Crowdfunding: Trial By Error [David Tuller]: Reporting on ME, ME/CFS, long Covid, and "Medically Unexplained Symptoms", Oct 2022

Should I feel left out that I did not get anything today, or put it down to the strikes delaying post. (Note I am quite happy not to get any post, but don’t Berkeley have more than one photo of Carol T Christ to include in emails?)

 

And me, got two.

 

Got one today too

 

Just want to say that I have emailed the address shown at the foot of the latest unwanted postal stuff from Berkeley, which is donorservices@berkeley.edu

"Dear Berkeley,

I receive mail from you about once a year about my donations and would really rather not. It seems a waste of resources, not least the non-recyclable 'I'm Berkeley Loyal".

From discussions online, it is clear that no one, or almost no one, at least in the UK, wants to receive this wasteful material, but we haven't yet found how to stop receiving them, other than stopping our donations to the ME campaigning of Dave Tuller, which we do not want to do!

I'm sure we would all be very grateful if these postal messages would stop."

 

I received postal spam for years from Columbia U after donating to one of those Lipkin projects. So wasteful, sending post abroad when they could just email their spam.

 

Thanks. I've tried. It's really beyond my control. I've explained that these are "Tuller donations" and not "Berkeley donations," that it's a waste of resources and so on, and I'm told ok, something has been noted in the system, but then I hear people still get these things. And I think what happens is maybe some get stopped but then subsequent donations probably retrigger something somewhere in the system and the mailings start again.

 

I think that my method of emailing the address at the bottom of the letter has worked, as I've received the following reply:

"Thank you for contacting our team and I apologize for this inconvenience. I have updated your record so that you will no longer be receiving mail from UC Berkeley. If you know of anyone else who wants to make additional changes to their contact preferences, they are welcome to email us here at donorservices@berkeley.edu or call us at (510)642-4379, and we'd be happy to make the requested changes. Please let me know if there is anything else I can help you with and thank you for supporting Cal!

Best,"

So if you email the address you shouldn't receive any more post! (Hopefully...)

 

I love getting mine!
I feel grand and generous. I always put these up on my lounge ledge, sometimes they send me two at once bonus, and every time I see one it makes me laugh. About how on my income a wealthy university is thanking me for my largesse and communicating optimism that I might extend this further. Listen folks this is a novel experience for me. Get your ungrateful commoner hands off of my fine fancy envelopes!

I wonder too, that you don’t all share the joy as that embossed-previously cream now sadly bleached white-unopened envelope sits weightily in your hands that blue logo adding to the familiar feeling, the signal that it is time for a moment of reflection on Ester Crawley and how unstoppable as she is, she doesn’t enjoy the dose of much deserved public ridicule that @dave30th can always be relied up on to serve up. This envelope reminds me that we are no longer in the time when only we knew what was happening to us and that we have friends now.

That gives me a lump in my throat. I don’t get this from emails or newsletters because I mostly can’t read them. So it’s the physical object only that triggers these reflections.

But I do concede it would be a shame if someone got confused and gave money straight to Berkeley general. I’ll give you all that.

 

I hope another donation doesn't re-trigger the flood!