5 ms·

GoFundMe Gone Wild

120 points by lujim 11y ago

scottmcdot 11y ago
I'm sometimes a bit sceptical giving money to friends to do fund raising 'challenges' [0] that are in some beautiful part of Australia and require them to walk a reasonable 20km in a day. I would hope that they cover their own costs (flying, registration fee, accommodation, etc.) and any donations they receive go to the charity/cause. [0] http://www.humacharitychallenge.com/Charity-Challenge/Australia/The-Reach-Foundation/Reach-Larapinta-Trail-Challenge?overrideCountry=AUS http://www.humacharitychallenge.com/Charity-Challenge/Austra...
- bradleyjg 11y ago
  A lot of times they aren't the greatest charities in the world either (in terms of outcomes). I'm pretty resentful of these requests--you pick your charity and let me pick mine. They are nowhere near as bad as what the article is talking about though, I've never gotten requests like that.
- goodJobWalrus 11y ago
  Yeah, I personally don't like this bundling of fun activities and charity. If you want to run a marathon, run a marathon. If you want to give to charities, just give. Don't make a pretence of charity to do what you find fun.
  - dazc 11y ago
    > "If you want to run a marathon, run a marathon. If you want to give to charities, just give." I agree with the sentiment although lots of people run marathons and raise money for a charity as a motivational aid. I don't see anything wrong with this. However, if someone wants to do a parachute jump, cycle the Great Wall of China, etc, then yes, they should just shut up and fund it themselves.
  - morgante 11y ago
    Or, if you want to do good while having fun (why not?), you should pay for the expenses. I'd be much more willing to support these sorts of events if the participants underwrote the costs themselves.
- thoth 11y ago
  >I'm sometimes a bit sceptical giving money to friends I'm a runner/biker and I know dozens of people that do these charity events. I even went to an informational session for one, since I was thinking about it... the way these charity events generally work, at least here in U.S. (not sure about that particular event in Australia and the fundraising requirement it imposes) is that the participant is required to raise a minimum of 3X the amount of the expenses for doing the event. So for example, if the hotel/airfare, event registration, and other misc training costs (generally this is water/snacks for group training on the weekends, e.g. the classic long run on a Sat morning for marathon training) are roughly $1000, then the participant will be asked to raise $4000. And of that $4000, $1000 goes to letting them do the event and $3000 goes to the charity. That was for the one I went to, not to name it specifically however it was a marathon in a foreign country. So airfare and hotel and the pasta meal the night before. A local event won't need so much diverted so the fundraising burden will be much lower. I've done local charity events which only required $250 (no fancy travel or lodging), so rather than bug all my friends I just wrote a check and submitted a matching form from my employer! So on the one hand, if your goal is to donate to the charity, you are better off giving money directly. But that's true of most fundraising situations as well. On the other hand, if you view the expense as the cost of getting donors, maybe that is reasonable. A mildly obscure disease might not have a better way of attracting donations other than aligning with a sports event. I'm just speculating here since the specifics probably vary hugely and I have zero experience on the race director side of the registration table or with the fundraising side of a charity. ;) Basically, I can understand your skepticism - your donation money is more effectively used directly to the charity or on people doing local events. If the goal event involves travel and hotels, then a chunk of the money raised by the participant goes towards them doing the event.
- gaius 11y ago
  ... Or skydiving or some other fun activity, with any spare leftovers going to the charity. Better to donate directly.
- jordache 11y ago
  right on.. I'll expand the question to this - Why does someone "run" for charity? What not just ask on behalf of the charity? Why is the endurance activity inherently tied to the charitable aspect?
  - detaro 11y ago
    Advertising and motivation I guess. You get to promote yourself (or in case of a group from an organization) as doing "good things", and putting it out there forces you to go through with it, because otherwise you look bad to all the people you told about it.
