websites, extra gadgets she wanted, more and more work for me to do, as well as more clandestine weirdness and mutterings of FBI surveillance. She was looking to make the sites viewable by paid subscription, and thought she could make some good cash on the side. I told her I could try, but couldn't promise anything. I didn't have time to take her calls 3 times per day, but I did, and took notes on the extra work she wanted done, and I never once asked her for more money to pay for all this extra work I was doing.
When I received a package on my doorstep, it shocked me a bit. She had sent me a doll (I still don't know why), and shortly after, she sent me a pewter hair slide which was beautiful, and apparently very expensive. I hadn't asked for either, and wondered where this was going. The emails and the phone calls continued, and she still hadn't touched her websites. She was leaving comments in my online journal, writing weird stuff that made no sense to me, joining a few communities that I was a member of, and befriending my online 'friends'. I knew she was a bit strange, and maybe a little lonely, so I tolerated her for a few months.
She had been buying cheapie items on the Australian e-bay, and wanted to have them sent to my house so she wouldn't have to pay extra for postage to her country. I trusted her, so I gave her my real name and address. She was going to have the e-bayers send them to me, and I would forward them on to her and it would cost a few dollars less, but when I kept getting notices from the post office, of packages to pay for and collect (which I didn't have the cash for), I told her to stop sending them. She wasn't happy about it.
One day, after she phoned me and I told her I was too busy, she got antsy with me. She pushed a button and I was in a mood, so I told her to leave me alone, to stop calling, to stop emailing, to just generally go away. Her websites were done. My work was done. I was done with her crap. She did go away. The phone calls stopped, the emails stopped, and that was the last I heard from her for a while. I knew she had been visiting my sites because counters and logs showed me her IP address, but I thought nothing of it.
A few months later (Sep 8, 2004), I got an email from an old friend, and someone who runs an email list that I moderate on. He had been sent countless emails from her, about me, and she was trying to get him to kick me off his list because I had "stolen her websites". She had even phoned his house! He had laughed in her face, and his wife had written a formal email to the list, stating that this woman was not welcome, slandering her list members, and not to be taken seriously. It left me scratching my head and wondering what the hell was going on. She was lurking on the list under an alias, and watching..
There was also a strange email from the owner of a large pagan website, which I had added my website details to in the links section. She had gone out of her way to tell the site owner a whole lot of stuff about me, and that I should be removed from her website links! That site owner didn't take her seriously either.
I was also told by someone I designed a site for, that she had contacted them through their site (which is linked from mine in my portfolio) and tried to convince them that I was a thief and a liar. They had also told her to go away and not contact them again.
And so it was quiet.. for a short while anyway.
I got a notice from my ISP that I had been spamming people with my personal email account (which I haven't used since this whole mess began). They had received a complaint from someone, and when I read her email address to the tech guy, he coughed and said "you didn't hear it from me ok".
I also got a paypal dispute email (26 Jun. 2005), saying that I had ripped her off for 6 months of web hosting, and she was demanding a refund. Even though the sites were still on my server, and she hadn't changed the DNS for all of them, or told me she was moving the sites, I gave her a refund for the last month of hosting, and paypal was happy with that. She had moved only one of the sites to a new server. I deleted the others off my server after the webhosting payment ceased. She has still not changed the DNS after more than 18 months. One of the domains was snatched up by another registrar after she let it lapse, and I haven't checked what's going on with the others.
And it was quiet again.
A while later, I got a message from someone on a community I frequent (Jan 2006), saying that someone was calling me a thief, saying I had stolen money from her and stolen her websites. I wondered WTF was going on, hadn't heard of this person before, but it didn't take long to put two and two together and realise it was her under yet another alias. (I should take time to thank the 2 people who helped me out by passing along messages and emails) She had been watching me for months.. Watching who I spoke to, who I argued with (and enlisting their help against me), which sites I visited (via a reviews page on my profile), and taking notes along the way. She had gone to great trouble to search archive.org and find old posts in communities, websites etc, then twisting my words to try and make me look bad. Once I realised it was her, I called her out on it, and she disappeared again, for about 6 months.
Could her offline status have been because I sent a formal complaint to her ISP, along with screenshots, showing that she had been harassing and slandering me online? She says it's because "I hacked her computer" *rolls eyes*
I came across her rantings on another community not so long ago, and there is another that she uses under one of her many aliases. She's now telling people that she was forced offline because I hacked her computer.. even though she's been online and active all along. It's not so hard to signup to a new internet provider.
I've had emails from 'people' (read: her) complaining of things I've supposedly done online. I've had nasty messages left in my guestbook, my gallery, and bad reviews left on my community profile. I've had several people pass on information that she has told them, about me, which is complete and utter lies. She's even gone to the trouble of tracking down artists who's work I have featured on one of my pages, and telling them that I've stolen their work (even though I got their permission first!)
Regardless of her being a pain in my arse, and chasing me around all over the net, I could still shutdown at the end of the day and forget she ever existed. That was until I got a visit to my house recently. Two men in black suits, with very official looking ID cards came to my door. They had also gone to a place where I worked part-time (and haven't been for 2 years.). It seems a woman (once again, from the exact same area as she. Another co-incidence?) had made a complaint that I had been aiding and/or hanging out with terrorists online, and they thought it serious enough, in this day and age, to pay me a visit. After I showed them screenshots and printouts of some of her online antics, they apologised for the inconvenince, and left.. but not before I gave them her address and asked them to pass it along to the proper authorities. The fact that she took it offline makes me wonder what her next move will be. I knew she was messed up enough to create a fantasy image of me as the ultimate bad guy, but I didn't think she was messed up enough to lie to a Government Security office.
