My Grant Rant

I try not to think about Ideablob unless I absolutely have to (since I've filed complaints against them with various regulatory and consumer protection agencies). But I did yesterday when the CEO actually had the audacity to add me as a friend on my twitter feed. Hello?

My bad experience with them happened only a few months ago so it's no wonder I'm still feeling so down! As I'm sure you remember, I lost the $20K Ideablob grant when a greedy woman's notorious online forum (appropriately called "Something Awful") sabotaged my entry. I was in first place and likely would have won if she had played fairly. And when her "Something Awful" forum was discovered, this woman edited her posts to hide what she did. Hoping this was a "fluke" occurrence, I entered the grant competition and lost a second time when Ideablob favored TFA Alums with special bonus incentives. (They deny any special treatment was given, but here is evidence.) 

I'm usually a very peppy, positive, happy, upbeat person. No wonder I've been feeling depressed lately! I spent 3 months working on this grant full-time, and it was only 2 months ago. This really took a toll on me. I truly believed that Ideablob somehow did not realize (or think it through) that it was not fair to give an undisclosed $5K bonus award to TFA for TFA Alums only, and when they realized it they'd take responsibility for the error and make it up to the other finalists. I know, I know. Pretty naive. At least I take solace regarding that first woman: Jessica from Project Epiphany. If she has any conscious at all, every time she looks at her prize telescopes she is reminded of what she did to get them. She sent me an email after the voting ended saying she felt badly about what she'd done and was not going to accept the grant. My husband said it was a ploy and not to believe her. He was right. But the most hurtful part of ALL was how I never even got any sort of courtesy explanation from the CEO. I was completely invisible. No apology. Nothing. And now he's adding me as a friend on Twitter? Sorry, but no.