Forum Donation Q&A

[pixmedic]

I have been asked what the decision making process is like for our donations, and why we do not make it like a lottery with a random drawing.
The answer to the second question is simple. Because this is how we want to do it. We feel our process gives the donation a very personal touch, and while this makes it anything but impartial, its not a process we are likely to change. (to those that appear to feel that this is unfair, we are sorry these donations are not to your liking)
The first question is a little more complicated, and there really isn't any specific "checklist" scoring system where we assign points for certain things and the person with the most points wins. But... we do look at the criteria I list in the donation post and grade the interested parties based on how they responded and their forum activity. It basically comes down to me and wife looking at a few things.
1: forum activity. this one probably carries the most weight. we don't base this one on post counts, but we do peruse the interested parties recent activity and postings (which anyone can do by clicking on a persons name and appropriate tab) and
see how (and how often) they have been interacting with the forum. this criteria is definitely quality over quantity, and like most of the donation process, completely subjective.

2: Need before Greed. (I don't mean greed in a derogatory sense, its an old gaming term) this is a tough category, and it is why we ask for a full gear list from applicants. I mean, its basically the honor system, so we have to trust that people are being honest with their equipment list and don't just want something to have a backup. we arent exactly donating high end equipment, but as a possible example... if your gear list is 10k in equipment,we would take that into consideration vs someone with 1k in equipment. we also ask for a gear list because we want to know that you are capable of actually making use of whatever we are donating now and not just trying to stock up for later.

3: your actual post. Here's where we surprisingly have to disqualify at least one person in almost every donation (not all though). in every donation post, I list specific things that must be done to qualify. we don't ask for much, and I do allow just a little leeway if I see there was actual effort made to comply with the rules. (we understand language differences might cause some difficulties) but the people that are unable or unwilling to read through the OP and post accordingly do not even make it to my wife's review process. This part is pretty subjective as well, but we feel that since we are giving something away and covering the shipping cost, its not too much to ask that someone take a few minutes to explain why they want it and how it will help them.
This is the part that seems to draw the most criticism for some reason, and a thus we have, in the past, considered confining this part to PM or email. ultimately though, we decided that it was better to keep everything out in the open where everyone could see the entirety of the donation from start to finish without having to wonder what was going on in private discussion.
everyone can see the same information that we see when we make our decision.

anyways....that's basically the process in a nutshell.
when I decide that enough time has passed, me and the wife look at all those things, and when we come to consensus, I make the announcement. I hope that satisfactorily answers the question, and I encourage anyone else with questions or concerns to PM me. I promise to answer as thoroughly and honestly as possible as well as leaving you anonymous.

 

[pjaye]

The answer to the second question is simple. Because this is how we want to do it. We feel our process gives the donation a very personal touch, and while this makes it anything but impartial, its not a process we are likely to change. (to those that appear to feel that this is unfair, we are sorry these donations are not to your liking)

You really don't need to provide any explanation beyond the above. I can't believe people would seriously have an issue with how you and your wife handle it. It's a donation! Provided free by someone out of the goodness of their hearts. You don't have to do this, no one is making you do this, you are doing this because you and your wife are awesome people.

 

[minicoop1985]

There's plenty of greedy people out there who would simply take the donated item and sell it. Or they never return or say thanks. That kind of crap is just plain rude.


I think Pix was the one who donated my camera bag. Still have it, use it almost daily.

 

[pixmedic]

The answer to the second question is simple. Because this is how we want to do it. We feel our process gives the donation a very personal touch, and while this makes it anything but impartial, its not a process we are likely to change. (to those that appear to feel that this is unfair, we are sorry these donations are not to your liking)

You really don't need to provide any explanation beyond the above. I can't believe people would seriously have an issue with how you and your wife handle it. It's a donation! Provided free by someone out of the goodness of their hearts. You don't have to do this, no one is making you do this, you are doing this because you and your wife are awesome people.

Well, after all, everyone is entitled to their dumb opinion. [emoji6]

Seriously though, I just thought it would be easiest to address it openly. When it has come up in the past my answer was usually just "because we say so", which is obviously all that is technically needed, but since multiple people messaged me this time around I felt that maybe there were other people curious about it too but didn't want to ask.

This way, everyone gets to see the answer. Just in case.

Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk

 

[pjaye]

The answer to the second question is simple. Because this is how we want to do it. We feel our process gives the donation a very personal touch, and while this makes it anything but impartial, its not a process we are likely to change. (to those that appear to feel that this is unfair, we are sorry these donations are not to your liking)

You really don't need to provide any explanation beyond the above. I can't believe people would seriously have an issue with how you and your wife handle it. It's a donation! Provided free by someone out of the goodness of their hearts. You don't have to do this, no one is making you do this, you are doing this because you and your wife are awesome people.

Well, after all, everyone is entitled to their dumb opinion. [emoji6]

Seriously though, I just thought it would be easiest to address it openly. When it has come up in the past my answer was usually just "because we say so", which is obviously all that is technically needed, but since multiple people messaged me this time around I felt that maybe there were other people curious about it too but didn't want to ask.

This way, everyone gets to see the answer. Just in case.

Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk

And I personally think that if someone is going to bi tch about how you do this, then they should not ever be considered for any donation.

But then, I'm really cranky today and hate when someone who is doing something good has to explain themselves.