Crowdfunding: Trial By Error [David Tuller]: Reporting on ME, CFS, ME/CFS, "medically unexplained symptoms," and related stuff, Fall 2020

Invisible Woman said:
@dave30th - a question

I recently received some post from Berkeley University. I get letters a couple of times a year. They're not bothersome but I would rather they saved the postage and added it to your campaign. I'm thinking if 500+ UK residents donate and all receive a couple of letters a year that postage from the US starts to add up. Although some people may want the letters.

Perhaps I am being spectacularly stupid but I didn't see a tick box saying not to add me to the mailing list. I'd love that postage and stationary money to go to your campaign instead.
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Ditto.
 
@Invisible Woman and @dave30th - I agree, I found the recent mailing, to 'commemorate', or something, that I had donated over the last 3 years - really quite annoying. High grade card and paper stock, together with probably non recyclable stickers - probably sent a third of the way round the planet - for what?

Completely pointless waste of money, resources, etc.

Berkeley seems not to have any conception as to why such wasteful practices are a bad thing, for many people.

ETA - the paper/card went straight into the recycling, the stickers, unfortunately, probably aren't recyclable - so that is probably more plastic waste.

Things may work differently in the US, this may be seen as a valid form of marketing, but I do not live in the US, and TBH even if I did, is it really an appropriate use of resources?

I do fully realise that this is Berkeley doing this, probably a general marketing policy, to go along with the several emails a week they love sending me, seemingly specifically designed to defeat spam filters, and not down to you @dave30th, but such behaviour has the opposite effect to that probably intended - it makes me not want to have anything to do with Berkeley.
 
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Wonko said:
Completely pointless waste of money, resources, etc.
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Well, I guess some might see it as "you have to speculate to accumulate" and a nice letter might make you put your hand in your pocket more readily next time round?

Some people might only be able to donate a fiver (& they all add up) so rather annoying to thing they might be spending as much on the letters as a person donates.
 
Backing you all the way dave.

Would it be possible to link this thread or the fundraising webpage in a banner notice at the top of the S4ME webpages for the last week of fundraising ? Like the banner for the "news in brief" currently at the top of my page. Just for a week.
 
Wonko said:
@Invisible Woman and @dave30th - I agree, I found the recent mailing, to 'commemorate', or something, that I had donated over the last 3 years - really quite annoying. High grade card and paper stock, together with probably non recyclable stickers - probably sent a third of the way round the planet - for what?
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yeah, I get this. it's an automatic thing. I have had a number of people complain about it.

What I can do is ask the support folks to remove the names/e-mails of specific people who ask me not to be contacted with unnecessary updates and want to be unlisted.

The thing is I'm really the only one of all the campaigns who gets significant donations from outside the US--and even from outside California. Most donations are local because most of the projects are local--on or near campus. So I suppose it makes sense for Berkeley as a promotional thing despite the waste of resources.

I wish there were more I could do about it. I realize that many people don't want to receive this meaningless stuff.
 
It would be far better if Berkeley could stop all the emails and letters to all your donors, and put a couple of percent back towards your salary! Especially as those people donating towards you are extremely unlikely to support Berkeley in any other way....
 
I hope there are many more like myself who haven't yet donated. I fully intend to and will do tonight or tomorrow. When the fundraiser is coming close to the end I want to feel I still can do something and that is why I wait. I cannot imagine what it would be like if we did not have David Tuller doing the job that he does for us. We couldn't replace him,and I think we need him more than ever.
 
Invisible Woman said:
@dave30th - a question

I recently received some post from Berkeley University. I get letters a couple of times a year. They're not bothersome but I would rather they saved the postage and added it to your campaign. I'm thinking if 500+ UK residents donate and all receive a couple of letters a year that postage from the US starts to add up. Although some people may want the letters.

Perhaps I am being spectacularly stupid but I didn't see a tick box saying not to add me to the mailing list. I'd love that postage and stationary money to go to your campaign instead.
Click to expand...
me too i think it is a marketing programme you know for those you can afford to give larger donations in their wills possibly .
 
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