Some Information Regarding The Bucket Challenge and Possible Alternatives

23 Responses

  1. chad says:

    I personally enjoyed reading your article and getting to know your opinion on different issues. I have been a fan of this site for at least the past five or so years and often wonder what makes the contributors/ posters tick, what are thier interests beyond the PSP and PS Vita. I would enjoy reading more articles here written by others that keep one of the very few sites I check multiple times per day, about subjects other than the sites main focus. I realize that if more articles were to be posted the site could quickly lose focus, but its nice on occasion to get to know a bit about the person behind their online handle as so much of what goes on in any console hacing scene is shrouded(sp?) in mystery.

    Chad

  2. Dockotis says:

    I have to say this… For the record: I agree with this article almost entirely. Really well written, and sounds a lot like something I have written elsewhere. If I did the Ice Bucket Challenge, I would be donating it to the ASPCA or another ‘for the animals’ based charity. When I do, I legit offer homeless people around the areas I traverse if they want food, and I walk with them, tell them get something, I pay for it, then leave them the receipt… This post, regardless of on topic or not, is definitely a good read.

  3. Eddie Thor says:

    First, it’s “per se” not “per say”.

    Second, it’s going to die down soon.

  4. Cameron says:

    I’ll start by straight up saying I didn’t read the whole article, but.
    Whether it’s on or off topic is no matter to me, I do not like this Ice bucket challenge ***, I think there’s something going on and I have no idea how the fad even started.
    However if you wish to write articles in the weekly or whatever that’s fair enough, nothing is stopping you.
    You have the right to write about whatever you want but you have to keep in mind that not everyone may want to read it. And if they don’t, they don’t have to.

  5. witinhalf says:

    7% of their income goes to paying executives. This number should go down after this years donations. I’m not sure if you can judge how they are using the money for the ice bucket challenge until after the fact.

  6. mlc says:

    I can’t say I know enough about ALS to say if your alternatives to animal testing are sufficient and could be equally as useful, but it’s simply a fact that we *must* test some treatments on animals and then people. Maybe ALS treatments aren’t developed to a stage where that is the right choice (from a utilitarian standpoint, i.e. perhaps the harm to animals is greater than the amount of knowledge gained and progress on a treatment), but medical tests are a necessary evil if we want new treatments. This isn’t like animal testing of cosmetic treatments or frivolous/unnecessary procedures, this is a basic requirement for getting enough confidence to subsequently try in people. And the people who volunteer for the first rounds of human testing will likely also be at great risk, although obviously not to the same degree as the animals that are inevitably going to be killed during testing. If a simulation could be as useful as a real world test, then we’d likely already be all but on top of a cure; we have to use real world tests specifically because we don’t fully understand the situation. I’m saying this as someone who cares about animals probably just as much as I care about people. (in general, not in the “let that person drown because I’d rather help a dog” sense)

    You’re right that the challenge is a bit silly in many ways, and clearly downright stupid when applied to a tiny child or a pet, but that doesn’t mean that the charities themselves aren’t deserving of some level of support. (and, for the child’s video, I think half of the reason they uploaded that was because the kid’s reaction is ridiculous and therefore kind of funny – ignoring the idiocy of dumping ice on your kid or accidentally teaching them to say “****ing ****” as a baby) I also find the challenge annoying in that half of the people are doing it because it’s a meme, not because they’re actually willing (or financially able) to donate money to charity. But I must admit that it’s been a crazy effective ad campaign for the charity, so I can’t say it’s all bad.

  7. Be0ut says:

    Well written article but it’s not what i come here for.. Gaming and technology news is what brings me here.. I really don’t wanna read about ALS challenge / politics /or whatever else is trending on social media my FB newsfeed is good for that.. Again no disrespect to the author but stick to gaming/technology

    • Tonakai says:

      That’s a very valid point and the main reason I was incredibly surprised to actually see the article published.

      Wololo gives us a lot of freedom (within reason) with the topics of our articles which I for one really appreciate. This article wasn’t at all planned though, it just happened early this morning.

