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Barbelith Travel & Emergency Fund

14:13 / 22.02.07

What do we think about having a community travel scholarship & emergency fund? Is there way to set one up and oversee it in such a way to make everyone feel warm & fuzzy and not exploited?

My idea is that there is a lot of compassion and love floating around on here equal to some discomfort of our fellows. Most of us would gladly stand a round or three and do a bit more than that in an emergency or to help someone get to other 'Lithers for help.

Charity starts at home so how would we make this thing work and not be a giant headache?

My thought is to set up a paypal account any of us could donate to and ask the community to vote (maybe by PM if need be) on requests? I would be supportive of some of the long term mods and Tom having access to the fund in response to requests the board voted on.

It might be used for airlifts for stranded 'Lithers, food for hungry ones, or travel expense to send someone to visit another 'Lither.

There might be a vote requirement in relation to amount requested. I dunno...

What do you think?

15:01 / 22.02.07

I think it's a lovely idea.

But i'm a cynic. A goddam awful cynic at that.

What could we do to ensure that i.. err.. people don't make requests for emergency travel to see that dying frog when they just want a new bag?

Is the barbelove strong enough that we can go 'It might happen, but goodammit i just don't care!'

Sorry. Cynic. Lovely idea though.

15:08 / 22.02.07

Well that's sort of why I'm thinking about the vote. I suspect community members in better standing will have an advantage but that's not uncommon in social groups. Better standing meaning peoples we don't think are full of shite.

I'm a bit worried about the pride factor as well how hard it would be to ask the board for help publicly. Maybe that would make it a bit less likely to be abused?

Leigh Monster loses its cool

15:18 / 22.02.07

would there be less risk if the "fund" tended to lean towards care packages or specific airline tickets or whatever, as opposed to cold hard cash?

15:18 / 22.02.07

XK, I love the idea, but it will take dedication and trust. I am a cynic right along with trampetunia, as well, however. It is a lovely idea and heartwarming, but head-warning, also. I mean, look at all the issues with the darn Wandering Notebooks.

Money is even more tempting to make off with than notebooks, too.

If there was a fund set up, it would have to be guarded and maintained. I am not certain if Tom Coates would want that added responsibility. Secondly, what trampetunia mentioned regarding recipients of funding. That gets even more complicated.

The idea is not impossible, but those would be my first two concerns.

16:18 / 22.02.07

I'm not sure how PayPal works - couldn't we just maintain a PayPal sluch fund, and then when people need help, the admins give them the password to it, then change it after?

...how do you get money out of PayPal, anyway?

16:31 / 22.02.07

Well I'm thinking some of the longstanding mods might be able to push the send button on the paypal account rather than just one person. I think we have a good reserve of trustworthy karma informed people. Like treasurers.

As for possible douchbaggery with requesting it, would having to be voted on not help that? Could do private PM style votes if need be to avoid fear of nastiness.

I think the wise view would be every penny you put into the fund may go to save someone's ass, educate them, or be wasted on crap. Don't donate if you feel the community is more likely to be full of cheaters.

I guess I'm looking at it in terms of buying someone booze at a Meet. I'd drop 5$ per empty glass up to my wallet's limit just 'cause someone is a member of the 'Lith.

MattShepherd: I WEDDED KALI!

16:40 / 22.02.07

The problem with voting is imagine how crap it would feel if "Barbelith voted not to help you out."

17:05 / 22.02.07

I believe you just need an email account to get money out of paypal. I think you tell it to dump the money into your bank account.

The whole process looks like this:

Person A with money uses paypal to email person B a set amount from tiny amounts to I believe 500$. Person B gets email from paypal explaining how they can pull it out and into their account if they don't already have a paypal account. If Person B already has a paypal account attached to the email address the amount gets dumped in there and they decide to pull it down or not.

Ok so let's look at saying no. Would it breed resentment if we said no because the request was not something we were comfortable with?

*

17:35 / 22.02.07

Yeah, it would. I'm not that mature that if I were in dire straits and someone said that the board has prioritized SomeOtherPoster's "dying granny" over my "lost in a foreign city and someone's taken all my money", I wouldn't be really pissed. As justified as the decision might be, when we feel desperate enough to ask for help, we're not always the most rational about it.

And look, we can't even all chip in for hosting fees a lot of the time. How many of us could afford to donate? how much? Travel emergencies/emergency travel can get pretty expensive.

Great idea, XK, and I hugglesya for it. It speaks to all the things I love about this place. Unfortunately, I think it would ultimately be foiled by all the things I hate about it.

Aside: I want to plug couchsurfing.com here, because it might save some Barbelithnian traveller some money or a night in the cold.

17:45 / 22.02.07

I don't like to be the piddler of parades, but keep in mind how the notebooks have fared. so as much as I like some of the folks around here, perhaps giving is best left to very close and trusted friends, or to charities that are seriously in need.

17:54 / 22.02.07

Ok maybe I'm looking at this upside down. There's an airlift thread and perhaps instead of being about cash we can think about lending aid.

So would it build resentment and weirdness to put up a request for help and see who willingly steps up? What happens if no one does?

19:23 / 22.02.07

What is the airlift thread failing to do that you think this one should do?

21:07 / 22.02.07

sorry I was trying to explore why the airlift thread as is does not build resentment but a fund one would. I see this thread more as a discussion zone anyway.

23:17 / 22.02.07

I think there's a substantial difference between buying somebody a pizza and buying somebody a plane ticket. Possibly that has something to do with it? It's not that hard to ask somebody to buy you a beer (as compared to something big). If somebody has to skip a meal, it's easier to not feel resentful than if somebody has worked up the nerve to make a plea for a substantial sum of money for something important, and is then either denied or passed over in favor of somebody else.