Feed the Starving for Free article discussion

Former_MSE_Dan

This discussion relates to the

Feed the Starving for Free Article

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Dave&Beryl

Why not make the https://www.hungersite.com webpage your home page and that way you won't forget to make a daily 'click'!

Lara

if so , did they arrive (!) and were you pleased with the quality of the goods? There are a few things that I would like especially animal items. Thanks.

tiggert

Just read Martin's article about this at:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1103391338,26770,#how

Where he mentions: "Technically The Hunger Site's sponsors don't pay when you click the 'feed the starving' button; it's more complex. They pay when you directly click through to them via the sponsor's page; at a rough rate of 20p per click."

Does this mean that actually me just clicking on the "feed the starving" button is of no use, unless I also click through to some of the sponsors?

Martin or anyone else can you confirm this? Thanks.

cullin

I'm with tiggert, as I click every day and I mean every, please confirm its not a useless gesture. And if its not PLEASE EVERY BODY DO IT!

wellers

amazing little plug in for Firefox that integrates all those 'click once a day' sites into firefox

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/421/

download and install it, then go here:

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/849/

download this, click 'override compatibility checking' and there you go. Sorted.




Although if the clicking of the button doesn't result in any money being donated perhaps this isn't such a great little tool and the FAQs on the website seem to suggest it's the clicking of the button. Not the clicking through to the site that generates the food.

upbury

I was a regular visitor to this site and used it everyday for approx 18 months ........... that is until I read about the effect of dumping cheap American grain on developing countries.

To cut a very long story short it related to work in Africa. American grain is 'bought' by the American govt in effect as a subsidy to their grain industry. Vast quantities are then 'sold' at knock down prices in the developing world. What is the problem with this? Consider this scenario ............

A common food given to malnourished children is a kind of maize soup. Local farmers grew the grain which was bought by charities to make the soup. There was never enough of course but it was an incentive and provided a small income for their surplus. American grain is then provided at a cost which cannot be competed against. The Charities have to be cost effective, net result local producers are squeezed out. Remember we are not talking famine situation here when there is a need for instant help.

I now sponsor a child and give money of my own to buy chickens, or fruit trees, or some such which may provide income and independance. Source? the money I used to waste on sending Christmas cards to colleagues I saw every day.

ahai1

Are you sure the charities behind the hungersite are involved in this?

holyone2

I looked at the page source and this is within it:
<!--# Dear Web Robot Author,
++++#
++++# We appreciate that you want to help the world by writing
++++# a program that clicks the button. But it is not that simple.
++++# If it were that simple then we'd do it. The money we raise
++++# for our causes comes from our sponsors who enjoy both
++++# helping the causes and the benefit of our visitors' consideration.
++++# It all comes down to conversion rates. A certain number
++++# of our visitors who see the sponsors will click the ad
++++# and then a certain number of those who click the ads will take other
++++# actions on the sponsor's sites. Robots hurt our conversion rates
++++# and make our clicks less valuable... We want to keep our
++++# sponsors' advertising dollars here where they help the causes.
++++# By writing bots that click the button you just make our
++++# sponsors consider other websites where the conversion rates
++++# might be better. If you want to help here are a couple ideas:
++++#
++++# 1. Tell people. Send an email, e-card, voice mail, postcard, smoke signals,... to people you know.
++++#
++++# 2. Link to our sites. The traffic we get from Google because of rank really makes a big difference!
++++#
++++# We do appreciate the thought and we certainly appreciate your support!

Hence, I'm fairly sure this is saying actually clicking the link does next to nothing, like Martin guesses - maybe 0.5p, so my conclusion would be if your like me and are unlikely to buy strange charity memoribilia, or travel through the random links on the page, then it is next to useless clicking the buttons - All you can do is link to the site to get its rank up, and tell people who will do all the aforementioned.

Does this sound like a correct conclusion?
-->

EdinPheonix

You have to be so careful when donating to charities, especially those who deal with the worlds 'bottom billion' so much aid money has been wasted over the years by giving it to poorly run Governments on the back of false promises.

If you want to help the 'bottom billion' go for charities that work on the ground with local people and local community groups, that way you can be sure your dontations will go directly to help those who need it most.

Lucie_C

Hello everyone

It's not just 'feed the hungry' - you can also use the site to help feed animals in shelters, improve children's literacy and to donate money for mammograms.

A site that I haven't yet seen mentioned is care2.com: http://www.care2.com/click-to-donate/rainforest/ where you can donate to help save the rainforest, wolves, seals, primates, oceans etc.