Lol at the people getting mad, cheap bastards. Dude's not rich and he's not the one who even asked for this in the first place, people just want to help. To put it bluntly don't be an asshole and let people do with their money what they will.

This is a private issue between two groups: the donators, and Dan himself. People are free to give out their money however they see fit, and Dan is free to accept money from them, donate said money to charity, or a little of both. Everyone else needs to have a cup of tea or something and chill, there are probably better things to argue over.

Don't think this is right at all really, as I mentioned in the other thread. But I'm going to restrain from making further comments.

Some 'Bombin the AM' ago, Patrick and Alex agreed that 'the internet sucks'. I think these kind of things can show the other side of the internet (aka humanity). It doesn't always suck, it can be great too.

People are really complaining about this? Seriously what losers, people are allowed to do what they want with their money. Excuse me, I'm about to burn a few hundreds. Get mad at me folks.

There's some jealous people on this website and are mad people like Dan and want to help him out.

Where were you when Dev Hynes apartment burned down right before Blood Orange's album came out and a bunch of people gave him money?

ridiculous to be upset at this, very, very sad.

I pitched in a few dollars. Dan moved to SF just two months ago and he's got a new job. A lot of new things are happening in his life and suddenly his home gets invaded. I'd hate for this to be how his new life in SF and GB started. If something good came out of this in the end, I'm all for it.

I kind of respect what people are doing here, I truly do.

But this should really be the company's responsibility - he needs these tools to do his job, after all, and the theft was (seemingly) totally out of his control.

Feels weird to me that the forums are picking up CBS' slack but whatever, it's inspiring nonetheless.

Nobody is obliging people to give to this if they don't want to. Nobody is telling people they are wrong if they don't want to give. There is zero expectation to give anything.

And if people are going to complain about people giving something to Dan then why not also complain about the people that choose to send stuff every week to giant bomb's mailbag? Surely all that stuff could have been donated to charity also? Why not complain about the people that do artwork for the site? People who add content and value to the site in the form of the wiki, reviews, or blog posts? What is the difference ?

There isn't one... people are free to give what they want to whomever they want voluntarily.

There is definitely something about this whole donation thing that feels funny to me. But I will also not comment further on it cause other comments have already shown how "nice" people can be on this site to other people that don't agree with the majority.

I mean fuck people for voicing their opinion right? Yeah, High five!

He could have at least cut a better wrestling promo...

I think I could agree with the haters if Dan's yacht had been stolen from his private island, but he is just a regular dude who doesn't make any more money than the rest of us. Being an internet celebrity is not the same as being a movie celebrity. I don't see the harm in helping a fellow duder out. If someone had just sent Dan replacement consoles instead of money nobody would have made a stink about it.

Let me get this straight. The guy who tried to cook egg shells and thought he was cooking egg whites says that the robbery happened while both he and his roomate were home sleeping.

Inside job, roomate I'm callin it.

This thread really reminds me of when the Angry Video Game Nerd started his Indiegogo campaign to fund his movie, and people all over were claiming he was selling out because of it. Look, if you want to donate more power to you. Dan already said if insurance covers it, it'll all go towards charity, so you're either donating to help someone you really enjoy, or you're donating to help charity. It's a pretty clear-cut win/win situation as far as I can see.

No kidding. Someone on the front page was called a jerk and grumpy because of his opinion, clearly a huge transgression against voicing your own opinion here. Now we all ought to make condescending posts to make a point.

Now, I am not saying that this is bad, but should this campaign be led by moderators or member of the staff? Instead we have poster who has posted nothing else and when you google his Indiegogo name - you get is article about missing person with the same name. Now, of course this can be legit, but this kind of thing could lead for some more scam posts in the future.

I don't think people are complaining so much about the good duders donating money as Dan actually accepting it. IMO he should give it all to charity.

I supported Dan by buying his books, they're pretty good.

