I created this site because I wanted to learn about using Paypal for e-commerce. Then I thought it would be an interesting experiment to put a virtual begging bowl on the web and see if anyone donated. The web is frequently castigated as a sewer of pornography, fraud and evil but it has also enabled me to meet some very nice and interesting people. I was optimistic that it would tell us something about the capacity of the average internet user for random acts of kindness.
The site uses Paypal's notification system so that when a donation is received, it updates my database with the running total and emails it to the donor. The total amount reflects the amount donated and does not take into account PayPal fees, taxes and so on.
As far as I can tell, the idea is an original one. There are plenty of people on the internet asking for money in one way or another but none of them have taken this approach.
After a lot of thought I decided to remain anonymous on this website. I wanted people to respond to it in a completely unprejudiced way so there is no indication of my age, sex, race or religion anywhere on the site. Whatever your response, it reflects something about your own attitude to humanity in general - whether you are optimistic about human nature or naturally suspicious of it. I will say that I think I am pretty much an average person, exceptional neither in wealth nor virtue.
If you need to contact me for any reason, you can email me on TheBeggar@BeggingBowl.com and I will try to respond.
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