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insignificant to the donor, but if she found enough donors, the aggregate would be quite significant to her. An early version of the site announced "WANTED: $ 20,000. CREDIT CARDS ARE BAD. Hello! My name is Karyn, I’m really nice and I’m asking for your help! You see, I have this huge credit card debt and I need $ 20,000 to pay it off. So if you have an extra buck or two, please send it my way... Together we can banish credit card debt from my life." Her request echoed the matter-of-fact style of her initial plea to the online community, which she had made using
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Bosnak added a number of features to the site, including both ways she was saving money, as well as suggestions of other ways people could save money. While it was operational in its original form, she worked about 12 hours a day at her primary job and spent hours every night working on the website.
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Bosnak was not the first individual to openly solicit voluntary donations via the
Internet; documented examples go back at least as far as 1998. However, she was one of the first to have a clearly defined goal (rather than "I want money", she stated that she needed a specific amount to eliminate her
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from the public. It had occurred to Bosnak that if she could receive just a few donations of several thousand dollars from a few wealthy people, or thousands of donations of one dollar from average-income people, she could pay off her debts. She reasoned that any amount given would be relatively
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that was unmatched by other solicitation sites. Bosnak said that many of the gifts she received on the website came with a note to explain that the reader was giving her money for the entertainment value that she had provided.
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and saving money that she earned from her job. Once she had paid off her debts, as promised, she stopped accepting donations, and instead added links to other sites belonging to other people with specific needs.
207:, and articles in various domestic and international newspapers and magazines. The site also attracted numerous Internet detractors and critics, most notably a parody site entitled "Don't Save Karyn".
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Bosnak received about $ 13,000 in gifts on the site over the course of about 20 weeks. She paid off the rest of her debts by selling used goods on
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area. Up until 2000, she had a relatively high-paying job, and wasn't really concerned about going into debt to feed her affection for buying
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Throughout the summer and latter half of 2002, as word of the site spread, it received ever-growing press coverage, including mentions on
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subsidiary for the rights to a movie chronicling her rise to fame. As of
November 2021, no movie has been produced.
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credit card debt). She regularly updated the site with amounts received and progress made toward her goal.
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debt of more than $ 20,000 started looming larger every month she was unable to find steady employment.
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The book chronicling her site's success has been very popular, and has already been translated into
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is the book chronicling the events leading up to and through the height of the site's popularity.
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is the name of both a Web site and a book. SaveKaryn.com was the first notable
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As discussed near the end of the book, in 2003 Bosnak signed a deal with a
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domain name savekaryn.com, and launched the site to request voluntary
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Bosnak contends that her efforts could be more closely compared to a
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Save Karyn: One
Shopaholic’s Journey to Debt and Back
309:"Color of Money Book Club: Journey of a Shopaholic"
46:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
168:In the summer of 2002, Bosnak registered the
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307:Singletary, Michelle (24 September 2003).
106:Learn how and when to remove this message
421:Internet properties established in 2002
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431:American fundraising websites
132:The creator of both works is
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348:Brodesser, Claude (2003).
350:"A scribe's story of owe"
400:http://karyn.50megs.com/
387:, Edinboro, 8 May 2004
40:improve this article
220:entertainment value
138:television producer
370:The original site
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385:The Scotsman
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55:"Save Karyn"
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38:Please help
33:verification
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315:(Interview)
158:credit card
426:2003 books
410:Categories
352:, Variety.
319:2018-03-15
252:, German,
216:panhandler
179:craigslist
142:U.S. state
119:Save Karyn
96:March 2018
66:newspapers
174:donations
335:(2002).
270:Croatian
254:Japanese
250:Mandarin
240:The book
170:Internet
154:designer
146:Illinois
262:Russian
214:than a
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266:Korean
181:.org.
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233:eBay
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