In ,
CatNipped typed:
I don't know if I wrote about this here but...

I've been webmaster for Gulf Coast Mensa for the last 10 years. I've
won 20 "National Mensa" awards for the work I did on it (all done by
hand, over thousands of hours, of web Architecture (applications on
the site were database-driven). Someone on the "Board of Directors"
decided they wanted a "hipper", more "with it" site that uses all the
new social software. I tried to tell them that they were opening
themselves up to a HUGE security breach, but they wouldn't listen,
they wanted on of the little cookie cutter like sites that other
group (who didn't have anybody who "knows" web architecture like I
do).
They asked for volunteers for the job of webmaster, and one little
techie-noids on the board jumped all over that. She outright STOLE an
entire site from North Texas Mensa - here, look at the two:

http://www.gcmensa.org/
http://northtexasmensa.org/ntm/index.php

She still has the NTM webmasters name still on pages of the site
(like the "MoQuotes). I had no idea this was going on.

I learned that I had been "let go" when I read about it in the paper
newsletter that goes to members. I was, understandable, angry at the
way this was done (my feelings were very hurt). I told them that
this was a really crappy way to treat someone who had dedicated so
much time and devotion to the site for ten years (every 6 months or
so the Board gives out "Service Awards" to different people who did
this or that, but I never once got one - I didn't mind or complain, I
was a 'stay-at-home" member, disliking the meetings and parties). I
wrote a note in one of the group's email distribution list and I
guess quite a few people agreed with me that this was a disgraceful
way to treat me.
Then, just a few moments ago I opened up a package from the new
webmaster, MaDiana. It was a "service award" worded:

"Certificate of Eternal Gratitude
Presented to
Lori Crews
for
outstanding dedication,
service and commitment
as
Gulf Coast Mensa Web Master
by
Arturo Huerta ~ LocSec
and the Gulf Coast Mensa Board of Directors
Thursday, January 7, 2010 ~ Houston, Texas

Along with this they sent a $25 Visa Gift Card. You can look at the
card and tell it's been hanging around in someone's pocket since
Christmas and someone just said, "here toss this in too".

What do you think, should I send the whole package back, or keep it
for a while (like DH suggested) to decided the best way to react to
this blatant insult?

You are angry and insulted, and you have every right to be.

But really, what did you expect? Not trying to be a bitch here ( I hope you
know me well enough to realise that I speak my mind, but I do so in a spirit
of love not hate) but given the situation as you have already spelled out,
what did you expect out of complaining to the people who usurped you? *they*
*don't* *care* how you feel or what you think, otherwise they wouldn't have
done what they did in the first place. It sucks, and it sucks hard, but if
htey are the sort of people who will just kick you out of a position you've
held for 10 years and not even have the decency to tell you in person, then
you'll not get any better treatment. You don't want to be with that crowd
any more, and think of this as the big flashing neon light that says 'It is
time to move on'.

What I'd do in the same situation:

Consider it a gnat bite on the butt of life: irritating at the time, but so
not worthy of a second thought that you could still remember it in a year's
time. Chuck the certificate into the recycling, (keep the frame for
somethign else if it was framed), and if you really can't stand the thought
of spending that 'dirty' $25 voucher on yourself or your loved ones, give it
to a charity. After that, laugh at their petty little shenanigans, and get
on with being a happy, loved, well adjusted person who brushed the whole
incident off like a gnat bite on the butt. If anyone asks, you can't
remember, because it was that unimportant to you and only you only focus on
the *significant* people and events in your life, not hte merely irritating
nuisances.

And, if you miss the socialising, go and join some other sort of social
scene - there'd be alot of clubs & societies out there that have a similar
demographic to MENSA but aren't based on test score but rather, some other
common interest.(eg, Toastmaster's, Bridge, roleplaying/board/war gamers,
SCA, even things like Rotary, Lions, Apex etc etc). Heck, go and do some
sort of course at your local university. All sorts of things to do, and no
need to bother with MENSA ever again.

Yowie
(My experience iwth MENSA was alot like Mark's - a bunch of elitist snobs
who thougth that because they could get above a particular score on a
standardised test that they were somehow better & more deserving than
everyone else. Glad your experience (well, up until recently) was different)