Could they have added any more self promotional links at the bottom?
If you are pledging for money the least you should do is introduce yourself.
Captain Crunch needs your help
11–20 of 77 posts
Re: Captain Crunch needs your help
#12FWIW the 10K number is about right. The average cost of removing spinal hernia in Mayo clinic is 11K as of a year ago, and I expect his case to be similar. That's covering the whole stay, and excluding any follow-up physio.
However the site does look fishy... or if CC in fact can't afford a 10k expense, then things are just plain sad :|
Re: Captain Crunch needs your help
#13There's no mention of this on John Draper's personal website or MySpace page. How do we know this message is from John Draper? http://www.webcrunchers.com/ http://www.myspace.com/jdcrunchman (Found webcrunchers via Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Draper and found MySpace via webcrunchers.)
There is a Facebook page, but it doesn't look more legit than the savingcaptaincruch website. They might both be fake. http://www.facebook.com/jdcrunchman?v=wall EDIT: On inspection, the stuff from early October and back seems pretty OK. I'm more inclined to believe this now.
Mark Abramov said the following on the Facebook page you linked. I hope John Draper follows this advice (and that the surgery goes well):
"Captain, it would be great if you connected your known web identity (webcrunchers.com) with your identity on facebook (this account) and/or the donation website. Put a link on the sidebar or something because some people get suspicious.
Hope you get well soon."
Re: Captain Crunch needs your help
#14The US healthcare system never fails to shock and horrify me. I am so thankful for my dual citizenship every time I hear a story like this. Pathetic and sad.
I just wanted to post _exactly_ the same.
I imagine that John Draper has some sort of health insurance. So why are those things even an issue? Healthcare is one of those few areas where I think that a government backed approach provides more benefits than a private approach.
Re: Captain Crunch needs your help
#15There's no mention of this on John Draper's personal website or MySpace page. How do we know this message is from John Draper? http://www.webcrunchers.com/ http://www.myspace.com/jdcrunchman (Found webcrunchers via Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Draper and found MySpace via webcrunchers.)
Whois says the domain was registered by this person: http://www.blogher.com/member/christinemarie She doesn't look like a scammer.
http://technorazzi.com/?p=1254
It looks like Christine Marie is at least aquainted with John Draper, and Christine posted this site on her twitter: http://twitter.com/digitalginger
Re: Captain Crunch needs your help
#16The US healthcare system never fails to shock and horrify me. I am so thankful for my dual citizenship every time I hear a story like this. Pathetic and sad.
I just wanted to post _exactly_ the same. I imagine that John Draper has some sort of health insurance. So why are those things even an issue? Healthcare is one of those few areas where I think that a government backed approach provides more benefits than a private approach.
Precisely. Even if you have insurance in the US, you may not really have coverage when you need it. And even with insurance, bankruptcy is still a very real possibility in the long run.
Re: Captain Crunch needs your help
#17USD 6000 + 2000? I don't want to seem insensitive, but a guy with Crunch's talent should easily be able to make the payments. He could take it across several years if he wanted to.
(Or he should have just gotten medical insurance in the first place, although I've heard some nasty things about private health insurance in America.)
Re: Captain Crunch needs your help
#18The last few times he came up on HN I'm sure there were several accounts of him being accomplished but not a particularly nice person. I have no idea. Can that be balanced out?
Re: Captain Crunch needs your help
#19[deleted]
Re: Captain Crunch needs your help
#20There are barely visible links at the bottom of the page for "Shop the Best Verizon Wireless Deals" and "Thanks to Top CD Rates, Bank Rates and Bad Credit".
Nobody can verify the affiliation with John Draper.
I suspect this is a both a scam and black hat SEO.