One of the undeniably great things about this forum is the generosity of its members. The gifting of goods and services has gone on for more than two decades here, with gifts ranging at times upwards of hundreds of dollars, and in some instances, even more than that.

Whether it's a five dollar cable or a nine-hundred dollar firearm, one thing holds true: the members who hold these karmas are freely giving things and they are also investing their time. I think the 'time' part of it gets forgotten. They create and monitor their karma thread, gather up all the names, and in a variety of methods, choosing a winner. Then, they must correspond with the winner, obtain a shipping address, package and ship the item which usually means a trip to the post office.

Before any of that can happen, though, they must first hear back from the chosen winner. Usually, this is not a problem, but from time to time, winners fail to acknowledge their win, and that's a problem.

What are the rules- in general- for karmas? There are none. A member holding a karma might specify that only members of certain groups can participate; for instance, veterans of the armed forces, or members who have been here more than a particular minimum of time, or number of posts, and so forth.

But, what are the rules governing unresponsive winners?

And that's when the gifter has to come to me, and fellas, I am telling you that anyone who values their membership in this forum does not want to have me hear their username in relation to entering a karma, and then disappearing, failing to monitor the karma thread.

It's rude. You waste the time of people who are doing nothing but being kind to you.

And it pisses me off.

From time to time when this happens, there are legitimate reasons why a member fails to monitor a karma thread they participate in. And, other times, there is no excuse but casual disregard.

If you cannot be bothered to monitor a karma thread you willingly participated in, then, by God, don't enter your name.

Having dealt with this issue, i think you are spot on. In a karma that did not get the traction I expected, the one eligible entry out of a handful of posts, did not reply to the winning notification for, i think, a few months. He knows who he is and to his credit, he acknowledged the issue.

But to your point, while rude and even disrespectful, I felt I could have handled it anyway I wanted to with your complete support. Karma rules have always been set by the person who offers the Karma and if you don't agree with them, well too bad. I remember the flame out about high profile members always winning the karmas.

Thank you.

I've run two karmas where the winner was notified - and in one case even acknowledged winning - and never got back to me with a shipping address.

On the flip side, I entered a karma and despite checking back several times over the course of a couple of months, never saw a winner posted.

While neither is an earth-shattering event, both are annoying.

Thanks Para.

I've hosted a number of please and thank you karmas over the years, and learned a few lessons:

I post the rule that, "The winner must respond to my e-mail within 72 hours or I’ll redraw." I post in the thread and e-mail the winner, and redraw if they fail to respond. It's been a few years, but I've had to redraw.

I post the rule that, "You must have an e-mail address in your profile or in your post." I want to be the one contacting the winner via e-mail as the other way leaves an opportunity for a shitbag scammer.

I post the date that I'll be drawing the winner so they can gauge if they'll be able to check back on the thread.

I typically do Amazon electronic gift cards and/or Sigforum challenge coins. I used to give more options (e.g. holster from a Sigforum holster maker), but it's annoying to have to repeatedly e-mail a winner to make a choice that ain't exactly asking them to split an atom.

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Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity

DISCLAIMER: These are the author's own personal views and do not represent the views of the author's employer.

It’s been a long time since I hosted a karma per se, but a few times I’ve helped a specific expressed need. Once the recipient who was out of country responded with thanks and some national souvenirs. Another time I never even got an acknowledgement from an active (American) member that what I sent had been received. As I’ve said before, being active here has been highly educational, and I’ve probably learned more about people than I have about guns and shooting.

I have often wondered what it would be like to be the owner/moderator of a forum like this, and I can only marvel at how frustrating it must be at times. I really appreciate the effort that parabellum puts into it.

I'll add- and should have said at the outset- that unresponsive winners are uncommon, and members do express their gratitude for the opportunity to participate.

Nowadays whenever I add my name to one of the extremely generous karmas here I have one simple rule: I immediately add that thread to get an email notification when a new post pops up.

Sure, I get a ton of notifications but it's the least I can do to honor the generosity of the member holding the karma. Sometimes I forget to check back into the thread, or it gets buried down the list on the 2nd or 3rd page, and this is an easy way to stay on top of things..

quote:

Originally posted by P220forever:
Nowadays whenever I add my name to one of the extremely generous karmas here I have one simple rule: I immediately add that thread to get an email notification when a new post pops up.

I’ve never used that forum feature.
Thanks for the info, sounds like the “easy button” way to stay on top of things.

You can also drag the link to the karma thread to your desktop if on a PC, and just check it every day.

My brain doesn't work as well as it used to.

Some of the VA drugs make it worse.

I hope it wasn't me, if so, I apologize.

I've directly benefited from the generosity of several members of this forum over the decades I've been here. Thank you. Some have passed. I remember them fondly. It's a weird thing being a part of a community like this for multiple decades. Weird indeed.