Possible Benefit Auction Scandle, please read

I do not know or miss this Carrera person Maybe it is just me and I do not mean to sound harsh , but did Oneir decide to do this? It sounds a bit like he is again being told what he should do with his auction money.

If you guys want to have another fundraiser for a help the noobs fund I'll gladly contribute an item or two to help out. During my first week of SL when I was starting to build my house, a veteran beta tester liked what she saw and decided to give me 10k to help me get started. Because of her generosity I was able to get my empire off the ground and it had a lot to do with my early enthusiasm for the game.

As for the money raised last night I think it's for the event organizers and One to decide what to do with the money. If he's cool with part of it going to another fund then that's all that really matters, and it's obvious from this thread that he hasn't a greedy bone in his body Seems this all started due to the bugs in the leader board and him worrying that some people might get the wrong idea about what the money was used for, not him wanting to hoarde the money. I'm 25th or so in net worth and I've never had 50k in my account, ever. lol.

But this is a good thing ultimately. From now on charity auction organizers should state up front that any money raised over a certain amount will go to some other purpose so that there's no misunderstandings after the fact.

Hats off to the other organizers for having such a successful auction and for their spirit of generosity.

I beleive you're a good guy Oneiron, modest and reflective. I hate to see people try to take advantage of your nature to divest you of a windfall that was rightfully and in full concience given to you freely in the spirit of generousity.
It looks like the pressure is on, but if I were you I would be divided. 50K is alot of dough and people are going to envy you for that. But that doesn't give them the right to decide you don't deserve it; give with one hand, and then take with the other. Hrmph |=\

I'd definetly donate money after I get out of the tax hole I'm in .. Sounds like a cool idea.

Baccara,

Like I said in my earlier post, I do understand where you are coming from and the logic therein. However, the event was sold as a benefit for One... not for noob's.

It may, very well, behoove One to spread the wealth, but in my opinion, that's up to him, and he should not feel pressured in anyway to spread it around.

The donations were for a specific cause, which was changed after the event. As an auctioneer, that's not a good way to do business and build trust in the community. I would also agree that people have a right to be upset with feeling as though the good money they put up for this specific cause, may not actually be going to that cause. I hope, Baccara, you can understand their veiwpoint.

Personally, I think you should just let it be. Take it as a lesson learned and move on.

On another note, to the organizers of the auction, I think that the idea of a trust fund, of sorts for noob's is a great idea and raising the cash through auctions is viable, as we've seen.

If this is the cause, a full refund is in order! People came and bid fully aware of the purpose of the event and auction. Twisting that around and handing the money out at random is a scam of the size I wish to have no part of.

If Oneironaut keeps the money that was paid to him and on his behalf - as advertised - I happily await the day he feels comfortable to turn the L$ into prims and pay the taxes

One - do the right thing, keep the money and don't let anyone scam you out of it. It's like the poor guy winning a million, within days clouds of people hover around that person telling him how he should spend it. Do your own thing, or sit on it for some time and think what and how you want to spend it. It's yours in full.

Those who spent the larger amounts obviously can afford it, and didn't get to those amounts without being aware of how the game is played. And that is meant in the most positive way

Harald,

I couldn't have said it better myself!

Where do I start? First, let me say that although I appreciate the fond memories of me, by no means should there be a memorial/tribute built in my honor.

As Onei stated, I originally took up this cause because I believed in his work and wanted to see his vision of Escher's Relativity come to fruition. Since I'm no longer ingame, I have no idea how this became more then what it was, a means to help a fellow SL resident realize a dream.

That being said, I don't see why any of the money should be dispersed amongst others when, with a build such as this, money will be needed in future to pay for the prim and land taxes that come with large creations. If, Onei, you want to donate the money raised to other SL residents, that should be your choice alone to make.

Sincerely and fondly,

Carrera LeFay

Keep the money and buy everyone an ice cream cone. mmmm ice cream.. You'll still have plenty for your builds.

Stalin would be proud. Here we have a bunch of people that see someone else has a lot of money, so they are going to try to coerce him into dispersing it to who THEY think should have it. From each according to his means, to each according to his needs.

If I had donated and found out that Oneironaut was giving it away to some "trust fund" I would demand that he refund my donation to me. Oneironaut, they are taking advantage of you. More to the point, they are taking advantage of all the people who trusted you to use those funds to build and maintain your builds. Take a look at this:



It doesn't behoove you to pass anything on because it wasn't given to you to disperse, it was given to you to help complete a project that I and many others think is worthwhile. It's like if you donate money to the Red Cross to help out with a disaster but then the money winds up in Sumatra or something. If you wanted to donate to Sumatra you would have.

THEY'RE SWINDLING YOU ONEIRONAUT!!! And they are swindling your donators as well!!!

If you feel you have received too much, give the excess back to the donors. Do not just pass it on to a stranger without the donor's blessing.

