If you care about life

Let me start with this; I love drupal, I like Dries and I think I am a long term member of the Drupal community. But having a fundraiser for the baby from Dries and Karlijn as is the frontpage of Drupal.org is rather stupid. As stated before I like Dries and as a proud dad of two kids I can say like newborns more then life itself. Really, I love kids. There is nothing more valuable in life then the start of a new life. In fact, there are only three things that have been very important in my life, the birth of my daughter Brecht, the birth of my son Aart and the death of my father. Three moments that I have been through and care for, changed me and that are interconnected in some way (fin de siecle). Three moments I love.

But out of this love I know what kids need; fresh diapers, fresh food but most of all the feeling of being secure and love of their parents. Dries and Karlijn will be perfectly able to give this to their baby themselves, they dont need a "community" to chip in. If you care about Dries/karlijn and their newborn send them a postcard, a small present with a Druplicon or some baby cloths. They will -I think and hope- appreciate it.

So love Dries for what he does and show this by sending him and Karlijn a postcard (address) but give money to the people who can give love and the feeling of security to their kids but have a hard time giving the kids shelter, food and eduction.

Give to the Red Cross, Médecins Sans Frontières, Unicef or to a local organization in your neighbourhood. Show you care about life by getting your priorities straight.

Give your congratulations to whom you care about,
give your money to those who need it.

"Just my dime"

amen

i thought it was a pretty awkward idea as well. send a personal gift if one is so moved .. thanks for writing this blog post.

By Moshe Weitzman (not verified) at Tue, 24/07/2007 - 11:04pm | reply

good one

This whole fundraiser gave me an icky feeling too. I am very happy for Dries an Karlijn; but raisin money is just not the right thing. Thanks for bringing this up, Bert. And lets hope people give a more creative and personal appreciation when time comes.

By Bèr Kessels (not verified) at Tue, 24/07/2007 - 11:06pm | reply

Opinion and causes appreciated

Hi Bert,

I appreciate your opinion and cause(s). They are definitely worthy for sure.

However, there is another side to the coin.

Many people use Drupal for their personal sites. Others use it for their business sites. Others use it to build sites for others. Others made careers out of it. Others are addicted to it.

For some of us, this is the least we could do for Dries, Karlijn, and the new baby.

I realize there are cultural differences that make this a bit "awkward" in some cultures (e.g. I noticed only a few contributors from Europe, compared to the USA, but it is too early to say). However, Drupal is a global project and global community too.

Compare that to how much the community chipped in for Karoly to have a new laptop. $1785 so far by 31 people.

Here are some quotes from those who share my view on the idea:

Good initiative!

Great idea Khalid, Dries really deserves it (both the happiness to be a father and the money). Thanks again to him!

"Anything concerning Dries is front page worthy"

So, let each side of the debate have their way. I don't think there is a wrong way.

By Khalid - 2bits (not verified) at Wed, 25/07/2007 - 7:57am | reply

Difference

The community is sending Karoly money expecting him to buy a new laptop. In this case people just seem to be sending Buytaert jr. random money.

Or are you actually going to buy him/her a present?

By gaele at Thu, 26/07/2007 - 1:36pm | reply

That's a different money

It's simply a different row in the "accounting book". The money I donate to charities and the money I donate for Drupal purposes. Why do you think they contradict?

By chx1 (not verified) at Wed, 25/07/2007 - 8:23am | reply

Delicate

This is a delicate subject to comment on, but I think you've done a great job doing so.

I also think having the fundraiser on the frontpage is not very appropriate. Drupal.org is a site for the Drupal content management framework after all... not for personal stuff of one of the main developers.

By Pjotter (not verified) at Wed, 25/07/2007 - 9:37am | reply

not one of the main developers

You are totally right, my (ie. one of the main developers) laptop chipin had nothing to do on the front page and it was never there. However, Dries is not one of the main developers, he has written the whole thing and is the project leader still.

By chx1 (not verified) at Wed, 25/07/2007 - 1:47pm | reply

some agree some dont

it is no longer on the f/p of drupal.org where it was inappropriate according to (and some others)

--
groets, bert boerland

By bertboerland at Wed, 25/07/2007 - 2:07pm | reply

Doing one does not exclude doing the other

For me the fundraising felt a bit like when one of the colleagues is becoming a parent, and some-one steps from desk to desk with a little envelope to put money in.
So not awkward for me and very familiar.
While passing around the envelope i've never thought of "the poor children in Africa" because that's in a different area of my mind. Is give money to charity AND i give money to friends who become parent. One does not have to exclude the other.

One major difference of course is the amount of money that can be raised by such a chipin compared to a simple envelope Smiling

By Roeland De Meester (not verified) at Sat, 28/07/2007 - 8:53pm | reply

Giving contributions to

Giving contributions to charitable organizations, whether in cash or in kind, is a way of us helping the less fortunate. There are literally millions of children who were born in very unfortunate circumstances. If we have the capacity to make a difference in at least one of them, then by all means we should.

By Dr. Richard Jobs (not verified) at Sat, 22/11/2008 - 1:54am | reply