It has been an amazing few days! I only wanted to set up a quick and dirty site that would let people make small, easy donations via PayPal or a credit card. I had no idea it would take on a life of its own.

Last night I looked at the web logs and found that people were finding my site by using search terms like tsunami donation paypal. I tried it myself, and that particular string (without quotes) lists my site as the third result out of 2,580. A search for just tsunami donation lists it as the sixth result out of 68,100. Those are the only searches Ive experimented with.

The donations continue to pour in. Were almost halfway to our second thousand dollars. People are emailing with gratitude that the site is easy to use and that the larger organizations use credit cards, ask for personal info and can't 'click and donate' like yours.

I wanted to thank all of you that have contributed and been such a support. Weve witnessed another wonderful example of the outpouring of compassion and generosity that people are capable of. I am grateful to have been a small part of it, as you all should be.

It's not called the "Human Fund", is it?

/Costanza

Thank you for including the link to donate! I couldn't donate until I got paid today, but was able to do it immediately with the link provided. Thanks for setting this up! I'll give more next payday too!

Great job, spookcomix.

On a related note, I just checked out the Amazon fund, and it is over the $4M mark now. Check it out here. (pops)

Great effort! I just hope there aren't scammers out there setting up fake sites :(

Nice work guys.

/props

That's great!

Of course, I just went to redcross.org.

Hopefully I can get some money and donate, even a few dollars. I'm broke right now...but payday's coming soon.

done, donated.

Tresser:

i can't wait till lunchtime, when this gets posted again.

and then at about 9 tonight...

and more than likely again 12 hours after that....


Yeah, like we never heard about the TFMR. ;-)

spookcomix

I hope you have a good CPA... ;)

Decided to trust this guy, made a donation.

Question for spookcomix - do you post the initials of the donors? Can you post usernames if requested?

Kernel Disorder Donations are going to AmeriCares once ready, according to above linked webpage.

*Applause*

/Don't fark up like the Red Cross did
//Still bitter

Please add me to the total donated by fark, I donated directly when I thought there would be no paypal account. Sorry group :-(


Dear John,

Thank you very much for your donation!

AmeriCares has received your donation in the amount of $100.00. We will be sending your formal acknowledgement in the mail shortly.

Your confirmation number is ##############.

Due to unusually high volume, it may take us longer than usual to process your donation.

If you think that you have received this message in error, or if you have any questions, please contact:

AmeriCares Donor Relations
(203) 658-9500
d­on­o­rrelat­i­onsse­ra­cir­emaorg

Sincerely,

AmeriCares
Donor Relations
88 Hamilton Avenue
Stamford, CT 06902
(800) 486-HELP

songfemme:

Kernel Disorder Donations are going to AmeriCares once ready, according to above linked webpage.


It says that, and because it's a farker I believe that to be true in this particular case, but I'd be extremely suspicious if I just came across some link via google that asked me to donate money to a personal paypal account to help victims in Asia.

Just saying people should be careful of such things in the future, especially if many people have success collecting for charity this way and word gets out to less scrupulous members of the intrawebs.

donated...that was nice and easy

If scam....why tell ? I'm sure Drew can find an address via his IP, so let's assume the best. His profile doesn't say "stockbroker" or "Ken Lay".

It's sad when we even have to question the helping hands.

kernel...

How do we know for sure the money is getting there unless we donate to a "major" charity site?


You don't. With all due regard for the efforts of folks like spookcomix (whom we presume to be legit - but have no way to confirm), donating to groups with an established track record is the only way to go.

I gave to Americares. I would have preferred PayPal but it wasn't available. So Amex it was. They'll take checks. Don't let the lack of the convenience of PayPal deter you from donating. Weigh your inconvenience against the needs of the people you will be helping.

Uranus: It's sad when we even have to question the helping hands.

It's a sad world, but people are mass mailing false links to ebay accounts to steal credit card numbers, this would be far easier.

Kernel Disorder:

I share morrisonsl's concern. How do we know for sure the money is getting there unless we donate to a "major" charity site?

I did my best to try to address that on the site. I'll paste it again here:

December 29, 2004, 10:10 pm CST

Dear Online Friends,

Thank you for your question. The best I'll be able to offer as proof that the money is donated is to send out the receipt that I receive from the first donation of $1000 as soon as it is transferred. I plan to post it on the site, and also forward it to everyone that has donated.

