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July 29, 2003Fact Checking The BlogathonOkay, let’s see what we have learned about the purported #2 fundraiser from the Blogathon. A ‘Jamie C.’ supposedly raised $5,065 from 5 sponsors for Doctors Without Borders. Several things are suspect. First, as Jane astutely noted there are appear to be no other posts before or on days after the Blogathon. Jane also notes that the posts are almost all exactly a half hour apart. Other things I have learned from looking closely. I’m not sure if this is against the rules or not, but the site also has a few posts from a TGO while ‘Jamie’ slept. Notable posts: 10 a.m.—notes the “Annon. People that sponsered” here. 2:30 p.m. – She calls in for her work time on Sunday. 3:00 p.m. – She announces her work hours for Sunday are 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. 8:30 p.m. –announces pledges of $5,060. 9 p.m. – notes that best friend Kyle donates $1000. 4 a.m. --- TGO posts while ‘Jamie’ sleeps. 4:30 a.m. ---‘Jamie’ acknowledges sleeping for an hour. 5:30 a.m. – TGO posts in ‘Jamie’s’ place again. 12:07 p.m. – ‘Jamie’ recounts the story of her guardian dropping her off to work from 10:30 – 5:30, but she has quit because she was pissed. Let’s take a critical look at this. Jamie is an 18-year-old girl who works an hourly job on a Sunday afternoon. While not impossible, it is unlikely her best friend Kyle could donate $1,000. Her grand total is $5,060 from five donors. While I wouldn’t doubt she only had five readers, I do doubt that each could afford to shell out on average over $1000 each. With most other blogathoners, there is considerable excitement upon receiving new pledges and and a rush to publicly acknowledge those who have pledged to their charity. Granted, pledges may have been made anonymously, but it remains doubtful that the $4,060 balance of her remaining four pledges are all anonymous. I might grant that she could have been victim to a cruel hoax by folks around her who anonymously pledged obscene amounts with no intention of fulfilling the pledge. Of course, one of the reasons the mdabloggers crew (both bloggers and groupies) have taken issue with this blog being the second highest fundraiser is because the organizer/founder of the Blogathon, Cat Connor, was quick to praise the third largest fundraiser, a Dr. Mami, who was also blogging for Doctors Without Borders. Not to take anything away from Dr. Mami, a fine blogger or his fine cause, but it seems a bit unusual to not mention the top fundraiser. Stranger still, would be a failure to mention the second largest fundraiser who blogged for the same charity. Giving the benefit of the doubt to Ms. Connor, it could be that she neglected to mention our MDA bloggers, because of the touching personal story, Dr. Mami shared with her. However, neglecting to mention ‘Jamie’ does indicate that even Cat doubts the authenticity of ‘Jamie.’ It’s clear that two things need to happen over at the Blogathon to maintain it’s credibility. First, determine just what in the world this Jamie person is and whether the pledges are legitimate or not. Most likely, they are not and a full accounting needs to be published, Jamie removed from the list, and the other bloggers positions adjusted accordingly. Second, in these sorts of events it is customary and proper for the leading fundraisers to be acknowledged. Imagine if Lance Armstrong was not acknowledged after winning the Tour De France. Acknowledge Meryl as the top fundraiser. Acknowledge that the Team MDA together raised more than 10% of the total Blogathon pledges between the three of them (this does not include the $5,400 pledged directly to MDA for the blogathon). With their combined total of 256 sponsors, they account for more than 8% of the total sponsors. Clearly, they have made a generous contribution to the Blogathon and should be recognized. We’ll be watching. Comments
Just posted about this here: http://site-essential.com/blog/29Jul03.shtml#2369 and updated with a link to your post! This needs to be spread all over !! And I just posted about this here: http://www.yourish.com/archives/2003/july28-aug2_2003.html#2003072904 Posted by: Meryl Yourish at July 29, 2003 05:04 PMAnd MommaBear has posted this withdrawal here: http://site-essential.com/blog/29Jul03.shtml#2371 Post a comment
 
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