FeedTicker
Gee!I just posted this story from my past to this Slashdot article:
When I was still in college I was doing contracting work for a small company that sold things over the web. I'm not going to name names even though they don't exist any more.
I did all the coding work and a friend of mine did the design. They would pay us willy-nilly, $200 here, $200 there, on no set plan. This was all done on a handshake agreement with the understanding that the payments would eventually add up to a fee we had settled on in the beginning. Not a smart move but hey, I was young.
So eight or nine months after the work had been completed I still hadn't seen the last bit of money they owed me. Repeated attempts to call and try to settle the matter got me nowhere. So seeing how I they didn't have a backup of the source and I still had the password to the site I nuked it; didn't leave a trace.
They got a hold of me really quick after that. I didn't tell them I did it but that I'd restore the site if I got the cash. After I had the check in my hand I told them it was me. The guy I originally contracted with actually threatened to break my legs although I didn't let that scare me. If they beat me up they'd have some nice jail time on their hands and they still wouldn't have a site. The way I saw it, no money, no site.
In retrospect I probably shouldn't have let it get that far. Web development should never lead to threats of bodily harm. I should have warned them that I would do it if I didn't get the rest of my money. I remember I was afraid at the time that they'd just change the password, I'd have no control over the situation any more, and I'd never see another cent. There was a lot of things I probably should have done to get the rest of my money without resorting to extortion.
The lesson learned is to always have a solid contract before any work gets completed.