striking 11y ago
If a close friend's experiencing some incredibly tough times, and he sets his goal to $125 or something reasonable like that, I'd have no issue with pitching in. I'm a totally broke college student, but that's the truth. However, this article really hits the mark. Begging your friends and family or the internet community at large is actually the last thing you should think of doing. And if you're asking for thousands of dollars, you'd better be buying food for a homeless shelter or something. Something that benefits, I don't know, more than a single person?
- rbritton 11y ago
  It's the digital version of panhandling, and it's unfortunate that the few on there who have (in my opinion) a legitimate need are so overshadowed by those begging for a new camera or to go on a trip.
  - themartorana 11y ago
    I assume that much like people can disconnect vitriolic statements from reality when sitting behind a computer screen, so too can that screen disconnect people from the shame one would usually feel begging on the street for money. I don't understand it, but people can be completely honest in their disconnect from shame when asking for money for completely unnecessary things. The people asking for help with extremely difficult times, sicknesses, etc., those people that legitimately need help, probably feel enough shame for everyone.
    - vdaniuk 11y ago
      I object to the implicit assumption that shame is a virtue.
  - cerrelio 11y ago
    I call it online busking. I live in SF and I'll often see fairly well dressed people sparechanging on corners. One guy, in his late 20s, would be out near O'Farrell and Mason listening to his iPod everyday as I went in for work. I never got his story, but he probably wasn't living on the streets - just "working" there. I don't really have a problem with that, or people busking online. But before you plug in those credit card digits, you should ask yourself: "If I met this person on the street and they asked me to fund their {pet's surgery, vacation, novel}, would I do it?" I had my "a-ha" moment for crowdfunding about 8 years ago. A friend-of-a-friend who was a promoter/bartender, whom I had just met, asked me to fund his Jewish contemporary art show. He seemed very passionate about getting it going. The total sum required was a few thousand dollars, so it seemed like an honest pitch. He friended me on Facebook and sent me the link to Kickstater. Later that night I was about to make a donation, but I stopped. "I don't even know his guy. Why am I giving him $50?" And that's when I linked the two behaviors. Just because there's a nicely designed UI between you and the beggar doesn't make it something other than begging. I call it "busking" as opposed to "begging" because they are actually performing - they're (both the website and the person; they work in tandem) trying to make you believe they're not a beggar.
chillwaves 11y ago
Not sure the point of this article. Of course there are more or less deserving, more or less craven. It's a platform for anyone to use, that's the whole point. Don't want to give? Then don't.
- itgoon 11y ago
  Right. I don't see much difference between this and people who have asked for money over the years. Some have been totally worthwhile, others have been straight up fraud. Same thing, on the internet. Someone should patent it.
- HillRat 11y ago
  As far as I can tell, the key takeaway is that the NYT has no trouble shaming the poor and middle classes for not having the support network the well-off can mobilize. I know executives who I wouldn't trust to run a bake sale without FTC oversight, but every time they fail there's another c-suite job waiting for them somewhere. Their panhandling is just done out of sight, over a good Malbec at the Capital Club.
  - n0us 11y ago
    I think the takeaway had more to do with the shift from "man life really threw me a curveball and I could use some help" to "my spewcial schnequflake needs a new violin and we renovated the kitchen last year, someone else please pay for it"
dudul 11y ago
Who should be more shameful? The ones asking for money for vacation / nose job / new car, or the ones actually giving the money?
- pavornyoh 11y ago
  There is nothing wrong donating money for good cause. But when you are giving money when the intentions aren't good, then you are encouraging whoever set up the fund that sort of behavior is ok.
  - dudul 11y ago
    Aren't you saying exactly what my comment was saying?
    - detaro 11y ago
