GoFundMe Campaign suggestions

[ZDevilInside]

I am NOT here asking for $.  I am asking for suggestions on how to get more "action" on my GoFundMe campaign.

 

On Thanksgiving, our home in Cuernavaca, Mexico was burglarized.  The burglars took everything of monetary value from the house including 2 safes, 2 lock boxes, 7 computers, 6 tablets, 3 passports and a whole slew of other things.  We didn't have insurance - we moved from teh US to Mexico so we could afford to live and get by barely. 

 

My wife works online and does web/graphic design.  I am a student working on a PhD in IT.  My research was about different technologies that can be used for clustering and high speed computing.  I used virtual machines to model ideas.  I also did a lot of video editing and graphical work.

 

Anyhow, Playboy's Miss February 1969 is a family friend.  She has started a GoFundMe campaign for us after ours didn't get very far.  Hers hasn't done much either.  We are trying to brainstorm ways to help it get going so we can get the equipment to get our lives back on the right track and so we can start earning money again to live upon.  I now turn to you for help in trying to find out what can be done to help our GoFundMe get going in the right direction. 

 

What type of things would you recommend trying to get the campaign spread?  What do you think would be needed to help people decide to give a donation to the cause? 

 

Please note, I haven't shared a link to the GoFundMe.  That should show that I am not trying to scam you or separate you from any money.  If Linus wants to give me a good system to work with, I wouldn't mind but doubt that would happen. (An attempt at humor - you take any win you can get.)  I just want to find a way to bridge the gap from what we have had given and what we need to get back on our feet and earning. 

 

Someone (on another forum) said we should get Miss February to agree to send a picture of hers from 1969 if someone donates and one from her today if someone doesn't.  As tempting as that might be for me, I cannot be that cruel.

 

Anyhow, if you can think of anything, let me know.  If you want to see the actual campaign, PM me and I will send you the link.  This post is NOT about money though or an appeal for you to donate. It is an appeal for brainstorming on how we can make this thing take off and get it so I can have a computer powerful enough for me to continue my research before I have to give up on my PhD pursuit and to get my wife back earning a living for us both.

 

Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated!

[Canada EH]

15 minutes ago, ZDevilInside said:

We didn't have insurance

Maybe its time to buy insurance right, it is pretty cheap to begin with, not sure why people dont buy it, its like really important. Maybe some churches can help you out, or non profits can help out with whatever they stole. I am not a big fan of social crowd funding. Its too easily abused because everyone doesn't know if the story is true or not. I am sure yours is true, but its a learning situation. Content insurance at a minimum if you are renting, but it also depends on what your stuff is worth. Everyone claims their stuff is expensive, always want more money then its worth.

[ZDevilInside]

Just now, Canada EH said:

Maybe its time to buy insurance right

If I had money to do it, I would have.  I had to make a choice between having insurance or being able to afford to get my Mother-In-Law moved down from Alaska because she was homeless before winter hit.  I took a gamble and lost.  Stop trying to blame a victim for something that they cannot control.

[Canada EH]

I am blaming no one. I always say its a Live & Learn situation. People have to do what they have to do. I am sorry if you felt that I was blaming the victim(s), you.

 

The only way you can get  more "action" as you say, is too have a sadder sob story. They garner the most money. That is the truth of the matter. You ask what to do to get more money, that is the logical way to get more money, more action. The saddest sob story that touches at the heart strings of the interweb.

 

How much money did you lose?

How much money are you asking for?

 

Another note, if babies are involved, or visibly handicapped persons, even children under 15 are involved. As long as they don't look too old, like 18.

= more "action" as you termed it

 

 

Also, if you can get your truthful testimony onto a news channel or into a news paper, you will get more action.

 

Word of mouth is great also.

 

Also people you know aka "connections" you could get more action.

 

The more "eyes" that see or read your truthful situation, the more "action" you will see.

 

 

31 minutes ago, ZDevilInside said:

I am asking for suggestions on how to get more "action" on my GoFundMe campaign.

 

[Andreas Lilja]

Well if you are doing a Ph.D. in STEM they probably think your income isn't too shabby.

