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Here's Skinner's message. By the way, Skinner finally did work it all out and spoke with Andy and Andy posted medical records, etc. Anyway, the troll had evil intentions. He wanted to cause problems and did:
Many of you have been following the posts about Andy Stephenson's surgery for pancreatic cancer, and a large number of you have been generous enough to donate to the cause. I am touched by how big-hearted this community is when it comes to our attention that one of our own is in need. Earlier today someone claimed that the entire thing was a hoax to scam our members out of their money.
Allow me to be clear: I have my own opinion about whether this is legit or a hoax, but it is only that: an opinion. I do not know the truth. It has long been the policy of Democratic Underground not to vouch for anyone who uses this website in order to raise money, and we have not done so in this case. It is our preference to let our members weigh the evidence, and decide for themselves if they feel comfortable donating or not.
Our policy of not verifying anyone should not be interpreted as a statement about the legitimacy of any claim, including this one. Put yourself in our position. If we say "we think this is legit" then we might help someone in need, but we are personally responsible if it turns out to be a hoax. But if we say "we don't think this is legit" then we might protect people from being scammed, but there is a chance that a person in need goes without help. So, we're kinda stuck.
The problem is made worse by the fact that we all know that the potential for abuse is huge. A group of people just raised a huge amount of money -- twice as much money in two weekends than DU itself raises during any of its week-long quarterly fund-drives. And they didn't even have to provide any proof whatsoever. (Again, let me repeat: This is not a statement on the legitimacy of Andy Stephenson's situation. I'm just trying to be honest about the issues involved.)
Here's what we all know.
Some people have raised a large amount of money -- mostly from the members of Democratic Underground, but also from some other websites -- which they claim will be used to pay for surgery for Andy Stephenson at Johns Hopkins University Hospital. They say the surgery was supposed to be today, but it was postponed.
Earlier today, a DU member by the name of MrNiceGuyDied posted a few messages claiming that he had been in contact with a Dr. Cameron at Johns Hopkins University Hospital, who told him that this was a hoax.
Then, a DU member by the name of qanda started a thread claiming the same thing. The thread by qanda did not mention the posts by MrNiceGuyDied. In the thread, qanda gave the impression that qanda had called Dr. Cameron and was told that this was a hoax.
All hell broke loose. The moderators and I had to step in and lock all the threads.
qanda posted an apology in my thread which said this: "I apologize for starting the thread questioning the story about Andy. I am way too cynical, and should not have been so quick to believe someone who had no clue." So, qanda seems to be saying that their thread was based on the post by MrNiceGuyDied, but that is not clear.
Here's what you don't know.
MrNiceGuyDied is a troll. He was formerly banned from DU under half a dozen other usernames, all of which were heavily involved in stirring up trouble on the BBV issue. There is absolutely no reason to take any of his posts seriously.
qanda sent me a private message apologizing for the thread. After I sent her a rude response (I'm sorry, I was very angry), qanda said that they did in fact call Dr. Cameron. So that is the context of the thread.
Other people have sent me private messages vouching for Andy.
I did not want to share this piece of information, but in light of recent events, I think that DU members need to know that the administrators actually do care about what get posted here. Even though we don't vouch for people, we have been very concerned about the possibility for abuse.
When the goal for the fund drive suddenly changed from $25,000 to $50,000, we started to get concerned. Last week I called Johns Hopkins Hospital to try to verify that Andy Stephenson is actually getting surgery. Every person I talked to gave me the same answer: Federal privacy laws forbid them from disclosing the names of patients. I want to be clear: My actions are not a reflection on Andy or any other members of this website. I was hoping to quietly verify Andy's story myself, and nobody would be the wiser.
Yesterday, as part of my search, I was directed to an individual at Johns Hopkins with the job title of "patient representative". We have been playing phone tag since then, so we haven't talked yet. Given the previous responses, I am pretty doubtful that she can help us out.
Given that this has become an issue, I think we all need to do what we can to put all the concerns to rest
I think that Andy Stephenson obviously wants to set the record straight and clear his name. And I would like to put the concerns of the DU membership to rest. Here's what I propose.
Andy Stephenson and I need to talk this out on the telephone. He needs to somehow release Johns Hopkins Hospital from their privacy restrictions so they can talk to me directly and verify that the surgery is taking place, and verify that it does cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $50,000.
Then, we will report back to you, and all these concerns will be put to rest. I will send Andy Stephenson a private message with our office phone number.
Thank you, everyone, for your understanding as we work our way through this.
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