      Was your comment saying anything? I thought it asked a question, to which pavornyoh gave an answer.
      - pavornyoh 11y ago
        Thank you.
      - dudul 11y ago
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhetorical_question https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhetorical_question
        nostrademons 11y ago
        Sarcasm, rhetoric, and other meta-linguistical information doesn't come across well over the Internet.
    - deleted 11y ago
      [deleted]
pavornyoh 11y ago
The article is spot on. Bunch of scams on there with few good people in between needing real help. I wonder if the admins/Mod on the site vet people out.
- pavornyoh 11y ago
  EDIT:Instead of down voting my comment, perhaps you should reply to my post so that we can have a conversation about the topic.
  - bradleyjg 11y ago
    Looks like someone went through and downvoted every comment on this story.
    - pavornyoh 11y ago
      Yes, they did.
  - minimaxir 11y ago
    Don't complain about downvotes. You likely were downvoted since your comment doesn't add much ("The article is spot on" doesn't count as having a conversation)
    - pavornyoh 11y ago
      >("I agree with this article!" doesn't count as having a conversation) Did you read my first response? Or are you confusing me with someone? I asked a question if you saw my first response about the mods/admin.
SimplyUseless 11y ago
This story was originally posted here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10525159 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10525159
- minimaxir 11y ago
  Reposts are allowed if there hasn't be significant discussion. If you're upset about missing karma, it's just luck of the draw.
powera 11y ago
What does this really mean (and the list of random requests is just pointless): Is it a sign of a breakdown of the traditional ways of making money (as a summary, the replacement of "working the farm" to earn money with "driving for Uber" to earn money)? Is it the de-centralization of existing support networks? Asking your friends for money isn't new, maybe it's just that you talk to your friends over the internet that's new. Is it the corporatization of personal budgets, where everything has to have some nice-sounding reason attached to it, even if it's obviously a waste of money? (unless you really believe that all the leadership summits in Hawaii are really cost-effective)
- dudul 11y ago
  Most of the post is pointless, agreed. Trying to explain the phenomenon would be more interesting than simply listing dumb requests. > Is it a sign of a breakdown of the traditional ways of making money (as a summary, the replacement of "working the farm" to earn money with "driving for Uber" to earn money)? I don't see how funding campaigns compare to "driving for uber". Driving for uber is an actual job, while putting up a nice page saying "I want to go see the pyramids, give me money" is different.
- nostrademons 11y ago
  I think it's an internalization of the "It's always okay to ask" mentality, which itself is a symptom of a transition from a society built around a few common cultural institutions to one based on a pluralistic conception that different people may have different values. It used to be that there were common norms of behavior, and you didn't step outside those norms unless you wanted to risk strong social censure. Now, the norm is that anything mutually agreed upon by two parties is fine. On the whole, I think this is a good trend - it makes the economy more efficient, it encourages people to celebrate diversity instead of shunning it, and it's how the upper classes have operated for a long time, which is the source of a major power imbalance where corporations & rich people feel entitled to ask for anything and then working-class people feel ashamed to refuse. This is just the same attitude filtering down to formerly middle-class people, likely fueled by desperation as the traditional social compact breaks down and their previous income stream dries up. It'll take a period of adjustment as people realize that "No" is a perfectly fine answer that you'll have to give the majority of the time, though, and many people are very uncomfortable at the breakdown of unspoken norms (hence the article).
NM-Super 11y ago
Is anybody really surprised by this development? If you create a platform where people can ask for money, a bunch of people are going to ask for money they don't really need.
- bdcravens 11y ago
  In my experience, GoFundMe enables it more than other platforms, since they really don't give you a good way to complain. (I've received spam from someone with a campaign there)