@jarmahead: You should get an avatar so I don't instantly skim past your posts like I do usually when I see the stock image. Regardless of my, or anyone's, stance on this whole thing, that's a well written post and it'd be a shame to miss more of them.

Not necessarily. My brother and I were both home (we work at night) when we had a home invasion in the middle of the day. We were both completely passed out and when we woke up, everything in the other rooms we were not in had been stolen. It was during a period fo heavy snow around noon and the door was locked before and after they were gone. We were newish to the area, so the only people who knew our hours were us, the only people who had access to our keys were us... and the staff of the 1,500 unit complex on a golf course. The only people who had been in our place to know we had (a fucking lot) of stuff worth stealing other than us were the maintenance staff.

In fact, if you live with another person and sleep during the day, it is incredibly easy. If you hear anything, you just assume it is the other person doing something or answering the door or something. It never occurs to you that it's a third or fourth person in your home.

That is my only concern. Happy to help Dan out for a couple bucks. Skeptical that the OP has like a dozen posts and is raising almost three thousand based on a tweet. It would be a really bizarre thing to intrude upon a community and use this opportunity to steal, but... there's not really anything someone can do about having not posted a lot before.

CBS does give them the tools to do his job....AT his job

These were his personal in home items that were stolen and CBS could give a flying fuck about those items getting stolen.

The duders dont' get freebies from the company for use outside of work. Why do you think Brad never got a Wii? He would've had to pay for it with his own money and he didn't think the Wii was a good purchase for him (I know he regrets not playing those Galaxy games though!)

This is nice and everything but also very dumb. as someone who should be insured and in the right business (he's not going to be with out a console for long,it his job) if he / GB doesn't give everything to charity it a bad move and GB needs to make it clear, thanks for the money but everything will go to charity. Otherwise it just seems gross what's next the GB guy's listing Amazon wish lists?

the sheer volume of individuals checking in to moralise on what's essentially an unsolicited passing around of a hat is legitimately confounding me.

haven't you ever participated in a non-charitable fundraiser (like a filmmaker soliciting $$ for a project)?

just the other week a coworker's mother suddenly died. this coworker has a good job, and most likely doesn't 'need' a hand. but because she's such a integral piece of our lives, we had an unsolicited collection to help with the funeral costs.

does that make us morally reprehensible? if so- when did the giantbomb community get so god damned puritanical?

a bad thing happened- some have chosen to help. that's a problem? you must be a delight at dinner conversation.

The complaints have gone beyond puritanical. They've become downright Scrooges. What exactly is wrong with wanting to help out someone you like. Do people really think they make millions of dollars? CBS wouldn't even pay for their gear they needed for work when it got stolen at E3. Some people in this community need to re examine themselves and what is actually making them angry or upset when they see people helping others.

@mellotronrules: @joku2002: I can't speak for everyone but personally I don't have a problem with people 'wanting to help out'. In fact, I think it's a really generous, admirable and kind gesture from the community to offer to help Dan out. However, I woulda have a huge problem with it if Dan were to actually accept the money. He got robbed and that really sucks but I really don't think he's in a position where he should be accepting charity.

I really like Dan and think he probably has the moral compass to realise that there are far more deserving causes to direct this generosity toward than a middle-age white dude with a stable job who wants a new gaming console.

I'm curious if the people complaining about this have ever been robbed. I have, and it's a very shitty, violating feeling. I worked hard to acquire my shiny things that I like, and for someone to just steal them, it's the worst. No one deserves that. No matter what value you put on exactly *what* got stolen of Dans, he doesn't need to "deal with the consequences" that's called victim blaming. No one was going to start a Kickstarter for me when my stuff was stolen, but they will for Dan so good for him. Good job guys.

Also how much do you people think the staff makes? It's probably not as much as you think. Certainly not enough for Dan to go replace his stuff tomorrow.

Hey! How about you all give me that money for a $30,000 surgery that insurance only covers half of!

