Cautionary Tales
These are fictitious stories about Free Geeks gone bad. They are based on real life scenarios with names changed to protect the innocent, guilty, naive, and unlucky.
They're here to make a point, so details have been simplified to add clarity. They are short pithy tales based on real experience and the reasonable worries of folks that have been there and done that. Please feel free to add as necessary.
Free Geek Lilliput
Gulliver Swift was up late one night drinking and surfing the web. He saw this site about a really cool organization he wanted to start. All buzzed on Jolt Cola, he dutifully read everything and filled out the application form. Man was he excited!
A few weeks later his application was approved, and he set out to actually start organizing. But by then it seemed like too much work. He couldn't find volunteers to do anything. There was a lot of research that needed doing, a lot of paperwork to be filed with the state. And he had no idea where he could rent a space (or get one donated for free).
Pretty soon, he was a Free Geek in name only. He got interested in other things. The web site he set up about it grew stale. Once in a while he'd get an email from someone who was interested, but by then it seemed like a lost cause.
Free Geek Emerald City
Dorothy, Em and Henry Gale got together and decided to start a Free Geek. Dorothy and Em were busy and able to come to meetings. They even could kick in a bit of cash to get things going. Fortunately, Henry had a lot of time on his hands to contribute, so things seemed to start off well.
Unfortunately, Henry couldn't get along with any of the volunteers. He'd yell at them. One time he even kicked a hole in the wall. Well, reasoned Em and Dorothy, we can't do this without him. We don't have the time.
Soon Free Geek Emerald City had a bad reputation around town. Failing to attract volunteers it failed in a short amount of time.
Free Geek Bree or was it Bree Free Geek?
where infighting caused a split
Free Geek Neverland
where they got so off task that the dragged the whole organization down and cost zillions of dollars and layoffs and whatnot