While not directly related to the current situation it has made me curious.
Is there a process in place to ensure that these requests are given some kind of review before being approved? Does a person’s chances of getting approval depend on the moderator they draw when sending in a request?
If they’re going to be allowed at all one of two things really should be happening:
Moderators follow a procedure to verify information and validate true need.
Allow or even encourage posters to share information to validate the information themselves.
Given the environment here I expect that 1. will be the preferred option but I would like some confirmation that this is being done before another request for funds is allowed to be posted.
We were lucky that Lute was at least honest. Had he just offered a few less details or lied in response to some of the questions asked of him he could have taken a fair amount of cash from people who are, while charitable, less financially stable than he is himself.
Without some kind of information from the moderators that they’ve verified a story and confirmed that there is indeed an actual emergency and some trust in the process they’re following to do so I think that future requests are going to suffer a lower assistance rate due to the lack of trust.
While collecting funds for those in need is not the purpose of the site I think that these should be addressed now before another situation puts us back into the position of feeling like we’re attacking someone at a low point just to get the information necessary to feel comfortable we’re not being ripped off.
Requests for financial help are discussed by the entire moderating staff, so no, it doesn’t depend on which mod you ask. We do have to rely on what people tell us to some extent: we can’t get financial statements from people. We do our best to examine the requests and we discuss what we’re being asked to do. This may not be much comfort to people who feel they were misled, but we always emphasize that we can’t make promises about the causes people are being asked to contribute to. We reject ones that don’t seem worthwhile or on the level, but we can’t guarantee that any cause is worthwhile and people have to make their own judgments about whether they want to contribute their own money.
i would suggest that a mod post a note in threads soliciting money, signatures, votes, polls and surveys and whatever. the mod should state it actually was approved.
people state often that the solicitation was approved. often it can be people who have just came to this list for that purpose and are otherwise unknown to the list.
any solicitation from members, new or old, should have a note from a mod.
We already require that people ask us for approval for threads like this - if they don’t get it, the thread is usually shut down - and we always tell them to mention that they have our approval. I don’t see what is accomplished by an additional post confirming our approval.
the person could have read the rules and know permission is needed. then they might just lie about it. this is much more likely for a just new poster coming to this list as part of their net wide solicitation.
Then the thread would be locked and the OP would be warned or banned. I’ve never seen anybody lie about having permission for a thread like this, and requests for help or money usually don’t come from newbies.
Yeah, how would a mod know that someone lied if no one reports it (ie, they lie, so no one report its because they don’t know that they are lying)? A mod note would ensure that the poster isn’t lying, and that there is no need to report it.
(of course, if I had my way these threads wouldn’t be allowed anyway, but that’s just me)
I think what johnpost is saying is that I could start a thread with a sob story and a paypal link and say “I asked for permission and this thread was approved by the mods.” I might have a nice little chunk of change before anyone notices. Of course, if I want to stick around I might prefer to do this with a sock that I build up a nice reputation with first.
I like the suggestion that the OP states that it was approved, but no one donates until a mod stops by and officially blesses it. 'Til then, everyone can use that time to ask any questions they might have or just make general chit chat.
They’d see the thread when they read the board. This is kind of an unlikely circumstance for a couple of different reasons and I’m not sure it’s what the OP is interested in.
You mods should get together and get your stories straight. Some of you are saying that you don’t see everything and that people need to report things, and some of you are saying you see everything. I’m being flippant, but I’m sure that TPTB can see the advantage of having those threads marked “officially” rather than simply have the poster say they got permission. It certainly can’t hurt.
If you really think that the circumstance will never happen (see bolded area above), you are naive.
I don’t see any inconsistency in what Marley is saying. We’re all usually aware when a request for an appeal comes in. When we read the boards and see a thread title that sounds like someone wanting support for something which was not discussed, we’ll see that, open the thread and read. No, we can’t and don’t read every thread on the boards and do very much rely on reports when people see something amiss in individual post(s), but a thread title is a little more obvious.
Even so, there is a chance that something will slip through, and even if it doesn’t how can a verification hurt? As I facetiously said above, if it were up to me there wouldn’t be any of those threads in the first place, but if they are allowed, then there should be some sort of “stamp of approval” on the post themselves.
As an addendum to the above: It could be cool if the marketplace forum was expanded a bit. At the moment, it’s just people selling random stuff. That’s fine and all, but we have some inventors on the board and I think it would be a good forum to raise money in. Also, If the board isolates the money raising thing to the marketplace forum, charity cases could go there, too.