I'm being serious here. I have a $30,000 surgery I need soon to keep me alive and people are giving money to a guy to buy consoles.

That about sums it up.

i'd wholeheartedly agree that there are people out there in a much tougher spot than dan- but i think you should recognize the implicit test of "[dan's] moral compass" you're imposing is pretty shitty- not to mention presumptive. it's like showing up to a birthday party and then asking, "yeah- but do you really deserve those gifts?" how do we know what people do and don't deserve?

besides- if you follow that line of reasoning to it's conclusion, essentially anyone born in a first-world country should be morally obligated to deny unsolicited and 'undeserved' gifts of kindness.

that's a fine ideological stance to take- but i think you'll find it impossible to adhere to in any meaningful way.

if that's the case, first of all good luck!, and secondly maybe you should reach out the staff and see if you can organize a fundraiser? the only reason dan's getting the attention is because he, a public figure, announced the robbery. maybe you should let other duders know? you'd probably be surprised at the generosity of the community.

There are millions of people who die each year from lack of access to clean water. There are thousands of people who die each year from ALS.

I could pour a bucket of water over my head and think I've done something for a good cause but would someone dying due to a lack of clean water look on that and think anything positive about what I had done? What if I had ALS, or if someone I cared about had ALS? Am I morally obliged to forego a donation to ALS, because I only have so much money and Water Aid might save more people overall? Should I publicly denounce the people throwing water over themselves and shame them for being wasteful... for being a part of the problem... for not applying the calculus of 'the many over the few'?

No

Charity and giving is an individual choice... It can be big or small. It can be both. It can be to one recipient or many... or not at all.

It isn't answerable to the audit and criticism of others. It is the individual business of each of us and no one else.... because charity and giving are voluntary.

@mellotronrules said:

I don't have a problem with people wanting to chip in to help, but I do think it's a little strange for Dan to accept so readily. I dunno, I think I'd feel uncomfortable accepting money from a bunch of strangers for something so ultimately trivial as game consoles, but maybe that's just me. On the other hand, getting robbed is obviously a kick in the teeth and I wouldn't be surprised if the move to San Francisco cost him an arm and leg so maybe I'm being too exacting.

As an aside, I really hope no game developers are contributing to the campaign. The last thing we need is another fallacious anti-corruption campaign from some self-appointed ombudsmen. Although, Dan's a dude so he'd probably be fine!

Ha..! :)
It'd probably be ok even if they did though because the donations aren't toward an as-yet un-released commercial product that they are developing... and there isn't even any bias in terms of the hardware platforms either since everything got nabbed!

This thread has irritated me enough to post. Evil internet.

I love how ppl. state their premises and pose it as necessarily valid. This account for Dan was never charity. It is up to the individual, and not others who would re-define the accounts purpose, to give or not give. I almost did not. I may very well not for a similar next time. There is a inertia to giving away ones money without perceived return. However that is mitigated when one responds to the action as helping someone who has value to the giver. Sympathy goes a long ways in this, it is true. It was never intended as charity! It was never intended to supplant other entities who possibly might help Dan, if they do. On top of this, the remainder actually does go to true charity.

My struggle is to make myself give each month to a charity I trust, and I will have it done by this weekend. But that is so completely different than this.

I agree that the internet sucks...but here I am.

He actually forgot the most crucial fact that is getting people riled up in the first place. The only reason people are crowd-funding this is because he happens to be famous on the internet because of his job. I doubt the same generosity would be displayed if he was just another random burglary victim who wanted to replace his/her electronics.

You can doubt that all you want, but you are utterly wrong. There are indiegogo campaigns and kickstarted campaigns organised all the time when people need surgery, or go through tough times. They are all over those sites, and people are donating money to them every day. You are making assumptions about people's sincerity and willingness to help others, in a thread where they are actively trying to help someone.