 

Plus it's luxury goods, not like your house was destroyed in a fire.

[LogicalDrm]

Your story just isn't heartbreaking enough. Bunch of upper middleclassers getting robbed. Computers, lock boxes, safes? That just makes it sound like you were in the money before and were just bit stupid. If you would have had something going for your homeless mother-in-law with good backstory. Like if she was found terminally ill, lost job and home because of that, then it would sell. But yours is just too plain.

[imreloadin]

Now if you had moved to the US FROM Mexico "seeking better opportunities" and were burglarized, then my friend, you would be raking in the cash from all those bleeding heart SJWs...

[kaylexmorgana]

5 hours ago, ZDevilInside said:

If I had money to do it, I would have.  I had to make a choice between having insurance or being able to afford to get my Mother-In-Law moved down from Alaska because she was homeless before winter hit.  I took a gamble and lost.  Stop trying to blame a victim for something that they cannot control.

Victim blaming? You are definitely a liberal. How about move to one of your utopias like France where they give everything away for free like you want? 

 

And you took a gamble and want us to pay for it? Lol

 

 

Also never donate to GoScamMe. Just look at the fake ones you see on the news.

[Kamina]

Should have hopped on with the Caravan. Free stuff.

[Guest]

Sometimes lifes a bitch and you need to get on with it. Happens to everyone. Can't rely on other people for support, should start a side business or pick up an extra job - no other way around it. 

[Teddy07]

You thought it was a smart idea to move with all your expensive stuff to Mexico and not pay for insurance? I really expect more from a Ph.D. student. Now you want other people to pay for your stolen stuff? I mean wtf mate.

[Jtalk4456]

10 hours ago, ZDevilInside said:

1. how to get more "action" on my GoFundMe campaign.

 

2. On Thanksgiving, our home in Cuernavaca, Mexico was burglarized.

 

3. The burglars took everything of monetary value from the house including 2 safes, 2 lock boxes, 7 computers, 6 tablets, 3 passports and a whole slew of other things. 

 

4.We didn't have insurance - we moved from the US to Mexico so we could afford to live and get by barely. 

 

5. I am a student working on a PhD in IT.  My research was about different technologies that can be used for clustering and high speed computing.  I used virtual machines to model ideas.

 

6. Anyhow, Playboy's Miss February 1969 is a family friend.

 

7. what we have had given and what we need to get back on our feet and earning. 

 

8. Someone (on another forum) said we should get Miss February to agree to send a picture of hers from 1969 if someone donates and one from her today if someone doesn't.  As tempting as that might be for me, I cannot be that cruel.

 

9. It is an appeal for brainstorming on how we can make this thing take off and get it so I can have a computer powerful enough for me to continue my research before I have to give up on my PhD pursuit and to get my wife back earning a living for us both.

So I'm gonna go from a bit of a different perspective here. I'm going from the perspective of someone who found your page and deciding whether or not to donate.

1. asking for more action makes it sound like you don't need money, but just want it. Audience, traffic, either would be better.

2. First off, most people will ask how you got burglarized on thanksgiving, when most people are at home, eating turkey. Also you've established yourself as wealthy already, which will turn most donators off

3. Wait passports can be sold? or are we talking potential for identity theft? Either way, the laundry list of expensive items will only convince potential traffic that you have money and don't really need help. I don't mean to accuse anything here, but if I saw this and was deciding to donate or not, I'd conclude just from this far that this is a scam probably.

Also while we're talking about the ridiculous list of stolen items. I have 2 observations here.

A. safes and lockboxes, even the cheap ones are big and heavy, so to carry 4 away, plus that many computers tells me that a thief either knew you and knew where everything would be and had plenty of time to get it out, or you don't hide stuff very well. Lockboxes, safes and passports shouldn't be in plain sight and easy to move.

B. What the freak are you doing with 6 tablets?! Tablets are dead man! Get with a note 9!

4. You argued that you didn't have money for this, but with how much stuff you had stolen, even if you aren't rich, you have enough wealth apparently for 7 computers, and a couple safes. If you have that many valuable things, get insurance or stop buying expensive stuff until you have insurance accounted for in your budget.

