I didnt know where to put this... selfish or not? (Long Post)

[Nellasaur]

I pretty much agree with the first part. It is a lot different with people you know and with items that you know it is for (even though it can be used for other things, you have an inherent trust in the person).

The second part I feel just gets into semantics about payment method, though. I agree that it is unfair to compare the straight setting up of a gofundme and a tip jar. If you tweak it a little im curious if you think it is still okay? For example:

If i had a donate button on my blog that took them to a gofundme instead of a paypal.me link and it happened to be for a snake, would that be acceptable?

Hmmmm. That's a good question! I think for me, the line is drawn between receiving unsolicited donations (i.e., "If you like my blog and want to support my work, you can 'tip' me at this link") and soliciting (i.e., "I have set up this gofundme account to solicit donations towards a specific goal of getting a snake".) For some reason, that second option still doesn't feel right. I guess I just don't like the idea of asking the general public to give me money towards something that I don't need AND could get if I saved up for long enough.

On the other hand, if you ran a blog about reptiles and were blogging about your experiences with your own collection, and you set up an online donation campaign through the blog towards getting another snake, I would possibly donate to that? Because I would see it as a tip or a payment, in the sense that I enjoy your writing (or photos or vids or tutorials or whatever), so I'm giving you money to support you in continuing to do what you do. In that case, I WOULD be getting something out of it--more content on your blog!

But if your blog was just a random blog about your life, or about something completely different-- like, if you ran a blog about, IDK, basket weaving, and you were asking for donations to get a snake-- that would seem weird to me? I dunno, it's a very fine distinction, but it makes sense to me? But that could be just me.