Mods/Admins, seriously stop it with the "Pls help, I need money" threads.

[not_what_you_d_expect]

I want to help when I can.

Unless someone makes a habit of it, I’m not going to suspect a scam from a doper who has been here for years. And so long as they are honest about the need, I have no problem with it. After the last incident, it must have been especially difficult to ask for some help here.

[Guinastasia]

@bucketybuck

Here a suggestion for you. Next time a poster requests permission to ask for money, tell them to submit a copy of their proposed OP via PM. All the info required should be there and the mods can make a yes/no judgement from there, job done. Sounds simple but fuck me I would almost bet some English pounds that when Lute Skywatcher posted his Bunny comforts requests that nobody had actually asked him what he wanted the money for.

I seem to recall that that used to be the rule – you had to have the mods permission before starting a solicitation thread.

[IvoryTowerDenizen]

You still do. Each of these threads in question indicated that they had permission.

I think what being suggested is not just asking permission but providing the actual OP, so it can be looked at.

[Skywatcher]

@Colibri

Basically he sent us the same information that was in his OP, saying he needed it to fix his AC. He left out a lot of the other relevant details. Once we found out the actual situation, the thread was closed. As Idle Thoughts acknowledged when he closed the thread, we should have examined it more thoroughly. (But “life or death levels of poverty” is not a requirement for us to allow a thread.)

AC and, eventually, heat for everyone and everything that resides within these walls. Some people chose to ignore that and focus on the rabbit but, as I said earlier, whatever.

[Loach]

@Lute Skywatcher

AC and, eventually, heat for everyone and everything that resides within these walls. Some people chose to ignore that and focus on the rabbit but, as I said earlier, whatever.

Do you really want to go though this again? As was pointed out no air conditioning is not the same as no heat. Plenty of us grew up with no air conditioning. And the argument that there is no heat and it will become a problem doesn’t hold much weight at the beginning of summer. It was clear you had a problem. It was also clear you were not to the point that begging was necessary. It really isn’t a big deal. But if you keep wanting to rehash it people will join in. Sure it’s bound to come up for a while when the subject comes up. But let it go and it will just become part of the background noise.

[Guinastasia]

@Lute Skywatcher

AC and, eventually, heat for everyone and everything that resides within these walls. Some people chose to ignore that and focus on the rabbit but, as I said earlier, whatever.

People also gave you tons of other suggestions, and ways to keep your pets cool, but you kept waving them away. THEN you blamed it on your depression. Sorry, no dice.

[aldiboronti]

Any misgivings I may have had about this have been entirely dispelled by TubaDiva’s post. I wouldn’t argue with a word of it. This is a community and that’s what community members do, help each other out in times of trouble. Sure, the generosity of members could be taken advantage of, but we have the admins and mods as our first line of defense and anyway Dopers are a pretty astute bunch and I fancy it wouldn’t be easy to pull the wool over their eyes for long.

[twickster]

People, Lute Skywalker is not the issue here, and neither are the details of that incident. Anyone who wants to rehash them should go to the Pit.

Consider this a moderator instruction, and ignore it at your own peril.

twickster, for the SDMB

[Grrr]

@Fenris

How about, at bare minimum, a modicum of judgement on which beg-a-thons to allow. I mean, granted, there’re bound to be some grey areas but it shouldn’t be too hard to distinguish between

A) I’m homeless, and posting from the public library while living in an abandoned refrigerator box. And I’ve been eating nothing the fine selection of products available from McDonald’s dumpsters
vs
B) My bunny-wunnies need air conditioning. And I don’t want to touch my savings account or retirement funds

or

A) My wife has cancer and needs an expensive experimental drug that has a 90% chance of curing her but the insurance company won’t cover it.
vs
B) I want to go to school to become a web-cartoonist because of the wide-open opportunities there.

or even

A) My computer broke and while I’m making ends meet, I really can’t afford a new one. Anyone able to help with an old computer?
vs
B) Hi, I’m a known mooch on the SDMB, and I made some dumbass decisions that really aren’t going to ruin my life, just make things uncomfortable for me for a while. Gimme money so I don’t have to worry about the consequences.

It’s really not hard to distinguish between real, honest emergencies and people who just want free stuff.

I mean, seriously. If the standard is “I don’t want to spend money that I have in savings (retirement or otherwise) to buy air-conditioning for my bunnie-wunnies” then I’d like to ask permission to start a “Get Fenris a shiny new iPad3, 64 gigs…oh, and a couple of 3 Tb Hdds. Oh, and a few rare books I’ve always wanted” thread.

Do I have permission to do so? Because, hey…I need these things and I’d rather spend Doper’s money than my own.

Thank you for this Fenris, I haven’t laughed so hard in as long damn time.

[Fenris]

@Shakes

Thank you for this Fenris, I haven’t laughed so hard in as long damn time.

You’re more than welcome. If my post amused you, please send money to the “Upgrade Fenris’s iPad*” fund.

All donations can be sent to my attorney

Jay Krackle,
Snap, Krackle & Pop Attorneys at Law
One Kellogg Square
P.O. Box 3599
Battle Creek, MI 49016-3599

Please send small, unmarked non-sequential bills.

