Off topic, but only slightly so [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/unsure.gif[/img]
In what now feels like another ironic twist to these type of catastrophic incidents, I'm reminded of an idea which I introduced ( I'd prefer to say I "pioneered" it, but since it got nowhere I'll leave it at "introduced" [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rolleyes.gif[/img] ) many, many years ago on our good ole' ".net " forum . IIRC there were only about 4 or 5 replies to my post, some suggesting it could be worth exploring as a concept, although at a practical level it might be tough to develop a criteria, agree on parameters, establish a control mechanism, and then find someone to administer the process, etc . but I digress :
At the time I was proposing that in the event of a catastrophic mechanical failure suffered by a forum member, such as a timing belt break resulting in a $ 5k + nightmare, or a cracked block, cylinder head, maybe even pinion bearing, or a similar disaster ( I'm not talking about water pumps, power steering racks, main seal oil leaks and other more common, albeit expensive problems in their own respect ..) that we designate a forum administrator to be the recepient of whatever contributions other members may want to make to help out one of our own ( needless to say, ON AN ANONYMOUS BASIS ) and provide whatever financial relief those contributions may aggregately come to..
The administator would collect the $20, $50, or whatever amounts each member decides to send in and then generates a check to the car's owner. The idea was triggered by reading a few days before about another member's timing belt break and the bill he was facing, was unemployed at the time, just had a baby - you know, the perfect storm meets murphy's law [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/dry.gif[/img] . I had gotten a nice bonus from work around that timeframe so I felt kind of guilty of my good fortune while another 968 owner was in a crisis and I thought .. we're such a unique, relatively small group, yet what if we manage to get 100 members to send in $50 each.. ? What the heck is $50 to us individually ( some of us spent that much weekly on cashmere socks [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif[/img] , or on something really useless ), but imagine what the resulting $5,000 can do to this guy, lifting a ton of weight off his shoulders..
As mentioned above, I wasn't proposing this system is enacted to help anyone with expensive repairs of the more common variety... simply the rare, catastrophic level mechanical failures ( no accidents where the cars' body gets demolished, everyone should have insurance for that ).
Thinking these may happen only once in a blue moon to any given handful of members, and assuming that many of us would probably be comfortable enough with contributing a little here and a little there for what may only be a once or twice a year occurrence, I felt this was worth pursuing. Evidently, I was one of only four or five out of hundreds who thought that .. However, I can also see the arguments on the other side of the coin : the word gets around of how benevolent the goup may have been with one individual but then perhaps not so much with the next one, so it could make for some bad feelings among members and taint the whole thing by the realization that some of us may like one member more than another or at least it would highlight that point.. Also, the resentment that may come from some members who would argue this is simply a forum and not a "charity". My take on that is - no one is forcing anyone to send anything in, and no one knows who contributed and who hasn't, so where's the real downside ?
So I thought in spite of all the cons, I felt this was a concept which might work given the right parameters, criteria, rules and logistics that would have to come into play of course.. The question to me was always " why not ? ". But that concept died a quick and painless death, after a handful of posts, so I now after years gone by, and only reminded again by these recent events and discussions I thought it may be wothwhile revisiting this topic and see if at the very least it deserves a debate - shouldn' t we as a group look into something along these lines for the future to help those if and when we can ?
Or is this idea so far fetched that I should have my head exmined ? [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/dry.gif[/img]
