Crowdsourcing for a cause. A GOOD cause.
Eclectablog webhost and occasional contributor Charles Gaba has been on what can only be described as in incredible one-man mission to make sure the truth gets out about how successful the Affordable Care Act has been. He’s been tracking people signing up for health insurance through the ACA at his site ACASignUps.netfor several months now and, using data, has accurately predicted major milestones in ACA sign-ups, including the final number of over 7,000,000 people.
It’s nothing short of phenomenal. And he’s done it for exactly zero compensation other than donations from a handful of contributors and a smattering of blog ads on his site. This is despite being recognized internationally as “the Go-To Guy” for ACA sign-up data. His work has been referenced by the Washington Post, Paul Krugman, Al Jazeera America, Salon, on MSNBC, and by far more other major outlets than I have space for here.
He’s that much of a BFD.
Two days ago, Markos Moulitsas, owner of the Daily Kos, sent out a rare and extraordinary email asking people to contribute to an ActBlue fund, all of which will go to Charles to compensate him for the insane amount of time and effort he has put into this project.
Here’s Markos’ email which had the subject line “We don’t normally do this”:
the Obamacare enrollment period ended last night—and the results were simply stunning: signups exceeded expectations.Perhaps most stunning of all: even the mainstream media is now calling the signup period a success.
That media turnaround started from an unlikely source—a single blogger who meticulously recorded all Obamacare signup information. Then, after gaining the attention of reporters everywhere, that blogger used hard data to utterly dismantle every bogus Republican talking point.
Here at Daily Kos, we were fortunate to have Charles Gaba—who blogs under the name Brainwrap—tracking enrollments in one of the most comprehensive and informational series ever written for Daily Kos.
But here’s the thing: Charles volunteered his time to do this.
Charles’s “ACA Signups” series was an incredible and hugely time-intensive undertaking that, as he explained in a recent diary, put a major strain on his life outside of Daily Kos:
“I’m absolutely swamped right now. … [K]eeping the site up to date has literally taken over my life. My business is suffering; my clients are losing patience; my family is starting to get concerned.” – Brainwrap, March 24
We don’t normally do this at Daily Kos, but Charles’s months-long contribution to the fight against right-wing lies about Obamacare was above and beyond. That’s why we’re asking Daily Kos readers to chip in as a way of thanking him for his work and to help him continue his “ACA Signups” series.
We’ll be collecting all the money you contribute through ActBlue, and Daily Kos will cut a check for Charles and mail it to him by the end of the week.
Thank you and keep fighting,
Markos Moulitsas
Founder and Publisher, Daily Kos
So, I am asking that you join me in helping out with this effort. Charles has earned this and it’s the least we can do. Please click HERE and give as generously as you can.
Thanks so much.
– Chris
