I see I completely misinterpreted the guy's posting.

   Alan

Yeah, that's why I assaulted his moral fiber.  What a jerk.  Aint no way
he's a Marine.  Marines don't make it out of boot camp without moral fiber.

No, it's prudent.

But moving a little further OT, I'd have to say that I would not advocate
regulation of websites. By whom? Based upon what criteria? Looks like
censorship to me, and I think it's pretty well established that that
doesn't work.

OTOH, if the website is a scam and criminal activity can be proven and
prosecuted, that's not censorship, it's enforcement of the statutes
prohibiting what's called "theft by fraud and device."

After getting the gah-zings slipped to me a couple of times, I made the
deliberate decision to become a squinty-eyed suspicious and, yes, cynical
old grouch. So far, so good. Especially the "old" part.

Regards,

Steve J

"A man's most valuable trait is a judicious sense of what not to believe."
--Euripides

I googled him.  (in the archives)
He's since (after my reply here) posted to various places but NOT the 2
newsgroups where he would get flamed for asking for money.
She owes for past medical debts. (or so he claims on one post)
J

No it isn't evil.  It's wise.

I feel like an idiot for responding to the guy's request as if
what he wanted was help explaining things to his children.

His website is remarkably sophisticated - with Paypal and
credit card logos, a thermometer progress bar, photos of
little children, cervical cancer graphics, and so on.
Either the guy is a serious web designer, or he's gotten
help from one.  One can't help but wonder if someone would
have paid him the $9,500 he says he needs to set up a
website, so he could have earned the money instead of
spending all that effort to solicit contributions.

I know there are serious cases out there, but I won't give
money to them.  There's no way to separate the real
cases from the crooks.  And there are plenty of known good
charities to give to who help people in just as desparate need.

   Alan