3 ms·

Six Degrees of Separation

46 points by benbreen 11y ago

codingdave 11y ago
So now we have sites to donate to individuals who need money for sex trafficking, education, health care, business...I'm sure there are others. I think they are great ideas - it is wonderful to be able to literally share the wealth. But I worry that the success of such sites will depend on their marketing. I think everyone would be better served by a directory that aggregates these sites together, lets you see whom all the people worldwide looking for assistance are, and gives them all exposure. It would also be nice to see some reports on the efficiency of each site, to know how much of your dollar gets directly to the person in need. I'm too buried in work and family to build such a thing, but I'm hoping someone on HN would have the time...
- pavel_lishin 11y ago
  http://www.charitynavigator.org/ http://www.charitynavigator.org/ might be something like what you're looking for.
- michellefdez 11y ago
  Very interested in your comment about a directory that aggregates sites like this -- do you think combining different causes in a page could hurt in some way? I'd be worried that with too many causes to focus on people might get distracted. In the meantime, you might be interested in checking out watsi.org, a site that crowdfunds healthcare for people around the world. They're explicit about where each dollar goes (100% of your donation directly goes to funding care for patients).
  - benbreen 11y ago
    The original post highlights Watsi as a model but also points out that certain groups in need of help might not be as amenable to having their pictures or personal info shared online (like victims of human trafficking, etc). That would create potential problems for an aggregator of humanitarian projects like this, because the decision on how much personal information to reveal is case dependent. 6degree.org's model is somewhat similar but anonymized [1], which seems to me to be necessary in this case but isn't as effective in some ways because it lacks Watsi's human element. I definitely think that variations on the Watsi-style model could lend themselves to some kind of aggregator, but it might be a challenge to integrate them in a uniform way. [1] http://6degree.org/ http://6degree.org/
ArtDev 11y ago
Helping the police sounds noble but it is only making a bad situation much much worse: https://sexliesducttape.me/2016/03/31/a-pocket-guide-to-dealing-with-antis-online/ https://sexliesducttape.me/2016/03/31/a-pocket-guide-to-deal... Get the police out of the picture and then maybe these people can be helped.

46 points by benbreen 11y ago

So now we have sites to donate to individuals who need money for sex trafficking, education, health care, business...I'm sure there are others. I think they are great ideas - it is wonderful to be able to literally share the wealth. But I worry that the success of such sites will depend on their marketing. I think everyone would be better served by a directory that aggregates these sites together, lets you see whom all the people worldwide looking for assistance are, and gives them all exposure. It would also be nice to see some reports on the efficiency of each site, to know how much of your dollar gets directly to the person in need. I'm too buried in work and family to build such a thing, but I'm hoping someone on HN would have the time...

pavel_lishin 11y ago
http://www.charitynavigator.org/ http://www.charitynavigator.org/ might be something like what you're looking for.
michellefdez 11y ago
Very interested in your comment about a directory that aggregates sites like this -- do you think combining different causes in a page could hurt in some way? I'd be worried that with too many causes to focus on people might get distracted. In the meantime, you might be interested in checking out watsi.org, a site that crowdfunds healthcare for people around the world. They're explicit about where each dollar goes (100% of your donation directly goes to funding care for patients).
- benbreen 11y ago
  The original post highlights Watsi as a model but also points out that certain groups in need of help might not be as amenable to having their pictures or personal info shared online (like victims of human trafficking, etc). That would create potential problems for an aggregator of humanitarian projects like this, because the decision on how much personal information to reveal is case dependent. 6degree.org's model is somewhat similar but anonymized [1], which seems to me to be necessary in this case but isn't as effective in some ways because it lacks Watsi's human element. I definitely think that variations on the Watsi-style model could lend themselves to some kind of aggregator, but it might be a challenge to integrate them in a uniform way. [1] http://6degree.org/ http://6degree.org/

ArtDev 11y ago

Helping the police sounds noble but it is only making a bad situation much much worse: https://sexliesducttape.me/2016/03/31/a-pocket-guide-to-dealing-with-antis-online/ https://sexliesducttape.me/2016/03/31/a-pocket-guide-to-deal... Get the police out of the picture and then maybe these people can be helped.