Dear Monks,

I'm a regular Perl Monk but I'm posting anonymously. Recently I left a startup I was working for to move to a large software company. The startup was paying me less than I needed to live on, and over several months before I left I was faced with a family crisis that required my full time. During my other hours I kept doing work for the startup, at reduced pay. So when the large software company gave me an offer and I was almost broke, it was an easy decision.

My boss the CTO had left a month before me due to differences with the CEO. So when I left there were no more server side resources. Everyone asked me, so if something goes bad we can call you right? I responded yes, and I intended to help them since I was leaving at a bad time.

So something broke, and I got an email requesting help. I responded saying sure no problem, but can you please give me written authorization to logon to the server? I've read lots of stories about people getting burned just like this, and I thought protecting myself was a wise move. I didn't hear back until a week later with a response that the issue was resolved.

Today I got home and received an email saying something broke again (turns out the drive filled up from backups) and they were having problems starting some services. I wrote back suggesting possible solutions, and mentioned that I would be happy to help if authorization was given to me to logon. Now I don't distrust my former coworkers, but I've been threatened with a law suit once before when I left a startup because I wouldn't come into the office to help out, and my friend who is a professional sysadmin reiterated several times that I should never ever login to someone elses server without written permission.

I feel like I made the right decisions, but also know people are probably saying "This guy is just trying to screw us. Why doesn't he just help us out?". What would you do in this situation? Where do you draw the line between upholding professional ethics, your own safety, and helping people out?

Considered: radiantmatrix: Off-topic
Unconsidered: g0n - enough keep votes (8/7/1)