And at some point, Elena, Plei, and Nilly should send me their lists of later Buffy, Angel, and Firefly quotes and ita should send me formatting instructions, that I might add some quotes to the generator.

I like the idea of a Buffista address database, but I'm a little... well... I'm not leary, but... I'd hate to see the Buffista Good Deed Backchannel become somewhat institutionalized. Right now, we have had many spontaneous acts of generosity and kindness, which I think is wonderful. And the serendipitousness is part of it--sometimes you hear about it, sometimes you get to participate in it, sometimes you just get surprised when you hear about it later.

What Burrell said.

I do feel a little sad when I miss out on the opportunity to give to someone, but the gift's not ever going to be from me, you know? It's from us.

I fear overhead, the impulse-killer.

but the gift's not ever going to be from me, you know? It's from us.

I think I see what you're saying.

The reason I thought this sort of thing could be good was because it's another way to let people become part of this 'us' - I was thinking more about relatively new posters, or posters who participate in only a few threads, or only occasionally - who are less likely to be in other people's e-mails addresses-books.

I really don't think it will take out the spontinaity.

The way I see it:

Most ideas for gifts of kindness started with one person emailing their address book. That may still happen for small community specific things, but for whole community things, or things that the organizer wants to be fully inclusive, they could now email Nilly or Deena for a full email list.

They could remove the secret giftees info and send out the email. It would appear the same to anyone receiving the email. What it would save is a few people feeling left out.

It seems that feeling left out is a fairly common thing on the boards, why not do something that would eleviate it a little?

I'm not saying don't do it. I'm just leery of it, is all.

How about you manage it, and let me have a copy so that we have backup?

Which also works in case we are surprising one of YOU!

As far as killing spontainaiety, I can see the concern... but I'm agreeing with msbelle. It's a bummer to feel left out and it can cause bad anti-cliquey feelings.

I think it's okay. I've started a few campaigns, and as noted by msbelle I just grab nearby email addresses out of my inbox. I do ask people to send the message along, but most of these things have been for relatively cheap items (skulls, knives...you know, things Buffistas like) and so by the time 20 people chip in with $10 each its done in a day.

I do love the spontaneous giftie impulses that have provided rent relief, and travel money and cookies for folks in hard times. For the fund gathering though, it wouldn't be bad to have an opt-in list.

It would all start the same way, intiated by one person, just asking to use the Giftie List minus the gift-recipient, and it would still be informal. It'd just be a more inclusive mailing list.

As long as there are no committees and the solicitations are fairly simple and straightforward I think it would be okay.

Just the one time is enough

Also, keep in mind this is not codified as THE ONLY WAYS BUFFISTAS WILL DO NICE THINGS FOR EACH OTHER.

If a small group of friends wants to get together to treat another friend, that's grand. In many cases, a huge group of participants isn't necessary and could even be unwieldy.

YGenorosityMV.