She has recently resurfaced, and tells people that I hacked her computer and that only files to do with me were deleted (but it's ok because she thought this might happen and mirrored her computer just in time!) The messages to people continue, and the slanderous comments are getting more and more outrageous. Will this ever end? I can only hope that she finds herself a hobby which isn't me, and just goes away. Until that happens, all I can do is warn other designers of the possible dangers of dealing with someone online. If you don't know them, or your instincts tell you to avoid them, please, just don't go there. You might end up with the same nutcase.
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Retorts to her accusations:
1: She says I lost her websites when my hard-drive crashed over 2 years ago.
Her websites were online at the time, and could not have been affected by anything that happened on my computer. My offline files were destroyed, but I got a full backup of her sites by FTP the day I got my new hard-drive. The only part of her website lost forever was my photoshop layered copies of her site template graphics, but the finished graphics were online and out of harms reach. I still have old backups of her sites on CD, saved in a regular backup of my server.
2: She says I hacked her computer
If you compare me to some of my friends, I'm a computer genius, but in reality I'm just your average computer user, who surfs around, chats a bit, and makes some pretty pictures. I don't have the knowledge OR inclination to hack someone elses computer. Even if I did, I'm not that stupid because I know that you leave a fingerprint everywhere you go online. In her profile, it shows that she is a member of several hacker groups, while I'm a member of none. She's fishing for a bite because she knows that hackers scare people.
3: She says I stole her websites
She copied one of her sites to a new server (or had someone do it for her), then cancelled her webhosting payments. Forgive me for not wanting to pay for someones websites out of my own pocket when I can barely afford to pay for my own. The fact that she did NOT change her DNS has nothing to do with me. It was her responsibility to backup her websites, add content to them, keep them maintained. Not mine. I charge extra for site maintenance, and it is not my job to add your content to your site unless you ask and pay for it.
4: She says that her sites were never online because they can't be found through archive.org
Actually, I've found at least 3 of them (and they still work except the graphics, which won't work on archive.org because they were put into the pages via a stylesheet), but she requested that her sites be password protected, so that she could allow access to a select few only. She had also wanted to make the sites viewable via paid subscription, and that was another reason they were locked to the public, AND as a result of that, to search engine spiders as well.
5: She says I sent her a virus
That's a good one.. considering I use a PC and she uses a MAC. Even if I could send one out through my overly zealous anti-virus program, it wouldn't harm her computer anyway! She also told me that the initial guy who warned me about her had sent her a virus. Seems to be the one thing that freaks people out online, and they listen to it. I know I did when she told me about him.. even if it was her way of getting me to not trust him (and effectively stop us from comparing notes about her)
6: She says she has some weird visited sites thing going, and has even posted a screenshot of it.
To make her initial website, I used a script called Post-Nuke. It allows novice users to add content to their site with the click of a button, like a blog in some ways. It also has a template feature (which is what the green and purple screenshot is ->spidean.net), and there is a tool which shows the sites your visitors have come from (ie: 50 google.com - means that 50 people have come to your site from google). This is what her 'incriminating' screenshot is, and nothing more.
7: The latest installment.. I made a website for Hells Angels Supporters.
OMG.. yes I did. Does that make me a bad person because I don't judge people by the motorcycles they ride, or the people they associate with? That one is just laughable. Seriously..
8: I know that she will see this page, and probably keep a copy of it, dated and signed to show to her 'associates' and those she has convinced. She has used my name and my website name on many occasions, and there is much more to add to this story, but doing so would show you exactly who she is. The one big difference is that even with all the trouble she has tried to cause me, I won't sink down to her level and use her name.
9: (added 1/9/06). After receiving a letter about her 'allegations' to yet another Australian government agency (this time her actions are literally taking food out of my childrens mouths), I have decided to seek legal advice. The complete lies she has posted on her page, linking once again to my personal website, has all been noted and will be passed along to the proper authorities.
10: July 2007 - After the developers of a community website refused to help me by removing her whole page of lies about me unless I removed an invisible thumb down on her, I deleted my 4 year old account. She has since signed up under yet another alias, and this time she's pretending to be a family woman from Kansas. She doesn't live in that country, she doesn't have a family, and that sure as hell isn't a photo of her on her page. She's spewing forth the same diatribe of impeachment crap as before, and she can rot happily to herself this time, as I'm out of that place for good.
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A note to you:
Your slanderous comments about me, your continual lies and fantasies, and your absurd paranoia have all gone beyond the limit of sanity. For you to dedicate so much of your precious time trying to destroy me in every avenue only serves to show that you are a twisted bitter woman, with way too much time on your hands and a very creative imagination.
If I had the means and knowledge to go about sending computer viruses and hacking into your computer, I would have made it stand up and slap you right in the face. You can lie about 'computer problems', but internet logs tell a different story. It's been over 2 years. Get a grip and take a reality pill.
Your continued attempts to trash me (online AND offline) won't work, and from this day forward, you no longer exist.
