The 1,000 Dollar Donation

Published on March 1, 2008 (↻ April 29, 2023), filed under (RSS feed for all categories).

A few minutes ago, I donated the 1,000 US dollars I offered in the 1,000 Dollar Comment Game. I rounded the 1,000 dollars to 700 euros and transferred the money to “Selbsthilfe fĂŒr Wohnungslose e.V.”, Hanover—400 euros directly to the aid group, 300 euros to a voluntary employee so as to pay extra work.

Donation proof.

The motivation for this measure is simple to explain: Both the 1,000 Dollar Comment Game and its predecessor, the 100 Dollar Comment Game, well, flopped, and donating the money made more sense than waiting until 2009. I did not give the money to an international organization because I think that in a world moving together, local support becomes even more important, and it’s easier to tell what’s being done with the money. (I don’t generally mistrust international aid institutions though, as a forthcoming project will show.)

Regardless, many thanks again to the 1,000 Dollar Comment Game sponsors, Mathias Ziegler of Triplemind/Unterkunft.de and Tom MĂŒller of SUP4U, who, thankfully, agreed to this donation. So I hope that we all enjoyed the experiment (whose development still puzzles me) and are also glad that we could help a few people in need.

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About Me

Jens Oliver Meiert, on November 9, 2024.

I’m Jens (long: Jens Oliver Meiert), and I’m a frontend engineering leader and tech author/publisher. I’ve worked as a technical lead for companies like Google and as an engineering manager for companies like Miro, I’m a contributor to several web standards, and I write and review books for O’Reilly and Frontend Dogma.

I love trying things, not only in web development (and engineering management), but also in other areas like philosophy. Here on meiert.com I share some of my experiences and views. (Please be critical, interpret charitably, and give feedback.)

Comments (Closed)

  1. On March 3, 2008, 10:40 CET, Lazar said:

    So, what was the experiment?

  2. On March 3, 2008, 11:03 CET, Jens Oliver Meiert said:

    Hi Lazar, well, I’ve just been curious đŸ˜Š

  3. On March 3, 2008, 11:35 CET, Lazar said:

    I’ve tried to stimulate people with money once ($100) to submit enlightening videos, but enthusiasm was not very high! All they had to do is submit a video with a thoughtful comment (well, and to figure out an odd diamond like rating scale!).

    In my experiment there was no ‘game theory’ involved. Only the quality of comment/video would decide the winner


    I am actually surprised that the number of comments in your game didn’t reach close to hundred. If the game is still on, I think I can mobilize a few people with one email and your game will end within few days!

  4. On March 3, 2008, 23:13 CET, Robert Bienert said:

    Well, what is the conclusion of the two games: Do bloggers already have enough money so that they don’t bother about some “tip”, some “silly bucks”?

    And since the interest of earning 100 and even 1,000$ has decreased more and more, I think you did the right decission to donate the money for a good cause.

  5. On March 4, 2008, 9:23 CET, helmdach said:

    Nice touch jens đŸ˜‰

    Btw, the link to the charity organization is not very useful đŸ˜‰