I have been away most of the weekend and have not been on the board much since Friday. Carol and Eric are dealing with a hurricane and we are ALL dealing with what happened to our favorite island.

I have not had time (nor will I have time) to read every thread and every post but a lot of what I have read is not what TTOL is about.

This has impacted all of us, some much more than others, but it has impacted the residents and business owners of St. Maarten/St. Martin much more than any of us.

Please, THINK before you post, READ before you post and lets not be going at one another like has happened in a few instances. Please try to avoid duplicate posts.

Personal attacks will not be tolerated. Political discussions/interjections will be deleted. Duplicate and repetitive threads will be locked so as to not clog the board up and slow it down.

TTOL is not the place for GoFundMe requests. I recently saw where one business owner themselves was asking for $100,000.00 to rebuild their business. You want to help a person, business or group of people, that is your choice but TTOL is not going to be used to promote one over another.


If you want to donate to a person, group or business, I would suggest trying to find a way to do it direct with them. GoFundMe is a business and they charge approx. 8% of the amount donated.

Thank you.

Well said and thank you. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

one of the best comments i've seen so far <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" />

well said, sometimes during events such has just occurred common sense falls victim to panic reactions

Well said. Too often on this site discussions degenerate into personal attacks. Good to see the moderators taking a more proactive role.
As far as the aftermath of Irma it is disheartening to see the chaos and inadequate governmental response.These folks are in desperate straits and the French and Dutch governments need to act quickly to restore order so the recovery can go forward quickly and effectivly.Should they need the help of the USA, I'm confident they will get it. We have always stood ready to help. God bless all those who have been devastated by this terrible storm.

<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

As for helping rebuild a business. It is waaay too early to have a cost ESTIMATE to rebuild. It will be at least a month to have everything evaluated and put a price to it.

Wendell

Agreed. Part of owning a business should be having adequate insurance.

I have a question, that I ask with genuine curiosity and no ulterior motive, and I hope no one will bite my head off for asking it. Sometimes, people on this board can get a little hostile and I hope my question does not spark that kind of response. I am simply interested in understanding something which, apparently, I do not.

My question is this; why is this board not an appropriate place to post GoFundMe requests when those requests are for campaigns created to help the people of the island we all love? GoFundMe is a legitimate company and has a stringent vetting process in place to weed out scams and fake campaigns. Since this board is primarily visited by people who love St Maarten, which presumably means loving its people too, why is it wrong to ask for donations here to help those people? I am seriously not getting it and appreciate anyone who can explain the reasons to me in a calm way please. Again,, please do not attack me for simply asking a question.

Thank you,

Thanks for the private discussion.

At this time I am ending this thread. Once Carol and Eric are back online I am sure the GoFundMe and other charitable causes will be revisited.

Thanks.