Welcome to General Chat - GAW Community Area
This General Chat area started off as a place for people to talk about things that are off topic, however it has quickly evolved into a community and has become an integral part of the GAW experience for many of us.
Based on its evolving needs and plenty of user feedback, we are trying to bring some order and institute some rules. Please make sure you read these rules and participate in the spirit of this community.
Rules for General Chat
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Be respectful to each other. This is of utmost importance, and comments may be removed if deemed not respectful.
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Avoid long drawn out arguments. This should be a place to relax, not to waste your time needlessly.
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Personal anecdotes, puzzles, cute pics/clips - everything welcome
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Please do not spam at the top level. If you have a lot to post each day, try and post them all together in one top level comment
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Try keep things light. If you are bringing in deep stuff, try not to go overboard.
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Things that are clearly on-topic for this board should be posted as a separate post and not here (except if you are new and still getting the feel of this place)
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If you find people violating these rules, deport them rather than start a argument here.
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Feel free to give feedback as these rules are expected to keep evoloving
In short, imagine this thread to be a local community hall where we all gather and chat daily. Please be respectful to others in the same way
A couple of months ago I posted about seeing panhandlers honing their skills and working in concert with each other to collect more money. The question was asked if they were from the local area, and I said I wasn't sure, and that it was hard to know.
Turns out these same people are being seen in counties 30 miles away, so it looks like they rotate to different areas, and are clearly not from the local county. Given that, is there anything that can be done about it? The police do nothing about it and give tacit permission to let them do this.
There is a network here in New England. We see the same few people being pickup up and dropped off. They are usually older frail looking people that appear autistic since they are usually swaying back & forth and don't make eye contact.
These aren't the usuay tweakers we see in the bigger cities. Absolutely disgusting what these people do to these poor souls.
I remember seeing a segment on 60 mins i believe back in the 80's or 90's ,it was about panhandling in NYC ,and the man said he made $30,000 a year standing in traffic,i'm guilty of giving out money years ago ,i no longer do it ,here in our county there everywhere including way out of the city on off ramps and busy intersections ,give if you are so inclined or even tell them you have yard work and see what happens., or just dont make eye contact and move on ,as fall approaches you will be able to see their tents in the woods close to their work places/feeding holes