Computer King



  • I am a member of my high-school FIRST robotics team. I joined last year and it was the first year we actually designed a structure to run the team on. (I don't know what they were doing before I got there...)

    One member of the team did not do much. So, one of the mentors gave him something to do. He was to be the person to track where the laptops were. First thing he did was create a post on our forums (phpBB) about how he was now the "Computer King"

    "i have been put in charge of all the team computers and software. So if you need anything call me at xxx-xxxx."

    I'm not filtering out the phone number for posting here. I had to edit his post on the forums. At the time they were public. A concept he did not understand. He also posted it in the "Announcements" forum. Which was most definitely public. I moved it to the right place. (At this point he began to understand that I was moving his posts to the right place, not deleting them. He had reposted many things because he thought I was deleting them).

    He soon made a post about one of the laptops... "this computer that paul wants is going the slowest and acting the laggiest ive ever seen a coputer act before." Another team member suggesting that it might be a virus. A few days later he brought it to a meeting and I turned it on. I tried to use the mouse and noticed it didn't really work. Not that it was laggy. Laggy implies that if you tried to move it it'd get there -eventually-. It just plain didn't move. I said that the mouse was broken. Paul (the team programmer) said the same. I navigated around using keyboard shortcuts and everything worked fine. We tried a usb mouse and it worked. The Computer King was no more.

    After the robotics competitions (the fun stuff), he left. I saw him in school occasionally, I asked if he was going to go to the meeting on such and such date. He said no, saying he'd be back next year for the season. (Even though new policy requires a team member to check the site at least once a week. and that a different new policy will only let dedicated team members go to the competition. Hey, lodging and gas is costly). I also asked him why he didn't check the forums regularly (or at all). He replied, "They are too confusing." Me, being the webmaster, wondered about this. Usually the people that didn't understand how to use it were the older mentors. But they used it fine.. So how could a teenager not use a phpBB forum? I asked how I could make it better. "I don't know," he said, "I just don't get it." I could tell he just plain didn't want to check the forums. A good sign that he isn't ever going to be a good team member.

    This was all last year. The new school year has started up and he made a post about being able to track the computers.. He even said in the post that it was in the right forum. (it wasn't, so I moved it). He posted that he got a new email (still not gmail.. oh well..) and that he needed to know where the computers were. I decided to save him and the team some trouble and say that I was tracking them (doesn't matter that I didn't know where they all were. Chances of one falling into bad hands are slim to none.) About the same time I was talking to a friend of mine, he graduated last year and was no longer a member. When suddenly.. in the middle of the conversation.

    Him: GOD. STEVE IS SPAMMING PEOPLE'S EMAIL
    Me: what?
    Him: WTF.
    Me: what??
    Him: I'll forward.
    Him: AND HE'S CALLING ME JOHN.
    Me: Haha

    I get the forwarded email. Seems that he had sent an email to his his entire address book. I knew of few of the people. He even had two of his own emails in there. And his dad. And some guy named "Official XBOX Magizine." And that the name next to my friend's email wasn't his. (It was a real person, but of a completely different ethnicity. If you've even seen them you couldn't even mix them up)

    And that is the story of the Computer King. So far. 



  • if you programm,ed PERL you would have been home before any of this happened



  • So to paraphrase, there's some kid at your school who isn't very web savvy.

    WTF? That's like, just so stupid. I bet he can't even implement a quick sort from first principals in INTERCAL in under 2 minutes.

    Everyone should post comments here to completely belittle him. Then you can send him a link and make him feel hopeless so that he never tries to do anything with a computer again! Why bother helping the guy out, or spending a bit of time with the teenager to get him started on the right foot? Just make him feels so small that he eventually brings a rifle to school and shoots you and all your freinds.

    It's clearly the only way.



  • @Some Idiot said:

    So to paraphrase, there's some kid at your school who isn't very web savvy.

    WTF? That's like, just so stupid. I bet he can't even implement a quick sort from first principals in INTERCAL in under 2 minutes.

    Everyone should post comments here to completely belittle him. Then you can send him a link and make him feel hopeless so that he never tries to do anything with a computer again! Why bother helping the guy out, or spending a bit of time with the teenager to get him started on the right foot? Just make him feels so small that he eventually brings a rifle to school and shoots you and all your freinds.

    It's clearly the only way.

    We've tried that. I've offered to help him and I've explained to him that he's been posting in the wrong places. I'm not planning on showing him or anyone else on the team this. He just denies that he's made a simple mistake and continues to make them. I -try- to help him, don't get me wrong. But sometimes I just have to lay back and rub my forehead. In fact, I'm open to suggestions that will help me deal with him. What would you suggest to do?



  • [quote user="whitetiger0990"]We've tried that. I've offered to help him and I've explained to him that he's been posting in the wrong places. I'm not planning on showing him or anyone else on the team this. He just denies that he's made a simple mistake and continues to make them. I -try- to help him, don't get me wrong. But sometimes I just have to lay back and rub my forehead. In fact, I'm open to suggestions that will help me deal with him. What would you suggest to do?[/quote]

    Just keep telling him. Or give up. Either way is okay, it depends on your situation.

    If his poor performance is effecting your accademic career, keep telling him that, and include the history, documentation in submissions to your teachers. I've done group assignments where I got an A while others in the group failed because I handed in detailed explanations of why our project didn't work and ways to make it work while they handed in stuff that demonstrated that they didn't understand the course.

    If it's not effecting your career, don't worry about it - your probably better off not trying to help and it's up to you whether you laugh or get annoyed.

    Whatever you do, get used to this situation. The guy sounds like management material.

    - Then again, please disregard this and go with my first post. It spices up a slow news night.



  • Just remember, one day this guy will be your manager.

    -The Hermit

     



  • [quote user="The Hermit"]

    Just remember, one day this guy will be your manager.

    -The Hermit

    [/quote]

    The Hermit speaks prophecy.  Note the facts: he likes titles of power and authority.  he likes micro-managing unimportant details.  He has the desire to be part of computer or robotics-related projects, and enough technical knowledge to slip through an interview.

    Once he gets a job, in a computer field no doubt, they will quickly realize that he has no business touching code, and will push him into management.

    "The Real WTF" is that he will make more money than you, and decide your yearly raises ;-)  It might be in your best interest to start doing his homework.



  • [quote user="Some Idiot"]

    So to paraphrase, there's some kid at your school who isn't very web savvy.

    [/quote]

    Man, I wish I would have skipped ahead to this post a lot of reading ago.


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