@splodge: Don't get me wrong. It is definitely a good thing that people are trying to help him. However, most of us have been or know somebody who has been through a situation similar to this or worse (not everybody is lucky enough to be born in a developed country), and very few of them actually got any help from strangers without having to look for help themselves. He is getting stuff handed on a silver platter just because he is famous, despite being able to stand on his own feet.

As others have said, the problem is not people helping him, but rather him taking money just because he is famous.

@mellotronrules: I thought the GB forum rules stated I couldn't self-promote things such as that? I've made a gofundme but only really got $20 before it ended.

I'm getting the surgery no matter what, but $15,000 out of pocket is a lot.

It just irks me a little seeing people give money to someone for consoles when plenty of people need important surgeries or there are homeless people who could use those $10 for food.

But that's an imaginary problem you have just created. He is not "taking money just because he is famous". He is accepting the help of strangers, they very thing you yourself want more of:

and very few of them actually got any help from strangers without having to look for help themselves

Just because he worked hard enough, and was lucky enough to get a job where alot of people watch him every day, means he is automatically excluded from taking help that people have very graciously offered him?

well- that says it all i suppose.

@demokk said:

no- people are donating because he was robbed.

side question: how do you possibly deal with political campaign financing? or more appropriately- someone like brad muir running a kickstarter? and neither of those involve personal misfortune, and yet people willingly give in far greater amounts all the time.

I'd like to note that pretty much everyone in games media gets paid like 40k a year. Sometimes more, but I wouldn't be surprised if that's what dans salary is. He does need to have a roommate after-all. So it's not like this is an easy hit for him to take. Is he lucky that there's a community of people willing to back him up and support him through a shitty time like this? Yes. Is he more fortunate than other people because of this? Yes. That still doesn't make this a bad thing.

To be honest, I haven't donated and I'm not going to donate, but I can respect people who do donate and I'm not going to bash dan for taking some of this money to help himself. It was created for him from the beginning; it was always meant to help him. Could the money have been used for a better cause? Could the money you use on needless shit be put towards a better cause? Do you really need to go to the movies, play games, buy consoles, go out and eat expensive dinners, buy lotto tickets, etc? People are chipping in a little bit of money to help a dude they love whose home was invaded while he was in the other room sleeping. A scary fucking thing happened to him and it could have ended up hurting him. This is a community that loves him showing their support in the best way that they can.

I swear, the people here are desperately looking for a controversy to get angry over. It's really no wonder that the whole Zoe Quinn discussion hasn't been allowed on this site and most other gaming forums.

"Dan's moral compass" - Dan actually said that if he gets covered by his insurance, he'll donate all of this money to charity. I have no idea why people didn't check the Indiegogo updates and just assumed the worst.

"You wouldn't help a random stranger" - I would if I cared about the stranger. GB has always built itself as a personality driven website, and as a result - I do care about Dan. So yeah, you're right - I wouldn't help a random stranger, only people I care about.

"People out there need water and food" AKA the "starving children in Africa" argument - Don't buy video games, don't watch movies, don't buy any drinks - after all, people out there need food more than you need video games, right? Also, who the fuck are you to decide what I do with my money? I'll gladly donate money to you if I care enough about you and if I can afford it.

Yes, I know many of you do, and every single one of you is wrong about that.

That's what makes this icky. You are handing over money because you have convinced yourselves / been allowed to believe that you are actually friends with the staff here. This is false; you are fans of the staff here. They don't know you exist. The difference between friend and fan is all the difference in the world, and it's a common misunderstanding among users of this site. A misunderstanding which, imo, no member of staff here should feel comfortable taking advantage of.

To the many other replies I received comparing this situation to a friend or neighbour asking for help: please take a step back and get a grip on reality. Again, the staff of a gaming website you frequent are neither your friends or your neighbours, however much you may wish that to be so. Likewise to anyone comparing the need to replace video game consoles with supporting people genuinely in need.