weisser 11y ago
> What about the girl seeking $600 for her “personal development journey”? (Not much to ask, but she was so beautiful, I didn’t understand why she didn’t develop herself into a model and make a whole lot more than that.) What a bizarre comment.
- lumpypua 11y ago
  Totally amateur models can easily make $50 or $100/hr for gigs. If you have a natural gift that gets paid like that and want some spare cash, why would you not use it?
  - askafriend 11y ago
    I don't make that much doing Engineering. Maybe I should go model.
    - georgemcbay 11y ago
      You can't really compare the two because modelling isn't a consistent gig. You can easily make $50-100/hr doing it (assuming, of course, you are blessed with model looks), but you can't easily do it 40 hours a week.
      - Notlikely15 11y ago
        The goal is $600.
- bdcravens 11y ago
  I think it sets off the misogyny alarms, but I think the point remains: someone with a quality that could conceivably be used to meet a financial need opens up a valid criticism. We'd say the same if it were a developer asking for money, or a homeless person panhandling when they appear physically fit. I think there's a resistance when it's based on appearance, not skill, but I think there's plenty of models who would take exception to the idea that there isn't work and skill involved.
draw_down 11y ago
The ones I see are not for vacations. They are for school supplies for kids that need them, medical expenses, that sort of thing. Guess we have different friends!
snake117 11y ago
This reminded me of something similar: televangelists asking people for "seed faiths". If you haven't heard about this yet, check out this video from Last Week Tonight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y1xJAVZxXg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y1xJAVZxXg
poelzi 11y ago
I'm in organizing a major fundraising as well, not for me, but for supergravity.org. Seeing that some people collect 100ks, I'm curios how much the world will be willing to pay for their rescue - and I'm not kidding about this. Research and development is expensive and I'm not seeing anything on the horizon on conventional research that could save our current doomed path. Anyway, back to work :)
dredmorbius 11y ago
The NY Times might want a GoFundMe for copy editors: "Many on her mailing list where taken aback"
cwmma 11y ago
At the moment the barriers to asking a bunch of people on the internet for money is effectively 0 so why the hell wouldn't you do it? the worst case scenario is you don't get any money and you're no worse off. At some point (possibly right now with this article) a backlash will develop and there may be some social costs to doing this because of the numbers of people doing it have created a tragedy of the commons.
- nateabele 11y ago
  > [Y]ou're no worse off. Except your dignity, maybe?
  - cwmma 11y ago
    well that's the key at the moment there isn't too much shame in doing so, I expect there will start being some soon.
- morgante 11y ago
  I think there's been a social cost from the start, it's just hard to tell since you, as the beggar, have no way of really seeing it. When I think poorly of you for making an illegitimate request, I'm probably just going to pass it over—there's no personal and immediate repercussion. The damage in the long-term is though: I'll definitely think less of that person and won't respond to their otherwise legitimate requests.
patrickaljord 11y ago
This article was probably written by a well off NYT journalist who doesn't need and therefor doesn't understand the need for these kind of campaigns, sounds like a "let them have cake" kind of statement.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
rogeryu 11y ago
That link has gone wild: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/08/fashion/gofundme-gone-wild.html http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/08/fashion/gofundme-gone-wild...
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
drchiu 11y ago
Lol. Just saw this trend on HN after my friend messaged me to help fund his Kickstarter. I really wonder how many Ks projects wouldn't be funded minus family and friends.
morgante 11y ago
I used to get upset about these endless ill-deserving requests. Then I realized I have a simple option of just not giving. Much like reality television, I find it pathetic and am unlikely to be friends with someone who uses it for long, but it doesn't pose an existential threat to society.

