The Microsoft Philippines Community Forums which I manage has become a big headache for me this past few weeks culminating in this week.
The forums started out as a small hobby type project of my colleague Andre Ngo for the MSDN Community in the Philippines. On that success, our CRMG Manager suggested that Microsoft Philippines have its own. After seeing the surprising (yes we were surprised) activity which followed Andre and I embarked on a project to merge the two forums.
Anyway, it was a free and open venue for people involved with Microsoft Philippines to come and share views, comments, suggestions, ideas, etc. What was great was that it wasn't stiff. People would come in and present opoosing views. I would almost never censor a post unless it was really inappropriate. The banter went from anywhere from configuring Windows Server, to Linux-Windows discussions, to even love (yes, love).
On my part, while never really being part of my job, I did my part on behalf of Microsoft Philippines to respond to some questions. In the beginning, there was Andre, Ritchie, and a few others who would post. When Andre changed roles and Ritchie became too busy, I was left to manage and respond in the forums, despite my attempts to get my colleagues involved. Not to blame them, we are all busy and some are shy when it comes to posting publicly. So I do my part every now and then.
Strictly speaking, I involve myself in two areas Events and Security which are my job functions in the company. In the beginning, I was mostly server since I was then the Server Product Manager.
Anyway... in January this year I put up a licensing section when I realized a lot of people had licensing concerns. It would have on occasion a few questions and averaged around 15-20 questions in the 8 months it existed.
Recently the BSA (Business Software Alliance) together with the NBI (National Bureau of Investigation) and the OMB (Optical Media Board) decided to launch an Anti-Piracy Campaign.
Well and good, but all of a sudden the site was inundated with posts on Licensing questions. Specifically... Internet Cafe Owners.
In the beginning I would patiently answer each and every question. And then I noticed that people would start posting trhe same questions over and over again. But I would still answer the questions. I realized that people started asking specific questions based on their specific situation. It was either... they were lazy to look through old posts... or it seems like it was not enough to read past questions and see what fit their situation, they wanted tailor-fit responses. But still, with patience growing thin I would still respond.
Then the posts became more abusive. "Please answer ASAP!" And more bizzare they were directing the questions to ME only. If other people would respond, like Bobbit, they would be told to shut up because they expected responsed from "Sir Jojo" exclusively. And when I failed to respond, I remember one post going "Buhay pa ba si Sir Jojo? Tanong tayo ng tanong, wala naman sumasagot." It is when I read that that I started to become so preturbed. It was a community site... it was for the community to interact... it wasn't an "Ask Jojo Site."
My last few posts on the matter evolved to "This has been answered below". And I would only respond to matters that indeed needed a unique response.
I realize that many of them are frustrated and they had no one to turn to... they were frustrated with resellers and distributors so they showed up in the Forums.
What they don't understand that in the background, we are doing everything humanly and inhumanly possible to make things easier for them. They complained, so my colleague moved heaven and earth to get a special offer for the these people approved... and yet they still complain.
It was stressing me out to no end. For one week, my colleagues tried to convince me to just stop. Friends on the Forums told me to stop posting. And so finally, for my own stress level... I stopped.
To make matters worse, my best friend tells me when I brought it up that his issues were bigger than mine so I should just stop complaining. That didn't help one bit and I found I had no one to turn to... to vent or just to get a consoling ear... buit that is the topic for another blog entry.
On a separate note... the whole stress blew out of proportion when an article came out on INQ7.NET (and later a plagerized article on Malaya) which quoted a post I made on the Bintana issue. I did that post to quiet down the issue and the press made it bigger and took my post out of context... talk about irresponsible journalism. I theorized that they were having a slow news day and needed something to write about so they invaded the sanctity of the Forums, designed for free-wheeling discussion. Now I have to watch what I say and how I say it because I never know when someone will take my posts and twist it around for their purposes again.
Someone did comment that it is a testament to the success and the popularity of the forums, which from its humble begginnings is gaining its credibility. While I agree, it does not change the fact that my stress this week has shot through the roof and proves a rather cynical view...
No matter how good your intentions and actions are... someone will always pull you down.