Base line I'm getting from this post:

Future=No Auctions

I don't think it should go as far as never having another auction again.. ever. That just seems like a knee jerk reaction to an otherwise good program. The auction did what it was intended to do, and performed better than anyone expected. Instead of congratulating yourselves on a job well done, it's turned into this.

So, let me congratulate those who donated their time, effort, and goods to this event. By any guage, it was a rousing success!

I would encourage those who put this event on to take the success of this auction into account when/if you set up another.

It seems that the majority of the folks responding on this post, including myself, think that the funds should stay where they are.. but, some of the people are placing malice behind the 'give some of the proceeds away' movement, which is probably not just or deserved.

One .. u better keep the money .. if I or anyone else wanted to donate to newbies we'd do that!

The money went from my pocket and heart to you!!!! Not a newbie ! I help newbies out enuf and i'm sure others do ... sorry i'm confused why should any newbie get more of a break then rest of us??

ONE ... nobody twisted arms we all did it for U.


ps first post damn

I think there is one thing you all are missing here......

Picture this

this event was started by carrera....she had a friend who needed help and planned this event for him.

she leaves

enter pituca who takes up the event for her.....UNAWARE of the situation that oneiron is in.....she askes her friends for help for this person she has been told is in need of assistance.....these friends trust pituca and don't think to question what is going on.....

the day of the event.....half way through the 3 hour auction it comes to the attention of some of the donators and event staff that oneiron is not in need.....he is not poor....he's having the same problem that everyone else is....and that is that he can't have everything he makes in the world at the same time.

I did some checking....this "poor" man has a bunch of land with giant bongs stretching 100 meters into the sky....tax nightmare....he's also in a bunch of groups....(Probably deeding all of their land and items making the group share the taxes....yes that's a guess but probably a safe one)....All that needs to be done here is some scaling back....which EVERYONE has to do in this game....

When this information was brought to light, no one had any idea.....the reason he's in need is $12k worth of taxes......you can call that a bug if you wish......I doubt it is but that's not for me to decide or to support.

When the truth of the situation came to light many DONATORS were offended and outraged......it's the DONATORS themselves who are not happy and are feeling used......we thought we were helping someone who was in need and in fact we were helping to fund someone so that he could get around what we ourselves are having to face on a daily basis.....this was brought to no ones attention (not even pituca's) until the night of the event.

Now, with this new information, we (the donators) want our work to go to a good cause.....not to help someone get around taxes.....we discussed this with oneiron and came to the decision that he would take a chunk of the money....no small chunk, but $10k....and the rest would be divided among people who could also use the support.

before you jump on the side of the person who came here posting about how we stabbed him in the back AFTER we had just come to an agreement the night before, Ask yourself this, "Would you be content in knowing that the REASON for a charity was not a cause that warranted a charity in the first place?"

These people worked hard to help someone they thought was in need.....it turns out he was not, and they would like to pass their donations on to some who truly are.

That's the last you'll hear from me on this subject.....If you have any flames or wish to discuss anything with me personally......see me in game.

Val, I can't believe how incredibly offensive you could be here: the event was well described in its purpose, and everyone was well aware of what the money was being put towards. Oneir is NOT a land hog, NOT wealthy by any means, and considering I am part of nearly every group he is in, he is NOT divvying out the taxes to anyone else. Furthermore, I know for certain that he does not tax dodge, either. He is a 100% legit and respectable resident in SL, regardless of your subjective morality concerning his builds being pushed here and your inability to realize what Oneir contributes to the world before making a donation. How could you even suggest something like that without doing a background check! Your "bashing" post is totally unfounded and unfathomable in its purpose and fury!

So, stop making Oneir out to be some greedy, prim-obsessed person unworthy of charity! He has done so much for the community and I know without any dispute to turn me away that were he able to Oneir would provide for others the way this auction was to provide for him.

BUT, that does not alter the CAUSE for this auction, and so I still remain certain that all money should go to where it was initially intended: to support Oneironaut in his builds. PERIOD. That was the event name, that was the event cause, and to redistribute the money for ANY reason at this point is robbery (and no "Robin Hood" theory can remove this statement), untruthful, and backwards in its effect.

And THAT is my last post here, as I'm sure by now I've been the equalizer to your bashing and have completely restated my thoughts on the auction. I'm sorry for those I've offended (by my choice of words I'd imagine I've done so), but, I'm done with this. There's my last thought.

Uh Val?

Can you show me where Oneir posted about people stabbing him in the back? Can you point out anywhere he was not apologizing for peole who thought they had been scammed and trying to give the money back? Please?

Buyer beware is always in effect. Before you donate to a charity, check that the charity is legit and/or does what you want. If you do not, then that is your fault not the fault of the charity. Oneir may not be poor, but he does have some great builds and that is what the auction was concieved of to support. Anyone who is running a benefit auction should doubly check out that they really want to benefit the charity. Failure to do so is the fault of the organisers, not the charity.