120 points by lujim 11y ago

I'm sometimes a bit sceptical giving money to friends to do fund raising 'challenges' [0] that are in some beautiful part of Australia and require them to walk a reasonable 20km in a day. I would hope that they cover their own costs (flying, registration fee, accommodation, etc.) and any donations they receive go to the charity/cause. [0] http://www.humacharitychallenge.com/Charity-Challenge/Australia/The-Reach-Foundation/Reach-Larapinta-Trail-Challenge?overrideCountry=AUS http://www.humacharitychallenge.com/Charity-Challenge/Austra...

bradleyjg 11y ago
A lot of times they aren't the greatest charities in the world either (in terms of outcomes). I'm pretty resentful of these requests--you pick your charity and let me pick mine. They are nowhere near as bad as what the article is talking about though, I've never gotten requests like that.
goodJobWalrus 11y ago
Yeah, I personally don't like this bundling of fun activities and charity. If you want to run a marathon, run a marathon. If you want to give to charities, just give. Don't make a pretence of charity to do what you find fun.
- dazc 11y ago
  > "If you want to run a marathon, run a marathon. If you want to give to charities, just give." I agree with the sentiment although lots of people run marathons and raise money for a charity as a motivational aid. I don't see anything wrong with this. However, if someone wants to do a parachute jump, cycle the Great Wall of China, etc, then yes, they should just shut up and fund it themselves.
- morgante 11y ago
  Or, if you want to do good while having fun (why not?), you should pay for the expenses. I'd be much more willing to support these sorts of events if the participants underwrote the costs themselves.
thoth 11y ago
>I'm sometimes a bit sceptical giving money to friends I'm a runner/biker and I know dozens of people that do these charity events. I even went to an informational session for one, since I was thinking about it... the way these charity events generally work, at least here in U.S. (not sure about that particular event in Australia and the fundraising requirement it imposes) is that the participant is required to raise a minimum of 3X the amount of the expenses for doing the event. So for example, if the hotel/airfare, event registration, and other misc training costs (generally this is water/snacks for group training on the weekends, e.g. the classic long run on a Sat morning for marathon training) are roughly $1000, then the participant will be asked to raise $4000. And of that $4000, $1000 goes to letting them do the event and $3000 goes to the charity. That was for the one I went to, not to name it specifically however it was a marathon in a foreign country. So airfare and hotel and the pasta meal the night before. A local event won't need so much diverted so the fundraising burden will be much lower. I've done local charity events which only required $250 (no fancy travel or lodging), so rather than bug all my friends I just wrote a check and submitted a matching form from my employer! So on the one hand, if your goal is to donate to the charity, you are better off giving money directly. But that's true of most fundraising situations as well. On the other hand, if you view the expense as the cost of getting donors, maybe that is reasonable. A mildly obscure disease might not have a better way of attracting donations other than aligning with a sports event. I'm just speculating here since the specifics probably vary hugely and I have zero experience on the race director side of the registration table or with the fundraising side of a charity. ;) Basically, I can understand your skepticism - your donation money is more effectively used directly to the charity or on people doing local events. If the goal event involves travel and hotels, then a chunk of the money raised by the participant goes towards them doing the event.
gaius 11y ago
... Or skydiving or some other fun activity, with any spare leftovers going to the charity. Better to donate directly.
jordache 11y ago
right on.. I'll expand the question to this - Why does someone "run" for charity? What not just ask on behalf of the charity? Why is the endurance activity inherently tied to the charitable aspect?
- detaro 11y ago
  Advertising and motivation I guess. You get to promote yourself (or in case of a group from an organization) as doing "good things", and putting it out there forces you to go through with it, because otherwise you look bad to all the people you told about it.

striking 11y ago

If a close friend's experiencing some incredibly tough times, and he sets his goal to $125 or something reasonable like that, I'd have no issue with pitching in. I'm a totally broke college student, but that's the truth. However, this article really hits the mark. Begging your friends and family or the internet community at large is actually the last thing you should think of doing. And if you're asking for thousands of dollars, you'd better be buying food for a homeless shelter or something. Something that benefits, I don't know, more than a single person?

rbritton 11y ago
It's the digital version of panhandling, and it's unfortunate that the few on there who have (in my opinion) a legitimate need are so overshadowed by those begging for a new camera or to go on a trip.
- themartorana 11y ago
  I assume that much like people can disconnect vitriolic statements from reality when sitting behind a computer screen, so too can that screen disconnect people from the shame one would usually feel begging on the street for money. I don't understand it, but people can be completely honest in their disconnect from shame when asking for money for completely unnecessary things. The people asking for help with extremely difficult times, sicknesses, etc., those people that legitimately need help, probably feel enough shame for everyone.
  - vdaniuk 11y ago
    I object to the implicit assumption that shame is a virtue.
- cerrelio 11y ago
  I call it online busking. I live in SF and I'll often see fairly well dressed people sparechanging on corners. One guy, in his late 20s, would be out near O'Farrell and Mason listening to his iPod everyday as I went in for work. I never got his story, but he probably wasn't living on the streets - just "working" there. I don't really have a problem with that, or people busking online. But before you plug in those credit card digits, you should ask yourself: "If I met this person on the street and they asked me to fund their {pet's surgery, vacation, novel}, would I do it?" I had my "a-ha" moment for crowdfunding about 8 years ago. A friend-of-a-friend who was a promoter/bartender, whom I had just met, asked me to fund his Jewish contemporary art show. He seemed very passionate about getting it going. The total sum required was a few thousand dollars, so it seemed like an honest pitch. He friended me on Facebook and sent me the link to Kickstater. Later that night I was about to make a donation, but I stopped. "I don't even know his guy. Why am I giving him $50?" And that's when I linked the two behaviors. Just because there's a nicely designed UI between you and the beggar doesn't make it something other than begging. I call it "busking" as opposed to "begging" because they are actually performing - they're (both the website and the person; they work in tandem) trying to make you believe they're not a beggar.

chillwaves 11y ago

Not sure the point of this article. Of course there are more or less deserving, more or less craven. It's a platform for anyone to use, that's the whole point. Don't want to give? Then don't.

