"It is not the critic who counts; not the one who points out how the strong person stumbles, on where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the person who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself or herself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he or she fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his or her place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."
-Theodore Roosevelt
Today marked the last day of the "
Calm to Alms" I had staged to raise
money for
E2. On the
line: one
beloved node titled
Butterfinger McFlurry.
I decided to put forward the challenge to
E2 on a
whim: the regular discussion of the
merits and
stupidity of
Butterfinger McFlurry was in full swing, when the following notice appeared above the
Other Users list:
"Don't like a writeup? For only 1000 USD, you can have it killed. For 10000 USD, it will be painfully killed! Hurry - this one-time-offer expires at the end of this month."
What could I lose by trying something out? I'll be
honest: I wasn't that fond of
Butterfinger McFlurry a month ago. I wouldn't have wept if it were to be destroyed. I put it all on my
homenode, I
catbox advertised a bit, I donated my 10 dollars, and that was that.
Then the
hate messages started. Boy, some of you are
nasty.
I decided soon after they started to pour in to allow both sides of the debate to add in their "
two cents" and see where it went.
Very soon, the
point for me became very far removed from the node in question, but instead came to making sure
E2 had some
cash flowing in. Looking at the stats for the month, I see that almost half the the money raised in
April came from people who, at the very least, mentioned the
Call to Alms that I had created.
Here are the
results:
Donations to kill: $205.00
- 10.00 - Derfel - Towards the "Call to Alms" to kill Butterfinger McFlurry, of course. Nothing personal.
- 2.00 - sabby - Donated $2 to nuke that there butterfinger mcflurry there node.
- 20.00 - The Oolong Man - The Oolong Man says YES to nuking McFlurry.
- 10.00 - unperson - I, unperson, say no more of the tyrrany that is Butterfinger McFlurry. CURSED NODE, FROM HELL'S HEART I STAB AT THEE!!!
- 10.00 - Apatrix - I pledge another $100 if *I* get to kill McFlurry.
- 70.00 - ascorbic - this month's alimony is dedicated to the fiery death of BMcF
- 50.00 - Catchpole - lets get rid of mcflurry
- 10.00 - cbustapeck - Kill (the first writeup in) Butterfinger McFlurry! Please?
- 3.00 - sabby - Please nuke that there Butterfinger McFlurry node. Oh you know you want to. (This should make the number an even multiple of 5.)
- 20.00 - Wuukiee - TAX REBATE!! A thank you to E2 for more great times, to natchlucid for being such a swell hostess for my first-ever nodermeet, and oh, yeah, chalk this up to killing that bloody Butterfinger bullshit.
Donations for status quo: $350.11
- 50.00 - QXZ - Finally, a donation. Primarily to save Butterfinger McFlurry from ignominious deletion, but also to mark my one-year E2 anniversary. Thanks for everything.
- 10.00 - c - This is Cletus's contribution to the "SAVE THE BUTTERFINGER MCFLURRY" fund. Nuke whales, not nodes!
- 20.00 - Chris-O - Chris-O says Thanks for having E2 around! and please also keep Butterfinger Mcflurry around.
- 25.00 - Anonymous - NO-one had better TOUCH Butterfinger McFlurry, or I'm gonna PELT 'em with BALLISTIC HEFFALUMPS with POWERPUFF HENTAI TATTOOs. I swear. Really.
- 25.00 - iceowl - In that McFlurry is what the E2 community wants as the public manifestation of its art--my vote is it stays.
- 10.00 - Cletus The Foetus - This is my second of what I hope will be a monthly pledge to e2. Also, you better keep Butterfinger McFlurry or you'll be hearing from my representatives.
- 0.11 - czeano - czeano sez: interest from paypal... LONG LIVE TH' MCFLURRY! KILL MOJOE'S TOILET SEAT WU!
- 150.00 - anonymous - Please mark this down as a vote in favor of Butterfinger McFlurry.
- 60.00 - Walter - Save the McFlurry! This is my yearly donation. See my homenode for related long-term profit plan.
Was it a
dumb idea? Most likely. Is a simple (and rather
humourous, now that I see it more clearly)
node really worth all the trouble I went through?
Probably not. Did I raise awareness about the kind of money that
E2 could be seeing each and every month if people donated only a small fraction of their life savings? I like to think I did.
As a final note, I'd like to thank
donfreenut. Being the insensitive
prick I am, I didn't consult him before I put his node on the
chopping block. We chatted about it, and he turned out to be a rather entertaining and understanding fellow. I have reserved my first
C! for him...
grin
EZ say HO!