LOL. I love how you say "I read an interesting article about [this]" and then link to this. Despite the fact that your article is from ANewsCafe, I clicked anyway. The first sentence: "Let me preface this by warning you this is a venting piece." The next 1,000 words are little more than a *****y rant based on one person's opinion.
But to be fair, I agree. It seems like tons of people are abusing (for lack of a better term) the online crowdfunding sites for ridiculously foolish/selfish needs. For example, a "friend" of mine asked me to donate to HER crowdfunding page. She wants to gather $10,000 so she can write a book. My response was "I'll send you a few pens and some paper or better yet... you can have my old laptop and type it all out and save the hand cramps."
Still, what you and the author of this article are talking about (my example above) is markedly different than what this young girl is doing. She's not some 20-something hoping to get some free money to go on a super-awesome spring break trip with friends. She's not asking people to give her a small salary so she can sit on a beach and write. She's a young girl with limited resources and a tight window in which to raise money. Its not like she has a 9-5, $75k a year job. She's 14. She's lucky if she has a job that pays her $10 an hour. But she's been given an opportunity/invitation to play in a major event half a world away. And not many 14 yr. olds have that kind of money OR many options to raise that money in a small amount of time. I see nothing wrong with what she's doing. More power to her.
