A happy dilemma, need advice

[RaustBlackDragon]

Alright guys, this morning something awesome happened. Awesome, yet extremely surprising, and I honestly am at a complete loss as to what I should do next.

I need people to talk to about it. People who are helpful, level-headed, mature, and familiar with the minecraft modding community, because I want to make sure I don't, in my excitement, do something stupid I'm going to regret.

About a month back, I set up a paypal donation button for my mods, and in that time, I didn't get any donations. Until today, when I got my first donation.

It was a LOT more than I had imagined.

I now find myself in a position where I've received a VERY generous donation from somebody, and while I don't have their MCF or MC username, I do have enough information from the donation details that, were I to ask this person to come forward, I could verify if it was really that person or not.

I want to personally thank this person, but I'm concerned that there could be unforeseen consequences to making a post asking this person to come forward. I want to thank them, I certainly want to make sure their gift was appreciated, but something tells me that doing so via MCF would go wrong in many ways, more even than I'm guessing at.

Any advice?

If I have broken any rules in posting this thread, I apologize, I checked the rules a few times beforehand and saw no issues, and I honestly don't know where else I could talk about this, and it's something I need to talk about.

[Sarudak]

I don't know. Are you sure they care to be known? Some people prefer to give anonymously...

[RaustBlackDragon]

I don't know. Are you sure they care to be known? Some people prefer to give anonymously...

Yeah, that's one of my concerns. Ideally I'd like to just give them a PM to thank them, and I currently know of no way to do that with the information I have. But yeah, making it public definitely has some potential repercussions.

I just feel weird not acknowledging it in any way shape or form...

[morvelaira]

I'm sorry, off the bat, if this post crosses the line into religion, but I'm going to share a bit of my outlook on this - which is very heavily influenced by my faith. Judaism has a way of looking at chairty (and really, what is donations but chairty?), and I think it may apply here.

Different good deeds (Mitzvot, in Hebrew) can be categorized in different ways. Some are more noble than others. Good deeds start where one man knows another needs help - gives it - and the receiver acknowledges the help, knowing where it came from. There's several layers in between, but the highest form of charitable Mitzvot is where the giver never knows the receiver, and the receiver never knows the giver. Only that they both know help was given.

Given that bit of background, I would say asking this person to come public isn't really necessary. If you take steps to display your gratitude (like you have here) and your dontations have been as low as you said, then I'm very sure the person who has helped you will know who you're talking to. :) I'm sure then, after that, if they want you to know who they are they will tell you. They clearly wanted to thank /you/ for what you've done, and just that - no alterior motives involved.

[Battlecat]

Really not sure what to suggest. Best bet would be to thank them annoymously via paypal. Especially if you're not sure if it was the same person as on the minecraft forums.

[TheAnarchitect]

I concur with Morv: If the person didn't come out and say they did it, they probably don't care to be very public about it. I'd thank your anonymous donor as anonymous donor, and not try to out them.

[RaustBlackDragon]

Really not sure what to suggest. Best bet would be to thank them annoymously via paypal. Especially if you're not sure if it was the same person as on the minecraft forums.

Thanks for that tip; sure enough, the donation details DID supply me with an email I can contact the person by.

So the question now becomes whether I should email them a personal thank-you-note, or if I should just mention the generosity of an anonymous donor on the thread. Morv, Anarchitect, thank you for your advice on the matter, but just to clarify, are you advocating this as opposed to a personal email, or simply as the best alternative before it became clear that was possible?

[jorgebonafe]

Thanks for that tip; sure enough, the donation details DID supply me with an email I can contact the person by.

So the question now becomes whether I should email them a personal thank-you-note, or if I should just mention the generosity of an anonymous donor on the thread. Morv, Anarchitect, thank you for your advice on the matter, but just to clarify, are you advocating this as opposed to a personal email, or simply as the best alternative before it became clear that was possible?

Well, if you have the email from the donation, imo there is nothing wrong in sending a thank you message...

[Ulfengaard]

There really isn't anything wrong with a private thank-you, in my opinion. However, if I had made a hefty donation, I wouldn't want anything said about it in a public forum. I would be concerned about ensuing spam and people looking to make me their personal Kickstarter.

Send an email to express your gratitude, for sure. Appreciation begets appreciation, and that's good for everybody. Just don't share with anyone else. :)

[/$.02]

[RaustBlackDragon]

See, THIS is why I turned to you guys for advice :)

Thanks a ton, all of you. I really appreciate it, and I think I know how to proceed now :)

[morvelaira]

Yep! Wasn't sure when I posted that private conversation was possible. Shoot them a lovely email. Best way to do that. :)

[rhacer]

Private email saying "Thank you very much!" is the best way to go.

[MoRmEnGiL]

Personally acknowledging and thanking is the best way, so yeah, send him an email :]