If someone sponsors a guest into membership, and the new member turns out to be a sock who is subsequently so identified and banned, does the sponsor (a) receive a refund (b) have an option to transfer his misplaced largesse to a more deserving cause or © take a bath for $14.95.
Just curious.
©. The generous sponsor loses his fifteen bucks, I’m afraid. Or so I am given to understand.
The message board moderating staff has NOTHING TO DO with the financial side of things. We don’t have access to any information like credit card numbers, real names, real addresses, etc. We couldn’t issue refunds or transfer funds if we wanted to.
It’s just the nature of giving, really. Sometimes, the bum takes your money and buys booze.
And sometimes the bum takes your money, buys booze, and then barfs all over your shoes.
I said I was sorry Twicks.
Unfortunately what Lynn says is true. We have no connection to the subscription side whatsoever except that administrators can look at subscriber expiration information.
The staff cannot issue refunds – even when we would like to.
For those of you who have been generous to someone who was perhaps not deserving, all we can say is we are truly sorry to see this – it’s especially bad when someone here does a good deed that is not properly appreciated. Bad’s on them and absolutely not on you, not in any way.
Oh, I should also mention that if you pay for someone’s membership and don’t mention it on the board – some of you have given anonymously – the staff has no way of determining that information after the fact.
Again, we cannot see subscriber information with these exceptions:
Only administrators can see this information.
We cannot access any other subscriber information.
We cannot make refunds.
We cannot transfer a subscription.
That’s rather sad because it’s only going to insure that people do not sponsor guests and possibly even registered posters up for renewal because you never know when someone is going to go and get themselves banned and your money is wasted. This means less paid subscriptions, less money for operation, less new posters, less activity … seems rather counter productive.
They were my favorite suede wingtips. 
For those blessed with a generous spirit I doubt this would be an issue.
If I were to pay for someone’s subscription they could turn out to be an asshole even if they’re not a sock or troll.
If I didn’t accept that risk I wouldn’t be paying for them.
Maybe there are some people who might be convinced by the promise of a refund if their beneficiary turns bad but I doubt it’s many.
Hope that’s not the case – one of the more beautiful things about this site is the kind hearts and generous spirit of our members.
Truth be told people abusing the system are very rare; more often than not people that get sponsored wind up being committed members of the community and sponsor other members in turn, which is also very cool.
It’s also possible that some socks, perhaps those who did not specifically request a sponsor, feel bad about having their now useless account paid for by somebody else. Sure, it’s only fifteen dollars; hell, most people have that covered in change they’ve tossed into a jar. Or, y’know, their baby’s piggy bank. Or maybe they’re really fat and so they keep their change in a, uhh… gai – never mind.
Anyway, if stealthy sponsoring is more important to someone than getting their money back, they’re probably SOL; if they don’t care so much about remaining anonymous, maybe they should just contact somebody (the sock herself, an admin or mod, the sdmb community over at livejournal…). Obviously nobody can be reimbursed if nobody else knows who they are.
You mean all those nights I’ve spent waiting by the door for TubaDiva to arrive and wearing nothing but a Tony the Tiger Halloween mask and a whipped cream bikini … were just … wasted?
Oh, goody! Something to tell my therapist about! I was worried I was getting boring…
I’ve always though you were GRRRRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAT !
If part of the goal of sponsorship is to provide cash for the board, this kind of situation can still be considered a positive on some level.
Oh, I think giving is a positive always, even when the bum buys booze.
Yeah, if the person ends up getting banned, think of it as a donation to the board, instead of a donation to the person.