itgoon 11y ago
Right. I don't see much difference between this and people who have asked for money over the years. Some have been totally worthwhile, others have been straight up fraud. Same thing, on the internet. Someone should patent it.
HillRat 11y ago
As far as I can tell, the key takeaway is that the NYT has no trouble shaming the poor and middle classes for not having the support network the well-off can mobilize. I know executives who I wouldn't trust to run a bake sale without FTC oversight, but every time they fail there's another c-suite job waiting for them somewhere. Their panhandling is just done out of sight, over a good Malbec at the Capital Club.
- n0us 11y ago
  I think the takeaway had more to do with the shift from "man life really threw me a curveball and I could use some help" to "my spewcial schnequflake needs a new violin and we renovated the kitchen last year, someone else please pay for it"

dudul 11y ago

Who should be more shameful? The ones asking for money for vacation / nose job / new car, or the ones actually giving the money?

pavornyoh 11y ago
There is nothing wrong donating money for good cause. But when you are giving money when the intentions aren't good, then you are encouraging whoever set up the fund that sort of behavior is ok.
- dudul 11y ago
  Aren't you saying exactly what my comment was saying?
  - detaro 11y ago
    Was your comment saying anything? I thought it asked a question, to which pavornyoh gave an answer.
    - pavornyoh 11y ago
      Thank you.
    - dudul 11y ago
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhetorical_question https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhetorical_question
      - nostrademons 11y ago
        Sarcasm, rhetoric, and other meta-linguistical information doesn't come across well over the Internet.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]

pavornyoh 11y ago

The article is spot on. Bunch of scams on there with few good people in between needing real help. I wonder if the admins/Mod on the site vet people out.

pavornyoh 11y ago
EDIT:Instead of down voting my comment, perhaps you should reply to my post so that we can have a conversation about the topic.
- bradleyjg 11y ago
  Looks like someone went through and downvoted every comment on this story.
  - pavornyoh 11y ago
    Yes, they did.
- minimaxir 11y ago
  Don't complain about downvotes. You likely were downvoted since your comment doesn't add much ("The article is spot on" doesn't count as having a conversation)
  - pavornyoh 11y ago
    >("I agree with this article!" doesn't count as having a conversation) Did you read my first response? Or are you confusing me with someone? I asked a question if you saw my first response about the mods/admin.

SimplyUseless 11y ago

This story was originally posted here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10525159 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10525159

minimaxir 11y ago
Reposts are allowed if there hasn't be significant discussion. If you're upset about missing karma, it's just luck of the draw.

powera 11y ago

What does this really mean (and the list of random requests is just pointless): Is it a sign of a breakdown of the traditional ways of making money (as a summary, the replacement of "working the farm" to earn money with "driving for Uber" to earn money)? Is it the de-centralization of existing support networks? Asking your friends for money isn't new, maybe it's just that you talk to your friends over the internet that's new. Is it the corporatization of personal budgets, where everything has to have some nice-sounding reason attached to it, even if it's obviously a waste of money? (unless you really believe that all the leadership summits in Hawaii are really cost-effective)

dudul 11y ago
Most of the post is pointless, agreed. Trying to explain the phenomenon would be more interesting than simply listing dumb requests. > Is it a sign of a breakdown of the traditional ways of making money (as a summary, the replacement of "working the farm" to earn money with "driving for Uber" to earn money)? I don't see how funding campaigns compare to "driving for uber". Driving for uber is an actual job, while putting up a nice page saying "I want to go see the pyramids, give me money" is different.
nostrademons 11y ago
I think it's an internalization of the "It's always okay to ask" mentality, which itself is a symptom of a transition from a society built around a few common cultural institutions to one based on a pluralistic conception that different people may have different values. It used to be that there were common norms of behavior, and you didn't step outside those norms unless you wanted to risk strong social censure. Now, the norm is that anything mutually agreed upon by two parties is fine. On the whole, I think this is a good trend - it makes the economy more efficient, it encourages people to celebrate diversity instead of shunning it, and it's how the upper classes have operated for a long time, which is the source of a major power imbalance where corporations & rich people feel entitled to ask for anything and then working-class people feel ashamed to refuse. This is just the same attitude filtering down to formerly middle-class people, likely fueled by desperation as the traditional social compact breaks down and their previous income stream dries up. It'll take a period of adjustment as people realize that "No" is a perfectly fine answer that you'll have to give the majority of the time, though, and many people are very uncomfortable at the breakdown of unspoken norms (hence the article).

