Online "begging" - question

When In Rome

Ex Member
Joined
Dec 29, 2016
Messages
8,467
Reaction score
4,441
Points
1,861
Location
UK
This is similar to the thread on "dangerous" dogs where inverted commas are intentional as it's my assumption / opinion rather than a statement of fact.

I'm also pleased that I can no longer locate the tweet. I only just discovered how to copy and paste tweets into threads anyway but I would not want to directly name the person in this case. It could all be genuine.

But it disturbed me when I read it.

So a lady wrote of her troubles. Some kind of change in circumstances, suddenly finding it difficult to make ends meet, pay bills, "just £1 or even 50p" would help keep the wolf from the door and the bailiffs out, she tweeted.

Maybe it was the last bit about donations would help buy materials to continue her artwork.

It was when I scrolled down to view replies from lots of people who had (I assume) truly donated amounts from £10 up to £100 in one case.

I did reply saying that, if genuine, I wished her well though I was uncomfortable about the intention. I've had no reaction to that and so ultimately cannot locate the post to review it again.

My initial reaction (and those that know me are aware I'm uber literal) was WOW! - if I just made up a tweet like that I could make a killing.

It just came over to me as begging, so I'm begging the question - could it be? What are your thoughts?

There's a link to a donation page (that well known one) of course that listed all the monies sent so far.

If it's a genuine case, of course people can ask and people will give but, I dunno, it rang alarm bells for me.
 
Is it any different from crowd funding though, instead of people cutting back or making do with what they've got they want they still want what everyone else has.

When I got married we had enough money to get by and both my Wife and I worked at extra jobs for any thing else we wanted. It seems that now it's lets put it on social media and get eveyone else work and pay me.

I can see how it's worthwhile in some cases but it seems to have been taken over by everyone who wants something now and doesn't want to work or save for it.
 
One of my followers on Twitter has given a tenner I was surprised to see.

Found the tweet and gofundme page via history. Like me, this person is on ESA.

£640 raised of £500 target

So there's a target.


I haven't missed out a zero. £140 over target and people still giving.

If you got what you wanted, wouldn't you end the fund?

She sells artwork online, I found that.

This would set you back £125.

il-794x-N-2273850743-ki1q.jpg
 
Last edited:
A budding piccaso, I wouldn't give 10p for that.

I'm sure she wouldn't refuse free money so why stop there, she maybe able to afford art lessons then. :rotfl:
 
Last edited:
I'm no art officianado, or much else come to think of it, but another two of my followers who I do consider friends have donated I see.

I just thought that as I had answered quite politely, not accusative but saying I was uncomfortable with the intention, she has ignored that. A simple "Ah don't worry if you can't help" you might have expected.

But no, where people have tweeted saying how much they've given and whatever, she's all thanks, hugs and kisses.

Clearly to get something like that, I need to open my wallet.
 
I'm a bit skint at the mo and I'm an artist. Can anyone help me out?
Any monies donated will be spent on new crayons, finger paints, plasticine & orange squash.
Here's my latest work.

Piece de resistance.jpg
 
I think so long as you are being honest up front - and not attempting to scam by suggesting you are raising funds on behalf of a charity then there's no real issue. It's an anonymous (if you want it to be) way of donating to an individual and you never know, their art skills might improve!!

My wife normally runs a concert for her music students each year, but of course with COVID she's not been able to. Instead she's put up a bunch of clips on her website and has setup a gofundme page for donations. The money is split between a local charity and towards my daughter's planned trip to do some voluntary work in Africa next year.
 
Reminds me of a senior manager in a previous job who wanted us mere plebs to sponsor him ride his touring motorbike round Europe so he could send his 16 year old niece (who had never been abroad before) to Thailand to help elephants.
 
I'm a bit skint at the mo and I'm an artist. Can anyone help me out?
Any monies donated will be spent on new crayons, finger paints, plasticine & orange squash.
Here's my latest work.

View attachment 1355052

That could have been one of the greatest works of our time.

Instead, centuries from now, it will cause debate and disparity in the art world as people wonder if it is truly an original or just some cheap homage.
Art lovers will spend small fortunes on it, in the hope that one day, it is authenticated and large fortunes will follow.

And all this because you "forgot" to sign it.
 
That could have been one of the greatest works of our time.

Instead, centuries from now, it will cause debate and disparity in the art world as people wonder if it is truly an original or just some cheap homage.
Art lovers will spend small fortunes on it, in the hope that one day, it is authenticated and large fortunes will follow.

And all this because you "forgot" to sign it.

Doh! :facepalm:
 
...It just came over to me as begging, so I'm begging the question - could it be? What are your thoughts?
...
Of course it's begging. What else could it be? Even if valid, the genuineness of the case is irrelevant. As far as I can tell she's not offering anything in return; and even if she were, it would still be begging if the prices asked are out of proportion to the goods offered. That includes some crowdfunding, too.
 
Begging pure and simple.

I've seen lots of this on Facebook, especially when the beggar gets found out that they are making it all up.

I'd never give money to someone begging on Facebook for any reason, far too many scammers out there.

It doesn't help that the artwork is awful. I'd never pay £125 for that, you could get a child to do that.
 
Except me. I can hardly draw breath. If that's what she has done, I'm sorry for the few followers that have helped line her pockets. One of them actually said because she had been on Twitter ages and that they thought she was very nice, that's why they gave £30. Amazing!
 
I see begging slightly differently, but this person is asking for money and I can understand why some people would not be happy with that.

I am guessing there's probably some mental health issues in play here as well, but if she's entertaining people on Twitter and with her "art", fair do's.

If she was blatantly lying about where the money was going, things might be different, but this just seems like a slightly intense person throwing herself on the mercy of others.
 
These unverifiable storys or gofundme pages have a similar pattern.

It usually helps... If the female is very pretty with a decent well written sob story (true or maybe more often not).Unfortunately, if she’s not very pretty or worse ugly as sin... they won’t get a penny!

Cheers.;)
 
It is difficult as some people are genuinely desperate but it seems everyone wants something for nothing
if you can afford to run a social media account it cant be that bad

Kids are going without breakfast families without food lets start a charity
today it seems that kids are deprived if they don't have a computer so lets give them one,Oh wait a minute that must mean they cant afford internet access better pay for that as well hold on the electricity bill will now cost more

Beggars make a good living "Begging" some are probably receiving benifits as well all tax free
covid has made it worse everyone and there dog now has their hand out

even before that it annoyed me that adverts were running every 15 minutes asking for money for charity's sponsored by the TV channel (STV) I have no doubt the cost of the advertising goes straight into STV's bank

sorry for the rant but I have lost focus on what is genuine need and the bandwagon
 
+1
but why am I not surprised
a local hairdresser owner claiming furlow for staff allegedly bought a new car with the taxpayer funds
again why am I not surprised
how many drive up to the food bank in BMW's and Audi
fraud is rife
 
Serious question: why do you even care?
What's it to you if this person is just trying it on or genuinely on her uppers?
Why do you care if others choose to spend their own money on this nonsense?
We're turning into a nation of digital curtain twitchers. Or maybe these platforms are merely enabling our innate curtain twitching tendencies?

Social media is rife with this kind of thing, to various degrees, fortunately there's an easy solution for those of us who don't like it.
 

The latest video from AVForums

TV Buying Guide - Which TV Is Best For You?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom