Recently a few diaries have had a large impact in their ability to raise funds for different worthy causes of interest to the users of Daily Kos. At the same time, I believe this raises an issue that should be addressed by the community and, perhaps, the higher-ups:
Is the role of Daily Kos to be in part a telethon/paypalathon for individual charities? Should there be limits or guidelines to solicitations on this site?
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UPDATE: A meta diary about personal fund-raising was posted by Kos (thanks to clonecone), but guidelines didn't seem to appear. Perhaps the FAQ should be updated?
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Allow me to use an analogy below...
Many of us probably listen to and enjoy National Public Radio. They (usually) produce great programming, report well on pertinent issues, and allow us access to information and content, like classical music, that is difficult to get elsewhere.
However, NPR partially relies upon the generosity of its listeners to support its continued operation. You know how it is when the fund-raising drive is going--you're listening to Talk of the Nation, and in the breaks (for what may seem like every break!) you have to listen to a sales pitch. Whether or not you already gave, there is no easy way to tune it out, and it sometimes detracts from the listening experience.
Now for NPR, we listeners accept the pledge drive as part of the media, even if it occasionally annoys us or distracts from our enjoyment (I myself tend to think, "Why can't my taxes support this fully year round, instead of some asinine adventure in the Middle East?" But I digress...). Here, however, we have the benefit of input into the community. To a large extent, we police ourselves and decide upon the content we find acceptable. We can avoid request for money here if we so choose, although such high-profile stories invariable generate curiosity and interest that draw one toward them.
In reality, there are a lot of worthy causes out there in need of help. While the decision to look at a diary or donate are personal, this recent trickle could theoretically become a deluge of requests for help if Daily Kos was to be seen as a fertile ground to quickly raise thousands of dollars in donations. Is this something users would be comfortable with?
To answer this question, I commissioned the following, completely-non-scientific poll to see where we stand on the issue of fund-raising calls and pleas on Daily Kos. This is not meant to be any statement on the worthiness of any cause advocated for in the past or future. Hopefully this will stimulate discussion in a way that bad snark simply cannot.