This Is Not A Democracy

Edit: Thankfully, the original mod, cynica has kindly brought me back - but let this be a lesson to all in letting people have admin rights in your communities... *shudder*


This post just got me banned from payingitforward because I disagreed with the mod (who wasn't listed as a mod when I posted:

Seeing as anorexic_pirate doesn't seem to take kindly to people with the audacity to disagree with her, I would like to give you the opportunity to read some thoughts from the other side.

This post is in part a comment I made on her post, which was subsequently deleted. I think it's relevant:

The other day I made a post about my favourite cause; the charity concerned is so small and unheard of that it's getting no help whatsoever - last year, Brenda, the lady who runs it, received so little she gave up collecting donations and now does everything herself. The last thing she and small-scale organisations need is people trying to discourage others from helping.

Places like this are actually a way of spreading the word and trying to help people that no one else is helping - trying to discourage people from doing that defies half the point of this community, doesn't it?

Yes, there are a lot of requests on here for cash - but sometimes cash is the only thing it's possible to give if, like some of us, you live in a different continent to the people you want to help. If you feel like going down to Pine Ridge reservation and filling people's propane tanks, please do that. Or maybe you live in the Minnesota area and can give the Ten Fingers family somewhere to stay, or a lift. Or maybe you can go and fix that guy's car for him or rub two sticks together for the lady who can't afford to pay her heating bill.

Unfortunately, some of us are in a position where giving cash is the only thing we can do, because unfortunately for us, money makes the world go round - and so that is what we do. We don't need people trying to scaremonger and deter us from doing that Good Thing, just because it involves the Cold, Hard Stuff.

This place is about helping people, and no - that doesn't always have to be through money, but sometimes, that is what it takes - so why try to stop people? I know for a fact (I work in business development for an international care charity) that the small charities, like Lakota-Aid give every single penny - and often more than is actually even donated - to the people or groups they operate on behalf of, while major charities, such as Oxfam and the Red Cross have high admin, property and employment costs that come out of the money you donate. How much do you think it costs to put adverts on the TV, or in the newspaper, or put charity muggers (who earn around £10-12 PER HOUR - that's nearly $25) on the street? It costs more than most small charities receive in a year.

The charity I work for has a corporate training side, and my department did £2.5m of training, this year (that's without costs taken from it). Next year we're spending £1.5m on an advertising campaign. While yesterday, I took $100.00 in cash and sent it directly to the family of a little boy I heard of through Lakota-Aid, who can't get to hospital for his chemotherapy, because they have no transport.

Who gets a greater share of the money donated to them?

Judge for yourselves the good, honest causes from the scams - all that takes is commonsense and a little gut instinct - but don't be swayed by names in lights, or the over-cautiousness of others. It's your money, and it's your time: use it wisely because it doesn't last forever.


This is a place for warm fuzzies, not throwing tantrums because people don't necessarily share our points of view: let's focus on the good we can do, not the arguments we can have.

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( Her comment on my post above - screencapped )

( Her comment immediately before on the post I posted here earlier, the community version )

I'm just... absolutely shocked and appalled. You might expect that behaviour from fandom moderators if you bitch about Weir, but from the moderator of a community like payingitforward? That's something to be ashamed of.

Can anyone even see what is inflammatory, other than the fact it disagrees with her original post? And by 'original' I mean 'before she deleted her one and all the disagreeing comments and reposted'?

I was furious about her attitude, now I'm kind of sickened by it. :( I really liked that community.