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04 Feb 2011 21:24

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Culture: Reddit’s hivemind accidentally turns on girl’s cancer fundraiser

  • cause A girl who was looking to raise donations for a charity head-shaving event (in support of cancer victims) posted a few times on Reddit for the campaign.
  • effect The Reddit community turned on her after one user claimed she was a total scammer; even the FBI was called. Problem was, the girl was a real girl and not lying.
  • result The Redditor was proven wrong, and she even ended up raising a couple more bucks than she would’ve otherwise – and Gawker even wrote about her. source
  • » Postscript: Now, after scolding Reddit for almost ruining a girl’s head-shaving campaign, the site’s community manager, Erik Martin, is offering to shave his head if the site can raise $30,000. As for the girl, Maya Gilsey of St. Lawrence University, she got her head shaved today. Good for her.

17 Aug 2010 10:48

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U.S.: Pretend you’re a fisherman: How to get in on some of BP’s cash

  • Apparently, ten percent of claims could be fraudulent. BP, because they’ve bungled just about everything else related to the oil spill, has apparently bungled the claims process, too, with some people pretending to be fishermen just to get some money from the company. But it goes both ways – some con artists have pretended to be BP employees to scam people deserving of money. Note: People suck sometimes. source

19 Sep 2009 11:05

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