The “Upgrade Fenris’s iPad fund” is a division of the Fenris Fund[sup]tm[/sup]

THE FENRIS FUND. Remember our motto: People helping people helping Fenris[sup]tm[/sup]

*I…did mention that I have an iPad already, right? But it’s a 1st Gen, it only has 32 gigs and, of course, tint-control.

[IvoryTowerDenizen]

Do you want a Banana Jr while you’re at it?

[splatterpunk]

@aldiboronti

…we have the admins and mods as our first line of defense…

Have you read any post in this thread besides Tuba’s? The two questionable threads mentioned here were both approved by admins and mods.

[billfish678]

@Fenris

THE FENRIS FUND. Remember our motto: People helping people helping Fenris[sup]tm[/sup]

Wait one minute. I thought the mailing address was for Kruger Industrial Smoothing, care of Koko Castansa.

[aldiboronti]

@splatterpunk

Have you read any post in this thread besides Tuba’s? The two questionable threads mentioned here were both approved by admins and mods.

Of course I have. You’ll notice that I spoke of the mods as being the first line of defense. Perhaps you missed that. It can sometimes be difficult to maintain one’s concentration through a whole post.

[splatterpunk]

@aldiboronti

Of course I have. You’ll notice that I spoke of the mods as being the first line of defense. Perhaps you missed that. It can sometimes be difficult to maintain one’s concentration through a whole post.

So how effective is this first line of defense if these questionable threads are approved by the administration? That’s what this entire thread is about. Not to mention that we have one admin stating that these requests are seriously vetted, and another who says, essentially, “oh, no we can’t do that…” This does not sound like a very formidable “line of defense” to me.

And I didn’t miss anything in your post. You’ll notice that I didn’t bother to respond to this little gem:

Dopers are a pretty astute bunch and I fancy it wouldn’t be easy to pull the wool over their eyes for long

umkay…

[Colibri]

@Guinastasia

I seem to recall that that used to be the rule – you had to have the mods permission before starting a solicitation thread.

You could also have determined that it is still a rule by reading the posts by moderators in this thread.

@IvoryTowerDenizen

You still do. Each of these threads in question indicated that they had permission.

I think what being suggested is not just asking permission but providing the actual OP, so it can be looked at.

As I said above, they generally do.

@splatterpunk

Have you read any post in this thread besides Tuba’s? The two questionable threads mentioned here were both approved by admins and mods.

Have you read my post, Marley’s posts, and Dex’s post? As we’ve repeatedly said, it’s up to you to determine whether you feel it’s something you want to donate to. You are free to ask questions of the requester. If you don’t think it’s worthy, then don’t donate.

[jackdavinci]

If anything, I think the worst result is that it will cause the mods extra work or headaches. If they want to take that on, bravo for them.

Personally I never give money unless I have zero expectations about the ultimate outcome. If that homeless guy is asking for food money but spends it on cough syrup, hey maybe that’s what he really needs in that moment. If someone misuses my charity, that’s on their karma.

So if you are worried about being scammed, just ignore those threads.

Personally I was benefitted by a donated membership while unemployed, and I’m very grateful that was possible.

[Skywatcher]

@Loach

Do you really want to go though this again? As was pointed out no air conditioning is not the same as no heat. Plenty of us grew up with no air conditioning. And the argument that there is no heat and it will become a problem doesn’t hold much weight at the beginning of summer. It was clear you had a problem. It was also clear you were not to the point that begging was necessary. It really isn’t a big deal. But if you keep wanting to rehash it people will join in. Sure it’s bound to come up for a while when the subject comes up. But let it go and it will just become part of the background noise.

Hell, I even joked about it in MPSIMS recently! I’d prefer people keep their facts straight, though, but that’s also my fault for not being clear in the first place.

I’ll shut up now.

[twickster]

@Lute Skywatcher

Hell, I even joked about it in MPSIMS recently! I’d prefer people keep their facts straight, though, but that’s also my fault for not being clear in the first place.

I’ll shut up now.

I strongly encourage you to, since my post upthread applies to you as well:

@twickster

People, Lute Skywalker is not the issue here, and neither are the details of that incident. Anyone who wants to rehash them should go to the Pit.

Consider this a moderator instruction, and ignore it at your own peril.

twickster, for the SDMB

[Colibri]

@Marley23

We do vet all threads of this type, and we’re trying that much hard to evaluate them carefully after the bunny thread. … We can’t do very much to prove the people asking for money are telling the truth, and for that reason and because it’s just good common sense, we’ve always encouraged people to think carefully about these situations and come to their own conclusions.

@C_K_Dexter_Haven

ON THE TOPIC: Sorry to disillusion y’all, but (generally speaking) mods don’t do any serious vetting of requests beyond superficial levels. We can’t – we don’t have the resources or the time to check whether someone is expressing a legitimate need or not. We don’t ask for bank statements, sworn affadavits, or a credit check. We just take the person pretty much at their word.

@splatterpunk

Not to mention that we have one admin stating that these requests are seriously vetted, and another who says, essentially, “oh, no we can’t do that…”

I’m not seeing a serious conflict between Marley’s and Dex’s statements. We do vet requests to the extent we can, but we can’t do any serious investigation beyond what people tell us.