Doing this is quite new for me. I had no idea that it would take the "life of its own" that it has. I hardly expected to even raise the amount of money that I spent on the classified ad that I put on Fark.com - $25 - but I was shocked the next morning to see that the site had raised over $200. You can see what has happened since then. The donations are gloriously "out of control!"

I have called AmeriCares and sent them emails. I have sent information to the owner and operator of Fark.com who is very pleased with the results so far and will be taking further steps to promote the site tomorrow morning. The best I can offer you is this: My real name and real information is on the Writerscafe.net site, which I have run for a couple of years. Over 1,000 people have read the site and have seen that information over the last few days. They have kept watch over the funds as they have poured in. They can see that, as soon as their donation is made, their initials appear on the site with the correct amount. With that much attention on me, if there is ever any question that the funds were not dispersed as promised, I'll be in a world of hurt!

It has always been my sincere intention to do what little I could to help those in need as a result of this tragedy. The idea of "taking the money and running" truly makes me ill. That would be a grave injustice to those who desperately need the funds, and those who have, for some reason, already put their trust in me.

Finally, you'll notice two new donations in the "Donations!" column of the main page. The initials are "BM" and "CM." Those are my two oldest children, my ten year old girl and eight year old son. They, too, have been quite interested in what their daddy has been up to and in what has been going on in the news. Tonight, they asked me if they could give their money to me to send to the people who need it. I gladly accepted it and rejoice in their compassion.

Whatever your decision is, whether or not to donate here, I'm sure it will be a good one. If not my site, please be encouraged to donate your time, money or efforts elsewhere.

Warmest Regards,

--Kevin L. McDonald

dogfather_jr:

Question for spookcomix - do you post the initials of the donors? Can you post usernames if requested?


I'm sure I could, if you'd rather. Or the initials of your username. You'll likely have to send a seperate email to me, though. All of a sudden, I'm a bit overwhelmed with donations.

Thank you all, truly.

spookcomix
Question for spookcomix - do you post the initials of the donors? Can you post usernames if requested?
I'm sure I could, if you'd rather. Or the initials of your username. You'll likely have to send a seperate email to me, though. All of a sudden, I'm a bit overwhelmed with donations.

I thought it might be a good way to stir other Farkers to action... usually I do things like this 100% anonymously, because I don't do it for recognition, but in this case the recognitiojn might not be a bad thing.

Tork Dog:

I dig the effort, but why do I have a feeling that 99% of the money raised is gonna end up in the pockets of some fat cat that doesn't even live in the areas impacted.

It's all going to AmeriCares. This is just a quick and simple way to do it. I've researched AmeriCares, as has my employer (who refused to let me hang up flyers until he was convinced they were legit.) Hit their site at americares.org and view their very detailed financial information from 2003 if you'd like.

Donated...that was very easy.
I have faith that spookcomix is legit.

Marcus Aurelius

Inappropriate time and place.


To all those that are giving, thank you. Although I did not give to this website, I gave every penny I received in Christmas money to Americares. I haven't spoken to a single friend that has not donated something. The world can "Suck it" as far as saying Americans are stingy.

SpillyFarker: I have faith that spookcomix is legit.

Tell you what. My family is headed to Dallas today for the New Year, to celebrate two of my girls' birthdays and for me to attend a special event at a Buddhist center there. If all the Dallas Farkers want to hunt me down and sniff me over, drop me a GMail. Maybe you can meet me at the Galleria when I take the kiddos ice skating. :-)

Spookcomix is a trusting person, as I know him personally.

Guys, like he says, if you don't donate through him, please do it somewhere else. The point here is not that you give a donation to him, it's that you donate. He has just made it easy to do so.

bradendsley: Spookcomix is a trusting person, as I know him personally.

Hey! A friend from meatspace! That's a rare treat here!

Donated, hope that spookcomix does what he said he would.

Since this got the green, I'm assuming that Drew and FARK approve of this avenue for us farkers to donate collectively.

Good jorb, spookcomix. You've done what 99% of us are too lazy or unable to do.

My donation is on its way.

Donated, all I could afford (which wasn't much) but every little bit helps, right?