5. Again showing that you have money and invalidating your need for help. Outside of that, sounds cool for what you're learning.

6. Lorrie Menconi - born in PA, not much else from a google search, so I'm not assuming she's a filthy rich model who could easily just cover your losses if she wanted to help. At the same time, mentioning you are friends with a playboy model after mentioning everything else only serves to further convince people you don't need money.

7. Are you insinuating someone gave you 2 safes and 2 lock boxes and 7 computers and 6 tablets? Yeah sorry but that's not believable...

As for earning, it sounds like that's not really a problem for you

8. Or I mean I could google it in 2 seconds and not pay you a cent for the privilege of using google. This point in contrast to the rest of your story attempts to paint you as someone who can't bear to use other people and tries to put you in a better light as such. There's two problems with this besides the readily available google issue. First, she CHOSE to pose for Playboy, she's not being used if she chose to make money off it. If this is true, then you're simply too shy to ask her for something like that, which makes sense with her being a family friend. Second, it sounds very forced in that it's not relevant to your point, so it feels placed there in an attempt to make us feel like you are a better person for not resorting to that. Point being it doesn't feel genuine.

9. Honestly at this point, it feels very disingenuous already, and if I had any money to give, it would not go to this. I don't say this to be rude, but to be honest, and give you a look at what other people will see and read from this. But this last point put the nail in the coffin and pushed it off the cliff for me. It started out simply with a reminder that you're not asking for money, which you shouldn't have to remind people of unless it sounds like you're asking for money. Then it moves into a ridiculous ultimatum.

A. If people don't give you money, you can't do research, which is simply false if you're pursuing a PhD. Any school offering a PhD in your field has a computer lab with decently capable computers. 

B. If people don't give you money, your wife has to work again. I wasn't aware from the past statements that she has stopped working while you get your PhD, and I'm not sure why she would as that would leave you with no income and a heavy expense. This part simply makes little sense.

Overall both of these inferences are ultimatums meant to push us into helping. This is the least genuine sounding part of the whole thing. It's meant to push guilt, making us aware of the terrible things that will happen to you if we don't help in one way or another. This kind of guilt statement is what makes sure that I, as a potential donator, stay far away from your cause. I know that even if all this is true, I'm not responsible for your decisions. if your wife stopped work for your phd, that's not a decision I made. I didn't decide to have at least thousands of dollars worth of equipment I'm supposedly relying on to do research and advance my career, and then NOT get any insurance. I was home thanksgiving and there was no chance for someone to sneak in for a hour and carry out several safes and lockboxes, not to mention 7 entire computers, supposedly high end for research purposes. I did not make any poor decisions, so when I see a guilt statement like that it will offend me in a way, because I know I'm not guilty of any of these decisions. Even assuming all this is true and is not intended the way it sounds, It DOES sound that way and people act on first impressions and perception is what matters for a campaign. 

[kaylexmorgana]

4 hours ago, Jtalk4456 said:

So I'm gonna go from a bit of a different perspective here. I'm going from the perspective of someone who found your page and deciding whether or not to donate.

1. asking for more action makes it sound like you don't need money, but just want it. Audience, traffic, either would be better.

2. First off, most people will ask how you got burglarized on thanksgiving, when most people are at home, eating turkey. Also you've established yourself as wealthy already, which will turn most donators off

3. Wait passports can be sold? or are we talking potential for identity theft? Either way, the laundry list of expensive items will only convince potential traffic that you have money and don't really need help. I don't mean to accuse anything here, but if I saw this and was deciding to donate or not, I'd conclude just from this far that this is a scam probably.

Also while we're talking about the ridiculous list of stolen items. I have 2 observations here.

A. safes and lockboxes, even the cheap ones are big and heavy, so to carry 4 away, plus that many computers tells me that a thief either knew you and knew where everything would be and had plenty of time to get it out, or you don't hide stuff very well. Lockboxes, safes and passports shouldn't be in plain sight and easy to move.

