Fund raising post advice

June 5, 2006 10:08 PM

I would like to make a MeFi post about a young Malaysian blogger trying to raise funds for treatment for a life-threatening disease. Is this ok? How should I go about it?
posted by divabat to Etiquette/Policy at 10:08 PM (22 comments total)

MeFi doesn't usually react well to opinions, causes, or editorializing on the front page. If the site isn't interesting in its own right, this probably isn't the place for it.
posted by blue_beetle at 10:23 PM on June 5, 2006

Maybe if you made a post that discussed the disease and gave MeFi something really meaty to sink its teeth into and discuss, and then added a [more inside] tag with your first comment in thread being about the blogger's attempts to raise the money, that may possibly be cool.

Or you may get torn to shreds by the MeFi Goon Squad.
posted by Effigy2000 at 10:58 PM on June 5, 2006

Shreds! We want shreds!
posted by chrisroberts at 11:12 PM on June 5, 2006

... already it sounds like a scam to me. We've been burned before after all.
posted by nathan_teske at 11:48 PM on June 5, 2006

And you're basing your skepticism on what nathan_teske? That the poster is asking nicely for advice? That there is no link? Your detector system is a bit whack. You would be the type of parent to hit your child in anticipation of misbehaviour or the type of boss who criticizes a worker's performance before they carry out a task, eh?

I agree with it probably not being a good idea on its own without independently worthy content beyond the financial side of things. Build a (decent, worthy) post and stick it inside.
posted by peacay at 12:29 AM on June 6, 2006

To be honest, my first thought was of this young lady. (Not suggesting that divabat is being duped or anything, just that the words 'life-threatening disease' and 'blogger' do rather set off the alarm bells.)
posted by jack_mo at 1:51 AM on June 6, 2006

I figured someone would bring Kaycee up.

She exists - she's a friend of some of my good friends, and she's been widely covered in the local press too. She's also won a couple of awards and is active in some real-world stuff (mainly writing).

Hmm, I'd perhaps wait a bit then. Thanks.
posted by divabat at 1:55 AM on June 6, 2006

I instantly thought "scam" too, I'm afraid.
posted by AmbroseChapel at 2:41 AM on June 6, 2006

Buy an ad.
posted by Eideteker at 3:26 AM on June 6, 2006

I see a dozen people a week in my clinic whose pitiful stories would move a brave man to tears. The best part is that the ones in really sad shape generally don't have the resources (social, intellectual, financial, organizational) to get together a web page where they can cadge for money.

Be certain that if you're donating to individuals on the web, your wish to help could have been better served by helping people who had no way to build a web page.
posted by ikkyu2 at 4:43 AM on June 6, 2006

That's great and all, ikkyu2, but most of us don't have a clue how to go about doing that. Any practical advice on that score? I'm being serious.
posted by konolia at 4:46 AM on June 6, 2006

You would be the type of parent to hit your child in anticipation of misbehaviour

Whoa, what an apt comparison and sense of proportion we have here. When was the last time you hit your child, peacay? c'mon, fess up...

It's not really that crazy to be skeptical of fundraising announcements on the internet...
posted by funambulist at 4:51 AM on June 6, 2006

Fine. It must be a scam. That is of course the logical conclusion to drawer from divabat simply asking whether it's cool to post something about some unfortunate thieving person without us having further details.

While I'm sure ikkyu2 has oodles of sad stories and needy cases, it doesn't necessarily follow that just because someone has internet access they are richer or less deserving. It could be the situation for all we know (absolutely nothing) that the poor sod has noone, knows noone and the internet is their only recourse. Besides, we're all adults with free will and can each decide for ourselves where our charity ought to go.

So calling scam at this juncture is just ridiculous and fairly insulting to divabat as well.

funambulist I'm sure you're a smart person and can find your way to a dictionary and look up analogy. I gave 2 in a sarcastic manner because preemptory deriding of something we know almost zero about is crazy.

And I have no kids. I have to hit those of others. It's quite soothing actually.
posted by peacay at 5:29 AM on June 6, 2006

I doubt it's a scam and I agree with peacay that a person isn't automatically less deserving because they have internet access, but...

she's a friend of some of my good friends

...it sounds kind of self-linkish. With the best of intentions, obviously, and it may not actually break the rules, but basically the reason you want to post this is not because you think this story is the most compelling thing you've seen on the web in many a moon but because she's a friend of a friend, so you're involved in the case. That's fine for you and your friends, but not so great for MetaFilter. If we all started trying to drum up support for our friends in need... well, you see where I'm going with this.

Again, I'm not blaming divabat or calling for torches (though we haven't had a good public burning in a while), just saying I don't think it would be a good post.
posted by languagehat at 5:49 AM on June 6, 2006

I don't think it would make a good post either, but it kills me to say this because I genuinely feel for divabat's friend. If it were me who was poor and seriously ill I'd want a link on MeFi's frontpage more than anything because it could set off a round in the usual link aggregator sites that would neatly solve my problem.

Also, the fact that diva was polite enough to ask first positively screams "NOTASCAM."
posted by Ryvar at 5:57 AM on June 6, 2006

Divabat why not make an interesting post about said disease; possibly how much it costs to cure in other countries where health care is more accessable and then link maybe to how one person is trying to get the funds to get cured. Maybe in other parts of the world there are support groups, special funding etc. If it's interesting enough it will fly here. There will always be the metaheavies and the snark brigade. Just ignore them or tell them to get a life if you are brave enough. Most things can be made interesting with a bit of thought. Just take a look at half the crap that gets posted here! - thats my opinion. Others find youtube the most wonderful thing evar. morans. And who is Cory Doctorow and who cares etc. etc.
posted by adamvasco at 6:18 AM on June 6, 2006

Konolia: Two great ways to help people in these situations is to donate to a carefully-chosen local (or even not local) charity, or Modest Needs, which is one of my favorite charities for reaching out to individuals.
posted by frykitty at 8:39 AM on June 6, 2006

Fine. It must be a scam. That is of course the logical conclusion

nah, peacay, obviously we don't know anything about it and I for one don't assume it must be a scam. I just reacted to your sarcasm because I felt like defending the right to be skeptical, at least without more details, it's not unjustified and doesn't mean one is a misanthropic insensitive paranoid bastard who thinks everyone asking for funds on the internet must be a thieving scammer. No reason to take things to extremes, really.

Plus to be honest there's also what languagehat said (If we all started trying to drum up support for our friends in need...), only I couldn't articulate it as neatly.

I don't even really have a problem with the idea of posting it, but why not an askme post to solicit advice on how to best go about the fundraising? Maybe there is some foundation for this disease that could be contacted?
posted by funambulist at 12:34 PM on June 6, 2006

Is this ok? How should I go about it?
Why do you all have to make things so complicated? The simple answers are "no" and "you shouldn't". If you don't know why, you need to pay more attention.
posted by dg at 5:16 PM on June 6, 2006

why not an askme post to solicit advice on how to best go about the fundraising? Maybe there is some foundation for this disease that could be contacted?

That's an idea! Thank you.

and ok, point taken.
posted by divabat at 5:24 PM on June 6, 2006

Any practical advice on that score?

Well, yeah. Most diseases have a society that exists to fund-raise on their behalf. That helps patients with the disease. For example, if you are moved deeply and wish to help someone with lung disease, donate to the American Lung Association. Et cetera.
posted by ikkyu2 at 8:44 PM on June 6, 2006

I say post it! The resulting thread would be great for some laughs.
posted by mischief at 9:13 PM on June 6, 2006