I just started typing the following I went to Oxfam with all I can afford right now. (Just started my own freelance business, no income, buying house.)

And then I looked at it and thought: yes, I'm buying a nice house in London*, because that's how lucky I am. What possible meaning does the phrase 'all I can afford' have in the context of what the survivors have lost?

Give now, people. The money's needed now. On my way to your site, spookcomix, for Fark solidarity, and thanks for your work.

* For the benefit of any London farkers: I am genuinely broke, the house is in Harlesden. :)

Two Words

That's Cool

Hey Spookcomix,
How do you seperate who donates for the "farkers for a cause" category from the others?

Why the intermediary?

https://www.americares.org/Donate/default.aspx

(fark doesn't seem to like the https:, so no linky)

They take credit cards. online. They will without a doubt pay less in transaction costs than this farker's paypal account. Which then is transferred to americares how? Cause if it's by credit card again, there's another couple percent off the top.

I think the chance that this is not legit is very, very small. But it's a hell of a lot bigger than donating directly to the organization that this site says it will.

someone please ban mrgrosser... it would make my day.

*checks link and clicks on donate*

londongirl
And then I looked at it and thought: yes, I'm buying a nice house in London*, because that's how lucky I am. What possible meaning does the phrase 'all I can afford' have in the context of what the survivors have lost?

My sentiments exactly. What I can 'afford' to give is going up by the minute.

Spook - I'm guessing you're to one to get the charitable donation tax break? If so, are you going to donate the equivalent to the cause? Fair's fair.

Tork Dog, believe me, it gripes my ass as much as anybody, to pay what I do in income tax. I think WAY too much of my money gets wasted.

But, in light of a disaster on this magnitude, I want to do a little bit extra. It's my way of being thankful that I'm sitting here safe in the mountains, knowing that my whole town isn't likely to be washed away on a whim of Ma Nature.

LiaLia got it right. I can't afford much, but I hope it will help somehow.

I just pledged the price of freedom... ($1.05)

I'm guessing you're to one to get the charitable donation tax break?

Spookcomix is doing this for a good cause and from his heart, I don't think he has a tax break in mind.

derangedlunatech

It's also very easy to mail a check directly to americares (or any other charity).

Or are the people who have bank accounts, but no credit cards OR checks but DO have paypal accounts part of the consideration? I'm skeptical that describes most of those who've donated via this site.

According to Amazon, the amount they have collected is: $4,224,703.70

Ok. Who is the wiseass that donated 70 cents??

IF YOU DON'T WANT TO DONATE THIS WAY, DON'T DO IT.

It's that simple. No reason to b*tch ad nauseum about "why should we go through someone else? etc etc" Some of us wanted to pool our money and offer it as one big chunk. Some of those same people have also donated in other ways. Whatever.

If you're uncomfortable or think it might be a scam, just don't donate through it.

As already noted, Amazon has raised over $4 million for Tsunami relief.

Google and Yahoo! have a link on their home page.

eBay added a tsunami relief banner to their home page last night.

I still think that eBay/PayPal should be doing more to support charities. I sent them an e-mail last night; you can send e-mail to the eBay Foundation at ebayf­dnvsfcor­g

Send an e-mail to the eBay Foundation, and tell them that PayPal should waive their commission for charitable contributions, and that PayPal should encourage charities to accept PayPal.

ATTENTION! Agents out there hoping to prop up their artists' flailing careers with a cheesy feelgood let's do it for the victims single/concert/whatever... I hope you collectively choke on your fees.

Yet I have the nausiating feeling that mobiles started ringing and emails were being sent to lawyers not that long ago.

2004-12-30 10:18:59 AM ThatVANguy

it could have been a child

Anybody else have trouble donating through the PayPal link on Spook's site? I got the mssg "contains insufficient data" when I tried and I could find nothing wrong/incomplete in the info I submitted.

OccamsWhiskers:

Or are the people who have bank accounts, but no credit cards OR checks but DO have paypal accounts part of the consideration? I'm skeptical that describes most of those who've donated via this site


paypal can get there more quickly than a check.

You can be sceptical all you want - but up until just over a year ago I didn't have a checking account, only a savings account - so i did stuff like this through paypal.

Why the need to smack down on someone who is doing what they can do?

And for that matter - what have you done?