Accountability

[jdavis]

All I was saying is if people had been given a head's up that the site was in financial straights, I am almost positive they would have gladly given the money needed to bail it out. I mean, they paid his way to Origins (or GenCon)! He's a rock-star. He could at this point say "Hey all, I'd really fancy a new car." and there's a good chance people would send in money to buy ol' Morrie a new ride.

I didn't know he was a rock star too! Maybe he can put out a greatest hits album, I'll buy one. Hey Morrus I guess the big questions on everybody's mind now are "can you get me backstage passes for your next concert?" and "do you know Carson Daily?"

 

[JeffB]

Amazing what large sums of money bring out in people

FWIW , I trust ya Russ!


And if ya wann buy a few beers w/ the money I sent, that's fine too. You've done a hell of alot for us..beers are on me

 

[Utrecht]

I don't think that it is unreasonable to maybe want a "state of EN World" address every now and then. I think Russ now sees that if he asks for resources he can get them when he needs them (that may have been in question in his mind -- I know both he and I thought raising the $1600 would be impossible even if we had a week; plus who likes begging for money, hat in hand? That's no fun even if it is necessary.) So I think certainly there's been a lesson learned that being more open about upcoming financial problems would be helpful. Is this basically what folks are asking for?

In short yes - this would satisfy me.

 

[Mark Chance]

I asked myself the same question as the OP. It's the same question I ask myself when I give money to one of the many homeless people around my neighborhood. What guarantees do I have that my gift will not be squandered?

Answer: None.

Next question: Do I care?

Answer: Nope. If the unthinkable should happen, and my gift to ENWorld be wasted on Things Not Appropriate, that is not my cross to bear.

I did what was right, and that is enough.

 

[Silver Moon]

Good summary Teflon. A gift is a gift - no strings attached.

My favorite movie of all times is "It's a Wonderful Life", and I loved the analogy made during the drive to that film, and the photos posted (baby Teflon was the best). You'll recall at the end of that film, AFTER everyone in town has given what they can George receives the telegram from his old friend offering several times the amount he needs to cover the debt. Nobody asked for their money back or asked how it would be spent. They trusted their friend. And we should all trust that Morrus will use the donations wisely.

 

[barsoomcore]

I did what was right, and that is enough.

Yer darn tootin'. And if that's not enough for some of ya, ya shouldn't'a done it inna first place.

It seems like two issues keep getting confused in this thread.

The first issue is: "I gave money so now I get a say in what happens." This is, to my mind, indefensible. No contract was offered, no guarantees were made -- heck, Morrus didn't even ASK us to do this in the first place. He just told us he could no longer afford to keep the site running. We're the crazy ones running around with our wallets hanging out.

So if you gave money under the same conditions I did, you don't therefore get a say in anything.

The second issue is: "I'd like to have a little bit more notice next time the site is starting to get into trouble." COMPLETELY separate issue. One that has lots of solutions and I'm sure the recent crisis will galvanize the band of egotistical, know-it-all chatterboxes who populate this site (God bless us, every one) into finding ways to maintain this great community we've built here.

The second issue requires lots of thinking, lots of discussion and will never be completely resolved, I'm sure. It's the basic problem of "How do we run this site?" The first issue is a closed one, to me.

 

[PA]

People, it's a gift. If Morrus trusts me enough to let me sit on 10k that you all gave to him, you should trust Morrus do what he needs to do to the best of his ability. When you give money to help a friend, don't expect an accounting of how all of it's going to be spent. When he went to Gen Con, no one asked to see an accounting of his expenses there...

I know it's a lot of money. That shouldn't matter except to make everyone proud for being part of a great community. I've (and I'm sure others like Eric and Morrus) have been working pretty hard for the past two days to keep things up and going. Talk like this gets our spirits down and loses sight of why we did this to begin with: to preserve what we had already, not to demand more.

Call me a jerk, but I don't think we gave anything to Morrus as an individual. We gave our money to our little community. All for one and one for all, and all that stuff. And I'm sorry, but the fact that Morrus trusts you doesn't mean that we must trust him.

Now I do trust him, but for other reasons: namely, the time he's spent to develop ENworld. I don't believe his judgement to be perfect, but then I do believe he knows more on the subject than I do, and I have faith in his dedication. He also stated that he would take advice on how to use the money, which is always a wise decision. For what it's worth, my 2 cents would be: I hope that most of the money is kept to keep ENworld alive, rather than to "improve" it. It may look like a lot of money now, but it will melt faster than you may expect.

I won't cry if I'm not listened to, though. And as you see, I sure don't demand more. On the contrary, I agree we must preserve what we have already.

 

[PA]

Knowing him, he'll probably find it hard to use any of it for anything besides something directly related to the site, but I'd love it if he did take the missus out for a nice date and maybe a weekend trip. He's put a lot of effort into this site; I think he deserves it.

He certainly does, but the fund raising was done for another reason. We do have a right to expect this reason to be respected. When I gave money to the September 11 relief fund, I expected the money to be used to help the September 11 victims. When I gave money to keep ENworld alive, I expect the money to be used for that purpose. That's all.

(Important: Morrus never ever said otherwise. My answer is to jgbrowning only, regarding a general point of ethic; it is not an accusation in any way!! I have said it already and I can repeat it here: I have faith in Morrus, in his proven dedication to keeping ENworld alive and thriving.)

 

[PA]

The first issue is: "I gave money so now I get a say in what happens." This is, to my mind, indefensible.

Actually, it is. We gave money to save ENworld, so we can expect the money to be used for that purpose.

As for the means, they are Morrus's to choose.

 

[PA]

I asked myself the same question as the OP. It's the same question I ask myself when I give money to one of the many homeless people around my neighborhood. What guarantees do I have that my gift will not be squandered?

Answer: None.

Next question: Do I care?

Answer: Nope.

There is a difference between giving to one of the homeless (which, as it stands, I don't do) and giving to an organization that helps the homeless. Personally, I do very much care about what the money I give to charity is used for; I carefully choose the organization. If I give for the homeless, then I do care about the money being used to help the homeless, not for any other purpose, even a noble one.

I didn't give money to Morrus for his little Christmas; I gave money to keep ENworld alive--and, if I must repeat it again: yes, I do trust Morrus to use it for that purpose; my problem is not at all with Morrus but with people who say that we have no say about the money we gave: we do. It was not a gift, it was an answer to fundraising. We have no say about the means but we do have about the purpose.