

The Story of the Pittburgh Samaritan (My social news startup's first user-prompted report) - brandnewlow
http://www.windycitizen.com/news/04/14/2009/pittsburgh-samaritan-chicago

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brandnewlow
I run a niche social news site where Chicagoans are sharing and rating links
to local stuff. For some time now, the plan has been to publish original
reporting that digs a little deeper into one of the most interesting
submissions each week. This is the first such report. Someone shared a weird
Youtube video, I hired a freelance journalist to investigate and she brought
back the story linked here. Social news + Original content.

Everyone's talking about finding new ways to support original reporting on the
web. This is my proposed solution: outsourcing my "tip line" through a social
news app so we can focus on the reporting rather than the story-finding.

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edw519
According to one ancient belief system, the 8 levels of charity:

8\. When donations are given grudgingly.

7\. When one gives less than he should, but does so cheerfully.

6\. When one gives directly to the poor upon being asked.

5\. When one gives directly to the poor without being asked.

4\. When the recipient is aware of the donor's identity, but the donor does
not know the identity of the recipient.

3\. When the donor is aware of the recipient's identity, but the recipient is
unaware of the source.

2\. When the donor and recipient are unknown to each other.

1\. The highest form of charity is to help sustain a person before they become
impoverished by offering a substantial gift in a dignified manner, or by
extending a suitable loan, or by helping them find employment or establish
themselves in business so as to make it unnecessary for them to become
dependent on others.

Sounds like this guy has made it to #3. Good for him. I've made it to #6, got
a ways to go.

I have a feeling a lot of people here aspire to #1.

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edw519
What, a Pittsburgh Steelers AFC North Division Champion sweatshirt? Why not a
Super Bowl Champion t-shirt? You got 6 to choose from. (Sorry, I couldn't
resist.)

~~~
brandnewlow
The Samaritan's a bit of an odd character. Who knows? I'm still not entirely
convinced the whole thing's not an incredibly elaborate fraud, but my reporter
stands by the story.

~~~
beza1e1
The "pay it forward" idea is quite old. Wikipedia claims the oldest source to
be Benjamin Franklin. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pay_it_forward>

