Fundraisers approved by mods

[PunditLisa]

My SIL currently is battling brain cancer, so this particular charity is near and dear to my heart. And I know the poster’s heart is in the right place.

However. Are you seriously going to allow every poster who has a charity that is near and dear to his heart open a thread to appeal for support? This isn’t even for a family member who has passed, but rather his best friend’s mother.

I think that these appeals should be limited to very special circumstances (e.g. the deceased is a long-term Doper, or perhaps a family member of a Doper). Otherwise, it’ll be opening up a can of worms.

Charity appeal: in which you get to pay me to run away!

[Sevencl]

You can just ignore it if you’re not interested. It has “charity appeal” in the title. I mean, I don’t like it either. Especially dislike that apparently it’s okay to just bump a thread to get it more attention. But it’s an extremely easy to ignore annoyance.

[PunditLisa]

Of course it’s easy to ignore annoying posts. The reason I opened up this thread was to question the wisdom of allowing these types of posts in the first place. I mean if a Mod actually approved one poster’s request to solicit donations for a charity in honor of best friend’s mother, then it opens the door for everyone to post their pet project. And I think that that’s a bad precedence.

[Sevencl]

Well, the board has been around for over a decade and hasn’t snowballed into a vehicle for begging yet, so I don’t think it’s that huge a deal. And we talk about issues like cancer and suchlike, so is it reeeeeallly such a stretch to allow occasional fundraiser threads?

Also, the thread you linked to was posted by a doper who joined in 2003 and is looking for sponsorship for something he’s going to be doing for the charity, so it’d probably meet your criteria for inclusion anyway.

[bobot]

@PunditLisa

…Are you seriously going to allow every poster who has a charity that is near and dear to his heart open a thread to appeal for support? …
Charity appeal: in which you get to pay me to run away! - Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share - Straight Dope Message Board

I don’t think that’s the case. Sorry about your SIL, but why does this bother you?

[Maserschmidt]

According to the resident Gormless Weenie, circa 2004:

@Ed_Zotti

That’s why we’re making people ask for permission first. If we get inundated with requests, even if they’re all for worthy causes, we might decide we’re not going to allow any. For now, though, we don’t see that the occasional solicitation does any harm, and it may do some good.

[Guinastasia]

@Sevencl

Well, the board has been around for over a decade and hasn’t snowballed into a vehicle for begging yet, so I don’t think it’s that huge a deal. And we talk about issues like cancer and suchlike, so is it reeeeeallly such a stretch to allow occasional fundraiser threads?

Also, the thread you linked to was posted by a doper who joined in 2003 and is looking for sponsorship for something he’s going to be doing for the charity, so it’d probably meet your criteria for inclusion anyway.

Recently there was a huge issue when someone requested a donation for what turned out to be a frivolous reason, the mods approved it, the person requesting it actually had the money, people were pissed, multiple Pit threads, etc. People were already asking then to restrict this kind of thing in the future.

Why can’t they restrict this stuff to Marketplace?

Lisa, I’m so sorry to hear about SIL. I really, really hope everything works out.

[TubaDiva]

Sorry about your sister in law … if you’re doing something for her that you want to publicize, a benefit or anything like that, please let us know.

We approve most requests like this – anytime someone wants to do something for a legitimate worthy cause, who are we to oppose it?

You are not obligated to support it. You’re not even obligated to read it.

People are obligated to ask in advance for such requests. We find most of these requests reasonable and worthy. That’s not a bad thing.

[Lucky_13]

I wanted to ask permission to publicize a fundraiser for surgery for a cat born with no eyelids. I thought I’d ask on this board because there are so many Dopers who love cats and have at least one of their own. I just don’t know if I would offend people by asking. This is my first time asking for anything like this. Please help!

[Marley23]

@PunditLisa

Are you seriously going to allow every poster who has a charity that is near and dear to his heart open a thread to appeal for support? This isn’t even for a family member who has passed, but rather his best friend’s mother.

I can’t say I see the problem. Things can get ugly when posters ask the board for money, but there’s not much potential for abuse in a case like this.

[Absolute]

@Lucky_13

I wanted to ask permission to publicize a fundraiser for surgery for a cat born with no eyelids. I thought I’d ask on this board because there are so many Dopers who love cats and have at least one of their own. I just don’t know if I would offend people by asking. This is my first time asking for anything like this. Please help!

This being the SDMB, it is quite unlikely that such a thread would proceed as intended, even if it were approved by the administration.

[PunditLisa]

Fair enough. I’ll accept your decision and move on.

Thanks for the best wishes toward my SIL. Cancer truly does suck.

Honestly, my objection was not that about the merit of the cause, or about the sincerity of the poster. Far from it. It’s more that there are so MANY good causes, and they ALL have merit…

Anyway. I’ll shut up now.

[drewtwo99]

I frankly loved the “bunnies melting in the summer heat hat-in-hand begging for money because I don’t want to dip into my savings” thread.

I hope to see many more like that. This cat with no eyelids thingy sounds promising.

[Irishman]

@Sevencl

Especially dislike that apparently it’s okay to just bump a thread to get it more attention.

Per the rules, it is acceptable to make 1 contentless bump to get more attention. With which that thread complies.

[Skywatcher]

@drewtwo99

I frankly loved the “bunnies melting in the summer heat hat-in-hand begging for money because I don’t want to dip into my savings” thread.

That was a mistake. Apparently so was springing for your membership.

[The_Dord]

@Lute Skywatcher

That was a mistake. Apparently so was springing for your membership.

You paid for his membership? :dubious:

[GrandWino]

nm

[PlainJain]

@Sevencl

You can just ignore it if you’re not interested. It has “charity appeal” in the title. I mean, I don’t like it either. Especially dislike that apparently it’s okay to just bump a thread to get it more attention. But it’s an extremely easy to ignore annoyance.

<like>

[Skywatcher]

@The_Dord

You paid for his membership? :dubious:

Post #38 in this thread.

[Beastly_Rotter]

@Lucky_13

I wanted to ask permission to publicize a fundraiser for surgery for a cat born with no eyelids. I thought I’d ask on this board because there are so many Dopers who love cats and have at least one of their own. I just don’t know if I would offend people by asking. This is my first time asking for anything like this. Please help!

Only if we get to name it Don’t Blink.