Comments on: The Internet: Making it Vastly More Difficult To Obfuscate

By: Crystal

Crystal — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 21:59:16 +0000

Well, I got my "prize" letter in the mail today and was immediately wary. What legitimate non-profit organization sends out "lotto" letters. Needless to say, I trashed it, but then I got mad! How dare they use autism as a way to make money for their pockets! So, I googled the name and found this site. I just want people warned and a place to vent my outrage!!

By: Ken

Ken — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:12:42 +0000

Sorry to hear that, Kathy. I'm going through the same thing with my grandmother. Good luck.

By: kathy

kathy — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:33:03 +0000

I am sitting here with 3 envelopes in front of me trying to check their validity, one is the Autism Spectrum Disorder Foundation, P.O. in St. Louis, MO. the other two, The Breast Cancer Project and the National Caregiving Foundation also have St. Louis P.O.'s. Coincidental, I think not, especially when I typed in all 3 and nothing that seemed legit came up. The worst part about these are the hook they pull you in with, no donation required to possibly win a $6500.00 prize. The 86 year old "fish" they are trying to reel in is my father-in-law. He wrote a $10.00 check to each of these crooks in hopes of winning some money. He does this every week, donations to questionable charities, sweepstakes also crooked and phone calls from across the world telling him he's won hundreds of thousands of dollars. All he has to do is send them a thousand dollar check to secure his prize. We have gone to the attorney general in our state, called the police, everything we can think of to convince him he is being scammed, but he is still looking for that pie in the sky. We are now forced to monitor his mail and checkbook so that he won't be drained dry of the little bit of money he has for his care. That these people cannot be prosecuted is a mystery to me, how can they operate these toltal scams and get away with it?

By: Patrick

Patrick — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 15:28:55 +0000

Uncle Doug, I deleted the address. If you'd like to discuss it, please get in touch with us.

By: Uncle Doug

Uncle Doug — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 15:22:42 +0000

THIS IS NEW.

I recently received a solicitation letter in the mail from a local neighbor who is acting on behalf of Autism Spectrum Disorder Foundation. Among other things the letters states "…You don't have to give a lot (sic) – $10 or $20 will make a big difference in the life of a family coping with autism. If you can afford more, it is truly a blessing. You can make your check payable to Autism Spectrum Disorder Foundation, return it to me, and I'll send it in to the foundation."

This solicitation is signed "Kathryn" and attaches a self-addressed (not stamped) return envelope from Ms. Kathryn Jones, ______________________. Her address is near my own.

What a crock! The hairs on the back of my neck immediately went to red alert. I have never heard of someone requesting you send THEM the check and that they will forward same to charity. Something smells fishy here!?

By: March 20 roundup

March 20 roundup — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 05:16:14 +0000

[...] Someone who needs research done should snap up Kathleen Seidel, model practitioner of citizen journalism on autism-vaccine fray [Neurodiversity] When she got a call from a charity telemarketer recently, she began checking them out online. Results? Devastating. [Neurodiversity, Popehat] [...]

By: Eduardo

Eduardo — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 21:45:40 +0000

Guidestar.org is pretty much my first stop in dealings with any nonprofit. It is an invaluable resource.

Also, you can always ask for, and must be granted access to, a nonprofit's 990 if they do not have one posted on Guidestar. You can also similarly request their bylaws and annual report.

By: Kathleen Seidel

Kathleen Seidel — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 23:45:39 +0000

Aw, shucks. I'm speechless! There's one drawback with targeted marketing -- the targets just might recognize BS about the target topic when they hear it. After calling around, I know I'm not the only autism advocate who's gotten a call from some hapless call center employee pushing ASDF as "The Autism Foundation," and who reacted exactly the same way I did -- "Excuse me? What was the name of that organization again?"

By: Patrick

Patrick — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 22:23:59 +0000

Kathleen Seidel's work, on this as well as other posts debunking the litigation industry around autism and vaccines, is better than what the vast majority of journalists produce. And she does it from home.

When Instapundit refers to an "Army of Davids," this is what he means. But few of Reynolds' examples match Seidel, who has produced several items as impressive as the Mary Mapes/Dan Rather debunking.

She's outstanding, and yes we could use more of her like.