Just waiting for instructions on where to send the Paypal funds. You can PM these instructions if you had rather do that. Glad for a chance to help out.
And thanks to you too, Lib.
I’ll need a snail-mail addy to send a check.
The mods are united in “good lord, let’s help any way we can!” (not surprisingly). Rico has some experience in setting these things up, so he can help Hal (or Shodan or whoever) get started with this.
So keep your checkbooks and credit cards at the ready – we’ll have something up and running soon.
twickster
who became a mod because she loves the community that we truly are
Ok, I’ve got everything all set up. You can either mail over a check, send money via your PayPal account or you can use a credit card via PayPal. Each Monday for the next few weeks I’ll total up everything that came in that week and send a check to Poly.
I’ve set up a quick-n-dirty page that gives all the relevant info, which you’ll find here. Thanks all!
Done at 9:45 AM, Saturday. (Just so you know which it was)
Great, Hal. Thanks! I paid by credit card (actually, debit card), but I upped it enough to cover the charges. Thanks for setting all this up.
Note to all: if you choose the pay by credit card route, you have to click the Update the Total button BEFORE you continue. Otherwise, it doesn’t understand that the amount you typed in is the amount you typed in, and you’ll have to start all over with name, address, cc number, and everthang.
Gracious and humble thanks to you and all the mods. I really didn’t know this was going to develop into a fund-raiser, or else I would have contacted you first. Y’all are good eggs.
Couple of things –
I don’t know if there is a “note” field or anything on the PayPal Donation page, but if so, it would be helpful if you could include your doper handle – I’m getting your real names, but I have no idea who’s who. If there isn’t a field like that, then I’d appreciate it if you could just send me a quick e-mail with your real name and handle.
Second, just in case anyone is scanning quickly through this thread and didn’t see the itty bitty link in my last post, let me make an obnoxious version:
There is such a field as I recall, but I left it blank. I’m PMing you with my real name and amount.
I’m gonna sticky this so people will be able to see it.
Lib – when you talk to Poly, if he’s recalcitrant about accepting money, pls. remind him that the sometimes the greatest kindness you can do for others is to let them help you.
Hal, put on your nice instruction page that people using PayPal should click the “Add extra instructions for seller” link on the final payment page to reveal a box in which they can put their username.
Thanks for heading this up!
My donation is on the way!
Who was first?
What’s the running total?
Thank you for handling this, Hal. If there’s some reason you need to know what donations came from whom, please let us know. Otherwise, I’d just as soon keep mine anonymous.
Done and done. Paypal makes this sort of thing easy.
Paypal sent. I think I added the right amount so that it comes to a round number after Paypal takes its cut.
I sent mine but Paypal is telling me to reset my password. Why?
You’ve expressed a wise point of view (about the greatest kindness). Thanks for the sticky!
As far as Poly accepting the money, I know that he will not refuse it. That’s because he knows that his own predicament is affecting the lives of others, including everyone from Skulldigger, the lady who takes her to and from work, the lady who took them in exchange for nothing more than Poly having talks with her 14-year-old son, people like me who are staying in communication with him, and even people like us — we Dopers — the community that he loves so much. He knows that the money will help alleviate those predicaments in the loves of others. His thoughts will be about us, not about himself.
He will be humble about it. He will be grateful. His eyes will tear up. (Skulldigger will jump up and down for joy!) And he will, when he has his DSL installed next week, express his own thanks in his own way. May your deity or fate bless you and the entire SDMB staff for helping the community to take up this cause and for joining it yourselves. I feel ashamed now, for certain posts I’ve made here and elsewhere in the past, but that’s of no concern now. We are all one in this effort.
Two minor suggestions:
Mods: I think that making this a sticky actually reduces the visibility of the thread. I don’t normally look at the stickies, because they never change. I saw this thread last night while it was still free-range, and I had to run a search for it today so that I could find it to donate.
Liberal: You might give a slightly more precise location - if there are Dopers in the area looking to get rid of old cars, they might give Polycarp a good deal, or even temporary loan of a car.
Knowing nothing about Paypal, I can still think of several possible reasons.
[ul]
[li]Their password rules might have changed (some places require alphanumeric “words”, minimum or maximum lengths, family-friendly constructions, etc. and they sometimes install these requirements long after your password was originally selected.)[/li][li]The payment gateway might suspect that your security has been compromised, or that an attempt has been make to compromise your security (I write payment gateways for a living, and so I know that’s a common one.)[/li][li]Some sites merely routinely remind users to change their passwords, which is always a good practice (although it’s a lot like saving documents frequently — we all often fall short.)[/li][/ul]
Beyond that, I got nothing.
I’m sure he wouldn’t mind that. I believe he has mentioned here and there from time to time that he lives near the Research Triangle area of North Carolina, which is comprised of Raleigh (North Carolina State University), Durham (Duke University), and Chapel Hill (The Univserity of North Carolina).
A link: