Scammer Alert

[fireheart]

Yes, yes it is. I feel confident that, should it come to it, screen caps and our logs etc would be quite enough to defend us against a libel/slander accusation in a court of law. I don't expect this to be more than a pissing match on the 'net, and it wouldn't have even got that far save for us wanting to defend ourselves against libellous statements elsewhere.

I doubt that it will go to the point of a court of law for two reasons:

1) other party is Australian.

2) If they are struggling so much with their medical costs and no charity will help them, then legal aid will not exactly be of much help to them either.

[Rapscallion]

"Scammer alert" seems much more than "beggar running mouth"

Yes, yes it is. I feel confident that, should it come to it, screen caps and our logs etc would be quite enough to defend us against a libel/slander accusation in a court of law. I don't expect this to be more than a pissing match on the 'net, and it wouldn't have even got that far save for us wanting to defend ourselves against libellous statements elsewhere.

I don't run adverts on here. This place costs. I don't mind the cost as it's a necessary community and it's my way of giving back to the world. I'm fortunate enough to have a job that allows me to ignore the expense, and I can remember being a hand to bank manager retail worker. The only time I can remember having asked anyone here for anything was for air miles (or retail tokens for them) for Ree so she could visit a friend's wedding in Australia.

I think I can be forgiven for being irked when the forumers of cs.com, a demographic of predominantly lower paid retail workers, are lied to in order to gain fiscal reward. The facts of the case in question are something we didn't really worry about to start with, but there are quite a few holes developing as more information about services available become known, and when you see that which you know to have happened be misrepresented and used to exhort others to give more money, well, I for one become downright surly.

I'm not perfect. We disagree in the moderating area from time to time over how things should go. We don't get everything right. We're human.

We can also smell bullshit when it's smeared on our top lips. Trust me, run a forum and you soon work out how to detect that sweet, sweet scent.

Rapscallion

[KhirasHY]

I'm contributing poorly to a social issue with inane smartassery!

Bow before me!!!

/Got nothin'
//Nope...nothing to see here.

[42_42_42]

Ok, I don't know exactly what's going on because I'm not directly involved in it. But it really ticks me off that someone would trash this community. I may not know any of you in real life, but you are my dear friends all the same. I've never known a group of people to be so caring and compassionate and supportive in real life as the people on this site are.

Hugs to everyone!

[fireheart]

They're still twisting the words and elaborating on things. It's just turning into more and more of a headache.

[Pimento]

Man. Seriously. This is just....epic.


Strangely no matter the outcome of their situation I can't feel any joy/sympathy. There doesn't need to be any more people like them in the world.

And how are the people who have shown support and sympathy getting flogged and the few of us being the opposite escape criticism. Seems pretty ass backwards to this guy.

Really at this point it all seems like a game to me and should be treated as such.

[Ree]

So, there's a battle going on, and I get PM'ed on facebook, so I do a back and forth for a bit, and I guess, due to my nature and the way I was feeling, I came across as sympathetic, because then there is a blog post that specifically states, "I talked to this mod" in several spots, and the mod seemingly backed the person up.
I send a message clarifying my feelings.
I get a reply saying, "Thanks very much for your long drawn out reply, but *I* didn't post that. My friend did."

I'm sorry, but I have a complete lack of belief in the credibility of anyone who makes posts in the first person and represents themselves as another person, and then, after the fact, when they are yet again called on comments, they go back to, "Are you stupid? Can't you read? I said I was posting on this person's behalf."

OK...which is it?
You were posting, but the person in question messaged me about events occurring on the blog, and then you posted again, making comments based on the PM's between me and the other person, and I messaged the original person, and they messaged me and claimed innocence.... and on it goes.
No wonder I have a splitting headache!

Oh yeah, and the whole time, throughout all the messaging, I am being told that they don't have time for the drama and nonsense because they are dealing with life and death and fighting for their cause...and yet...they still have time to message.

[Peppergirl]

While I can understand the need for rules about requests for charitable donations, I think it's kind of a low blow to title this thread "Scammer Alert." Is there actually any evidence of this being a scam?

With all due respect, perhaps you'd feel differently if you were running the site with your own money, allowed bending of rules for this particular person, only to have your site trashed online completely unfairly and with blatant lies and total misrepresentation.

[Pimento]

"Scammer alert" seems much more than "beggar running mouth"

[Rapscallion]

Enough for me not to be worried by possible threats of legal advice being taken.

Rapscallion

[Headset Hellion]

While I can understand the need for rules about requests for charitable donations, I think it's kind of a low blow to title this thread "Scammer Alert." Is there actually any evidence of this being a scam?

[Trixie]

This is just the opinion of someone who is mainly a lurker but in the five years or so I've been around here (lurked a bit before I actually joined up) there has not been one request for help, advice, opinions, good thoughts, prayers or even just venting from someone not really looking for anything more than a place to put their words that has been ignored or brushed off.

There's been a few instances that a person wanted or needed help immediately and again the outpouring of support was there. People offering up any form of communication (even a couch or spare bedroom in a few cases) because one of their fellow members here needed help.

At one point or another everyone is going to have something happen in their lives that's a game changer and on some level there will be people who can relate or even just give good thoughts as support. Everyone here is spread out all over the world and most of the members here only know each other by the names they post under. But ya know what? None of that matters.

I can come here and say my day was rotten because I put spoiled milk in my cereal there will be a whole thread of spoiled milk stories and maybe even some smartass comments to lighten the mood. For someone to not only take advantage of the goodwill of people but to twist it around into something nasty is just sad.

I'm sorry that this person in question is going through some trouble but instead of trashing this place they should put that energy into their situation. And it doubly sucks that banning this person isn't the end of the story and mods here have to go defend themselves over something that one person let get out of control.

This got way longer than I expected. But I just really wanted to say that even though I'm more of a lurker than poster I do appreciate the work put into this forum (it's only one of two that I even visit) and that it's even here to use if I need it.

[sms001]

This whole situation is sad. I haven't met many of the members here in person but I already know them to be the most caring group of people in my life, next to my own family.

It's my Callahan's.

Compared to some, I DO lead a charmed life. I could throw in the things that DO trouble me here, but because I have some empathy and realize that there are much tougher situations out there, I won't. So when I see a situation like this one developing I don't get all cynical, I don't run to the mods, I don't call the poster out. I cross my fingers that no one gets taken in beyond their means and trust that if it gets too out of control, the mod squad will step in and handle it.
This attitude, which I see reflected across a pretty broad swathe of CSers, is always going to invite trouble. I'm going to concur with Ree here and say it is desperation rather than EWism that provoked this particular behaviour, but there's always going to be someone who sees a group of nice, caring, people whose first thought will be "How can I take advantage of that?" But the answer to that problem, locking things down so tight that people can't ask for help, diminishes the site as a whole, and each of us individually.
So thanks for the way you've handled it so far, and thanks for helping make me the kind of person who DOES "concur with Ree" instead of the cynical bastard I really am deep inside.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

This is being wildly and hilariously misrepresented elsewhere as you saying you hoped shit would hit this person in the face, and apparently this also means we wish this person harm. I'm...done commenting on it in that other place. Anything I say is going to blow up in my face.

I'm laughing like a lunatic here. I really am. I figure it's a good thing to be put down by people who are wrong.

This whole situation is sad. I haven't met many of the members here in person but I already know them to be the most caring group of people in my life, next to my own family.

Because they are so caring, they set up an area of the site for donations for people going through tough times, and set up some very reasonable ground rules for the site. Somebody breaks the rules, gets asked to stop, doesn't, gets banned. And we're the bad guys here.

I totally understand tough times, but there are people here who've gone through immense personal tragedy. They're the wrong people to try and guilt trip.

I will keep following this, but I won't head over to this other blog being referenced.

[Ree]

I don't post this story to make this about me or my grief. It's to show that at least one moderator has gone through the loss of a child.

Exactly!
That was a similar reason why I posted my story.

A comment was made "I pray that you never have to go through an experience like this" as if to imply that my charmed life meant I couldn't possibly understand how desperate the situation was, and my asking the member to follow site rules and guidelines regarding financial requests was extremely unreasonable and was singling them out for different treatment and censorship.

I've said all along, I totally get the desperation, but this is a big site with a lot of members, and if we start bending and caving for one, we have to do it for all, and I really do not wish to be put in the position of deciding whose cause is more worthy, or whose situation is more desperate.