You are only giving him 1/5th of the donated amount? Boo hiss. The money is his. Learn from the lesson and do the research next time before you donate the money.

Huh?? Wha? How do you come to this conclusion? A benefit auction is held that surpases any expectations and that means that no more should be held? Huh? Doesn't that seem backwards? There should be many, many more benefit auctions in the future! Please be sure of who you are donating for, and if you are running it then be sure that you really want to donate to that person or organization. You really can not go back afterwards and say 'Oh sorry, we didn't realize that we don't think you need the money everyone donated to you so we are taking it back." Too late.

If you want to donate to newbies, then hold another auction for a newbie trust fund. You have experience now, you should be able to do it even better!

The $50k should be Oneirs though to build his build and pay the taxes on it.

You have a lot of stretches / assumptions in that post, Valfaroth Grimm.

Val, your post is nothing but baseless accusations and personal opinions. Also, after reading this entire thread, I really don't think you have reason to be speaking for ALL the donaters. Speak for yourself only and ask for YOUR money back if you like, but wow, take a time-out and get a cold drink.

Fey isn’t trying to scam anyone. I see her points as well as Val's and the plethora of other replies. I want 50k

Alright, Valfaroth, in that case let all the "angry" donors go through their account history and figure out what they gave, and correlate that with Oneironaut's account history. Then if he likes Oneironaut can donate that to newbies.

As for funds donated by people who actually want to help Oneironaut, don't even think of asking him to touch that money.

That sounds like it would be the most equitable solution for those of you who are Indian givers.

The most equitable solution those other donors would be for him to keep every last L$.

You gotta remember, just 'cause the leader boards make it look like Oneironaut has a bazillion acres and a trillion dollars don't make it so. A lot of people (such as myself) are noticing that they have positions on the leader boards that are simply impossible.

Okay, it has been said a couple of times that I agreed to the idea of distributing the money in trust funds or whatnot.

This is absolutely not the case. As I said specificially before, I think this would be wrong as it was not the intent offered for the benefit.

If the money is to be given back, I think that it should be given back to the people who donated it - of which, I have a list.

All day, I had to agonise at work and think about what is going on with this. . . .

as I pondered it, I came to realise that this just isn't right. I sometimes have trouble sticking up for myself, but now, in the face of so much public opinion, I feel like I can speak up.

Specifically with Carrera LeFay responding. That made me so happy. The idea was hers, and she intended for the money to go to me. I absolutely plan on continuing the Escher project as that is the one that had caught her attention. I had planned on keeping a journal of how the build was going and making it sort of like a newsletter for those who contributed so that they can see how it is going.

This has been very strange for me. I received my first ever negative rating. Val, dude, I don't know what I did to you, but I think most of what you are saying is unnecessarily malicious. You keep referring to me as this rich person because of the leader board, but it has been explained multiple times that the leader board is wrong.

Just to give you an idea of how rich I am, after last night's taxes, I am $5,000 in the hole.

Here's the big issue with all of this guys: when I was approached by the organisers, I did give the money back. All of it. I guess the ball is now in their court.

OK, Like Frankie I'm confused.

As a donator of items, I was led to believe the money raised would go to Onei for what ever projects he deemed worthy.
If I was worried about how much money he had, land he owned or groups he belonged to, It was up to me to check it out. Same goes for those who attended the auction as buyers.

Weather or not there is a bug in the tax's (which I believe we all know to be true) is not the issue. how wealthy he is, is not the issue.

The auction was held for a specific reason and anyone involved was committed to that purpose. Changing the dispersal of the funds after the fact is just plain unacceptable.

Is there a question of wheather he intends to use the funds for a different purpose? That would be a different story.

The statement: Future = No Auctions is true in the sense that although an auction is a great and obviously successful concept which does have a future, it will be hard to pull off again when the donators have to consider wheather it matters to them if thier money will actually be applied the way it was presented to them.
If anything this is where the scandal lies.

Give Oneir back his money

Okay, upon logging in, I was contacted, and the money was returned to me.

I honestly was not trying to besmirch anyone's name or reputation.

The event went beautifully and was organised excellently. I'm extremely greatful to all involved.

Oh, and one other thing - I'm only a member of a couple of groups, and none of them are charging me any money.




Anyway, thanks for all the support guys! As always, you're the greatest! I hope that I can live up to expectations with the proposed EscherLand project

I congratulate the organizers for returning the money. While I appreciate their desire to help others above and beyond One, the money WAS raised for One. That being said, I would be happy to participate in future auctions to raise money for noob builds and/or other worthy causes. While I may not have anything worth donating, I do occasionally have money in my hot little yellow hands to spend. While the chandalier I bought last night won't fit into my house, if taxes drive me into the hole, at least I have something to live in.
I would like to propose a new auction. I call it the: "Make the little yellow Amish Alien Leprachaun Mob Boss very very happy auction."