It's sweet of you all to offer to help of course, but the guy isn't a beggar, you aren't actually friends, and I would be disappointed if Giant Bomb's / its staffmember's response to this is anything other than a polite refusal. This sort of thing between site staff and site users isn't something which GB should be condoning or encouraging in any way. Jeff could start a 'Buy Me A Yacht' fund and a lot of people here would empty their bank accounts for him, but Jeff wouldn't take advantage of the often-slightly-creepy GB fan / staff relationship like that.

@jimbo: So if you dont know someone personally, and are not literally friends with them, you shouldnt help them out. Ok.

Dan did not ask for this, but agreed once suggested if people wanted to do a whip around that was fine with him.

I think nothing less of him for accepting the help.

EDIT - Also, you don't get to define who is in need and who isn't. Everyone who donated made that decision for themselves.

@jimbo: sounds like you're taking this way more seriously than you should. If you don't want to donate and *reasonably* state your disagreement and move on, fine. don't assume it's your place to tell others what to do with their money. if you seriously take issue with dan accepting it, i suggest you pm him directly or message him on twitter, or talk to the mods. I don't think the kind of attitude you have, veiled insults at the community, or the way you're expressing your dissent have a place here.

I won't be chipping in to the "cause" but I don't really care how others spend their money. Dan is a stand-up guy though, props to him for saying he'll donate the difference to charity.

"Likewise to anyone comparing the need to replace video game consoles with supporting people genuinely in need."

This isn't some 'help the needy' thing, it's an 'ohgodohgod an opportunity to express my weird fan crush' thing. You know as well as I do that is the nature of the relationship which exists between (many) users and the staff here, which is absolutely why anything like this needs to be politely refused.The rampant hero worship that goes on here is harmless enough, but once it crosses over to people actually directly sending money to the staff I think the site needs to handle that very carefully. People here already think they're bffs with the staff as it is; how much worse does that illusion get if they're going to start accepting money from the users?

The man was robbed, and nearly 3k value worth of stuff taken from his home. People want to help him out. Who cares if they are not friends with him, or if it is some kind of man crush, what does it matter? People see an opportunity to help someone out, and are taking that opportunity. It does not prevent them from doing anything else with their money. It's ten bucks. If you begrudge the man the help of a community who cares, fine. But don't denegrate peoples charitable behavior because you have some personal problem couched in "ethics". I am not friends with one of my local punk bands, but when their van was stolen with all their gear in it, I threw twenty bucks to their indiegogo. Because it was a nice thing to do, and I got the satisfaction of helping someone.

I understand the hesitation, but I think it's coming from a place of jealousy. Why do you actually care that he's getting help? The charity thing is a bullshit argument because that's assuming people can't give money to more than one cause. Considering this is a relatively small gift, I don't think it's crazy to assume that those giving would also be able to donate (if they want) to a charity you might deem worthy. And if they don't, it's not like the money they gave here was ever going to that charity in the first place. Further, there's all sorts of privilege in the world, and yeah it's not fair, but that doesn't mean people shouldn't take advantage of it. Should I not take advantage of readily available clean water because that's not the case everywhere in the world? No, that's insane. And it's not like me avoiding using clean water somehow gives it to somebody who is in desperate need of it. So why shouldn't Dan take advantage of his privilege and get out of this jam? I've been robbed before. I lost about as much as Dan did. And I sure as shit would have loved a helping hand had it been offered to me.

@splodge: I generally agree with you about not caring if people want to throw some bucks his way to help out. I do think it's harmful, however, to be so dismissive of the ethics of the situation. Many industries have guidelines for ethical behavior when receiving gifts from clients/associates/whatever, including journalism. It's important not to set precedent for behavior/a relationship that can potentially be exploitative, mentally or materially. In other words, if something doesn't feel right, it probably isn't. I suspect Dan acknowledges this on some level, hence why he's made a point to state publicly that he will donate to charity if his insurance ends up covering the losses (which is likely).