NM-Super 11y ago

Is anybody really surprised by this development? If you create a platform where people can ask for money, a bunch of people are going to ask for money they don't really need.

bdcravens 11y ago
In my experience, GoFundMe enables it more than other platforms, since they really don't give you a good way to complain. (I've received spam from someone with a campaign there)

weisser 11y ago

> What about the girl seeking $600 for her “personal development journey”? (Not much to ask, but she was so beautiful, I didn’t understand why she didn’t develop herself into a model and make a whole lot more than that.) What a bizarre comment.

lumpypua 11y ago
Totally amateur models can easily make $50 or $100/hr for gigs. If you have a natural gift that gets paid like that and want some spare cash, why would you not use it?
- askafriend 11y ago
  I don't make that much doing Engineering. Maybe I should go model.
  - georgemcbay 11y ago
    You can't really compare the two because modelling isn't a consistent gig. You can easily make $50-100/hr doing it (assuming, of course, you are blessed with model looks), but you can't easily do it 40 hours a week.
    - Notlikely15 11y ago
      The goal is $600.
bdcravens 11y ago
I think it sets off the misogyny alarms, but I think the point remains: someone with a quality that could conceivably be used to meet a financial need opens up a valid criticism. We'd say the same if it were a developer asking for money, or a homeless person panhandling when they appear physically fit. I think there's a resistance when it's based on appearance, not skill, but I think there's plenty of models who would take exception to the idea that there isn't work and skill involved.

draw_down 11y ago

The ones I see are not for vacations. They are for school supplies for kids that need them, medical expenses, that sort of thing. Guess we have different friends!

snake117 11y ago

This reminded me of something similar: televangelists asking people for "seed faiths". If you haven't heard about this yet, check out this video from Last Week Tonight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y1xJAVZxXg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y1xJAVZxXg

poelzi 11y ago

I'm in organizing a major fundraising as well, not for me, but for supergravity.org. Seeing that some people collect 100ks, I'm curios how much the world will be willing to pay for their rescue - and I'm not kidding about this. Research and development is expensive and I'm not seeing anything on the horizon on conventional research that could save our current doomed path. Anyway, back to work :)

dredmorbius 11y ago

The NY Times might want a GoFundMe for copy editors: "Many on her mailing list where taken aback"

cwmma 11y ago

At the moment the barriers to asking a bunch of people on the internet for money is effectively 0 so why the hell wouldn't you do it? the worst case scenario is you don't get any money and you're no worse off. At some point (possibly right now with this article) a backlash will develop and there may be some social costs to doing this because of the numbers of people doing it have created a tragedy of the commons.

nateabele 11y ago
> [Y]ou're no worse off. Except your dignity, maybe?
- cwmma 11y ago
  well that's the key at the moment there isn't too much shame in doing so, I expect there will start being some soon.
morgante 11y ago
I think there's been a social cost from the start, it's just hard to tell since you, as the beggar, have no way of really seeing it. When I think poorly of you for making an illegitimate request, I'm probably just going to pass it over—there's no personal and immediate repercussion. The damage in the long-term is though: I'll definitely think less of that person and won't respond to their otherwise legitimate requests.

patrickaljord 11y ago

This article was probably written by a well off NYT journalist who doesn't need and therefor doesn't understand the need for these kind of campaigns, sounds like a "let them have cake" kind of statement.

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rogeryu 11y ago

That link has gone wild: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/08/fashion/gofundme-gone-wild.html http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/08/fashion/gofundme-gone-wild...

deleted 11y ago

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drchiu 11y ago

Lol. Just saw this trend on HN after my friend messaged me to help fund his Kickstarter. I really wonder how many Ks projects wouldn't be funded minus family and friends.

morgante 11y ago

I used to get upset about these endless ill-deserving requests. Then I realized I have a simple option of just not giving. Much like reality television, I find it pathetic and am unlikely to be friends with someone who uses it for long, but it doesn't pose an existential threat to society.