B. What the freak are you doing with 6 tablets?! Tablets are dead man! Get with a note 9!

4. You argued that you didn't have money for this, but with how much stuff you had stolen, even if you aren't rich, you have enough wealth apparently for 7 computers, and a couple safes. If you have that many valuable things, get insurance or stop buying expensive stuff until you have insurance accounted for in your budget.

5. Again showing that you have money and invalidating your need for help. Outside of that, sounds cool for what you're learning.

6. Lorrie Menconi - born in PA, not much else from a google search, so I'm not assuming she's a filthy rich model who could easily just cover your losses if she wanted to help. At the same time, mentioning you are friends with a playboy model after mentioning everything else only serves to further convince people you don't need money.

7. Are you insinuating someone gave you 2 safes and 2 lock boxes and 7 computers and 6 tablets? Yeah sorry but that's not believable...

As for earning, it sounds like that's not really a problem for you

8. Or I mean I could google it in 2 seconds and not pay you a cent for the privilege of using google. This point in contrast to the rest of your story attempts to paint you as someone who can't bear to use other people and tries to put you in a better light as such. There's two problems with this besides the readily available google issue. First, she CHOSE to pose for Playboy, she's not being used if she chose to make money off it. If this is true, then you're simply too shy to ask her for something like that, which makes sense with her being a family friend. Second, it sounds very forced in that it's not relevant to your point, so it feels placed there in an attempt to make us feel like you are a better person for not resorting to that. Point being it doesn't feel genuine.

9. Honestly at this point, it feels very disingenuous already, and if I had any money to give, it would not go to this. I don't say this to be rude, but to be honest, and give you a look at what other people will see and read from this. But this last point put the nail in the coffin and pushed it off the cliff for me. It started out simply with a reminder that you're not asking for money, which you shouldn't have to remind people of unless it sounds like you're asking for money. Then it moves into a ridiculous ultimatum.

A. If people don't give you money, you can't do research, which is simply false if you're pursuing a PhD. Any school offering a PhD in your field has a computer lab with decently capable computers. 

B. If people don't give you money, your wife has to work again. I wasn't aware from the past statements that she has stopped working while you get your PhD, and I'm not sure why she would as that would leave you with no income and a heavy expense. This part simply makes little sense.

Overall both of these inferences are ultimatums meant to push us into helping. This is the least genuine sounding part of the whole thing. It's meant to push guilt, making us aware of the terrible things that will happen to you if we don't help in one way or another. This kind of guilt statement is what makes sure that I, as a potential donator, stay far away from your cause. I know that even if all this is true, I'm not responsible for your decisions. if your wife stopped work for your phd, that's not a decision I made. I didn't decide to have at least thousands of dollars worth of equipment I'm supposedly relying on to do research and advance my career, and then NOT get any insurance. I was home thanksgiving and there was no chance for someone to sneak in for a hour and carry out several safes and lockboxes, not to mention 7 entire computers, supposedly high end for research purposes. I did not make any poor decisions, so when I see a guilt statement like that it will offend me in a way, because I know I'm not guilty of any of these decisions. Even assuming all this is true and is not intended the way it sounds, It DOES sound that way and people act on first impressions and perception is what matters for a campaign. 

He's a scam artist

[Jtalk4456]

7 minutes ago, Trump2020 said:

He's a scam artist

Possibly, but as I said I was trying to not assume things. Some people both genuinely have problems AND are good with words and manipulation. 

[Canada EH]

12 hours ago, Trump2020 said:

Also never donate to GoScamMe.

I disagree, I gave a lot of money to the hockey team's go fund me page. It is a very tragic story and I doubt nothing will come of it besides a slap on the wrist. The trucking company just scammed the system big time, those type always do. It is just like the subsiduary of a major train company that had zero insurance and wiped out an entire town. If that happened in a vehicle, prison term will be handed down. It is basically that if you own a company, you can commit murder! and nothing will become of it.

 

Also the Saskatchewan government was in control of the funds, and guess what, they fucked up massively as well in dishing out the money to needy victims of the murderous trucking company.