SitePoint was planning a Website Revenue kit that I was supposed to write. Obviously I also had my blog. I wasn't doing any of that for money, I do very well as most people know, but I thought it would be a nice opportunity, the kit that is. The blog never paid anything (atleast not yet), the kit would have been pay but in the grand scheme of my income (grossed 700k last year) it wasn't much.
I received an email this weekend stating they wished to have a conference call with me today. I assumed it was about the kit. In fact as recent as yesterday I was still emailing them back TOC revisions (despite the fact that apparently they'd already made this decision).
No, the call was about them not wanting me to write the kit, be a forum moderator, or blog for them anymore. Suddenly I had become a pariah.
The reason for this? They were "realigning their style" and "changing their focus." Who else was asked to leave? No one.
I'm not stupid, I can read between the lines, I did or said something either recently or in the past that they, or their new general manager, didn't like, and they decided to sever ties. Either that or they see my webmaster site as competition (I can't believe that, but you never know).
I was the most senior of the volunteer staff, and even have been a forum moderator longer than MMJ. The only person who has been a mod longer than me was Nicky. I visited this forum the first day it launched under a different name than it is now, and I registered within a couple months and have long been one of the top posters.
Always the forum staff has been managed by the admins and other forum staff. Never to my knowledge has SitePoint stepped in to promote or demote someone. Other than today.
After I got off the phone I was shocked, but I figured I should come and say my farewells. There is a private staff area you members do not know about and usually when someone leaves (and again usually it's their choice) they post there. Well, by the time I had gotten off the phone my access to that area of the forum had been removed.
I feel like the rug got pulled from under me and I am not happy about it. That is not how you say goodbye to someone who has put that much time in.
So... I think I shall launch a blog here, I really have seen now how blogs can be useful.
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