Generaldisaster wrote:The premise is that We in the CC community would donate (only those who wish of course ) a couple of bucks to pay for memberships of those who can ill afford the $ 20.00...
Several people have already outlined methods where either lack gives away the premie membership or it gets paid for by some sort of "fund." Both methods reek of voting to spend other people's money.
General - What is stopping you from, right now, buying a membership for whomever you deem worthy? It's the perfect solution. You are in complete control of the criteria that determines need. You are in complete control of how much you spend. Towards the goal of this "lottery": instead of saying "I pledge $10" - say "I spent $20" - the difference between the two statements is not $10; it is in fact $20.
Will someone explain why this needs to be a group effort? Assuming you agree with the ends of such a scheme, how are those ends furthered by making it a group effort?
If someone out there is not a premium member and they have a compelling story they want to tell about how receiving such a gift makes sense, please tell. Convince me that there is even one such story. So far, this thread only has "I feel sorry for the other fella, and I'm so so guilty for all my fabulous premium membership wealth that I'm willing to spend someone else's money to make myself feel better". IMHO that is all we have going on here. I will personally stake that if a compelling story can be brought to light, I pledge paying a full membership in exchange for that story.
As nice as a premium membership is, no denying that, I just don't see how someone can afford the time and additional means it takes to play games for hours on end on the Internet cannot swing the $1.67/month if playing 20 simultaneous games is an important "need".
I would pleasantly accept having my mind changed with a tangible example.