      Although I’d like to quickly explain that when I mentioned politics the articles I had in mind were actually more directed towards hackers in general and politics and things about how the current judicial system effects this. These things have been mentioned on this site before but in a different way to what I’ve been thinking about.

      In all honestly though I’m not sure if/when I’ll really get round to writing these, and I’m going to have to discuss a few things with wololo anyway.

    • wololo says:

      BeOut, thanks a lot for the feedback. Once in a while we go out of our “core” theme. I felt the article was well written enough that it deserved to be published, but we will of course try to stick to our hacking/gaming articles as much as possible. Articles like this one will definitely be the exception, but again I felt it was good so I published it.

  8. APRON-MAN says:

    Good job well written its nice for something different once and awhile, to the people complaining off topic, you didn’t have to read it.

    • Be0ut says:

      Agreed, a “gamers” point of view on current events is def refreshing and my intention was neither to offend nor to complain but just to provide some feedback. I did enjoy the article.

  9. zorak_torok says:

    Ill say this atleast : its good to know that there are some people out there that seem to care about total well being more than I do.

    • zorak_torok says:

      I feel that I need to say, Im not being a total ***…. I care, I just dont make the time for it (or money for that matter) outside of taking care of my family and being greedy with my free time because I feel I get so little of it that it feels deserved… I have a conscience or I wouldnt come back to reply to my own post, I guess I just tell it to shut up sometimes…. @dr phil :->

  10. Mizu says:

    I found this pretty well written. I agree that a fair number of those doing the challenge are likely not donating. I know my youngest sister did it (the youtube vids she watched of others doing it bugged me for days!), but not if she donated money to the cause. I suspect she did it moreso due to the “fad” status it has achieved, honestly.
    Your comments on alternatives to animal testing are interesting. Didn’t know meat can be kept “alive” like that…
    I’m fine with a variety of topics being posted here, personally. Not everything needs to be game-related, and hearing the views of trusted members of the site regarding social issues can be interesting, I find.

  11. aces says:

    $17 out of every $100 goes towards research for ALS.
    There should be more transparency as to what percentage of your donation actually goes to what you’re donating for.

  12. alpmaster says:

    This was a great article i also felt that people were network pressured to do this ice bucket challenge. That is terrible about the animals as far as i am concerned thats animal abuse which i have been seeing alot lately on the internet whether it be pulling dogs from their hind legs or kicking cats across the patio 🙁

  13. Carl says:

    Very cool article. Thanks for posting!

  14. Derel says:

    Supporting pseudoscience, science denialism, and anti-pharmaceutical conspiracies? Nice. (All of this is biased (and, mostly false) *** http://puu.sh/bjTKf/21cbbaead7.png)

    Please don’t put this toss on wololo.

  15. Derel says:

    Let alone – Everything you say about animal testing is painfully biased (though I can accept it inevitably would be, you’re an “animal rights activist”).

    Animal testing, is unfortunately required. We can’t test some things on humans because it can be dangerous to human life, and your alternatives have many, many cases where they just can’t be applied. Without animal testing, we’d have considerably more deaths every year, as well as less of an advance into medical science from past discoveries.

    A human life is worth more than an animal’s, and if you think otherwise you’re delusional.

  16. Chris.Beanz says:

    Well written article I must say and I was happy to see a blog here that wasn’t exclusively about gaming/hacking. I’d love to see a few more(maybe 1 a week/month) and would definitely enjoy reading them. I’ve never done the ice bucket challenge myself, I think it’s kind of pointless to do that when these famous, rich celebrities could just as easily donate $1000+ to any of the charities but I see it’s to get awareness up. As for doing the challenge with your pets?? That’s just plain ***, why in god’s name would you want your pet to do the ice bucket challenge? You can do it just fine by yourself but when you’re involving an animal that can’t object to what’s going on I feel the line has been crossed. Just keep your internet stunts to yourself guys and if you’re going to involve your dog in anything, how about doing it with a chuck-it and a tennis ball rather than a cold *** bucket of water and video camera.

  17. NNNRT says:

    You forgot to mention how much water this challenge is wasting, especially during this period of drought & global warning.