The Great Pay-It-Forward
I just want to say I was humbled by the outpouring of support that helped make the trip to Oahu happen. There were several factors that seemed to come together and a huge part of it was the generosity of this community. TTS readers raised around $800 for the trip total.
What you don’t know is that at the end a benefactor stepped in and offered to sell me Delta Sky Miles at a huge discount to cover airfare for the rest of my family. In addition, despite the complications with the last minute preparations, I came into what I like to refer to "Pennies from Heaven," or unexpected money.
As a result, it only seems right with this good fortune to repay everyone’s kindness by refunding the donations that were made prior to the trip. Over the course of the next few weeks, I’ll be issuing a refund to everyone who contributed to the fund with great thanks and enthusiasm for the opportunity to do it. If I could hug each and everyone of you, I would. So stand by, it’s coming back at ya. 
Huzzah to DocArzt for not only running a great website, but showing some class too.
Also, Doc have you seen the news? Daniel Dae Kim has been nusted for DUW in Hawaii! He’s next to die!
Comment by mafafu — October 25, 2007 @ 4:52 pm
Wow Doc, I am impressed! That is VERY cool of you. I am looking forward to what you have in store for us. I am hoping to the heavens that you’ll be able to give us SOMETHING to chew on before the Feb. premiere. Can you throw a dog a bone? It doesn’t have to be a dinorsaur bone (or some sort of huge critter - whatever the heck is in those pics on Dark’s site), but a small rodent bone at this point would suffice…
Comment by Jarred — October 25, 2007 @ 5:54 pm
just wanted to say that you’re an awesome person, Doc, very rare kind.
Comment by andy — October 25, 2007 @ 6:22 pm
Your family deserved this trip more than anyone I know!! Thanks for being a kind soul, having respect for the Lost saga, and just being all around incredible, Doc!!! Looking forward to the season.
Comment by Natalie — October 25, 2007 @ 7:07 pm
Nice gesture Doc, glad you had a great trip.
Looking forward to when you can reveal a few more details.
Comment by DarkUFO — October 26, 2007 @ 1:03 am
Dear Doc
I’m from SA I read the TTS on a daily basis coz errthing gets to RSA months later so I come here to get my lost fix. U guys are lucky Feb is around the corner! Anyway I’ highly impressed by ure pay it forward gesture and I just had to give u ure props. Great stuff!
Comment by Sbujero — October 26, 2007 @ 1:52 am
Doc, you’re a sweetie. But please keep mine, it’s the least I can contribute towards all the hours of reading I’ve done on your site. We’re all used to getting everything for FREE on the net, but I pay significantly more to get magazines at my home that I don’t read as often or as avidly. If you don’t want to keep it, donate it to the charity of your choice.
Comment by KJ — October 26, 2007 @ 6:16 am
Doc, nice gesture.
Please keep my donation too.
I am glad you got to go to Hawaii and all of the good things that lined up to make it happen.
But I also appreciate all of the information you provide to us FOR FREE here. I’d like my donation to go toward your running of this site … or just buy yourself a burger!
I run a non-LOST site that gets a lot of traffic. I know how much work goes into this. And sometimes people take it for granted and feel entitled to all the hard work you do.
Comment by Matt — October 26, 2007 @ 6:20 am
Doc smart move. You know I was going to sue you for matters that I will not discuss, but this is very smart in your part to look like a classy man….Dont let me catch u doing what you do again….peace out…and have fun in Hawaii
Comment by DocisaWierdo — October 26, 2007 @ 7:28 am
Yeah Doc, although I didn’t donate that is extremely nice of you. My son is once again in the hospital with delusions, paranoia and violent behavior so I know what you are going through. It’s really rough and sometimes you just need a break. Glad to hear that you got one!
Comment by Eric — October 26, 2007 @ 8:03 am
Doc, Please keep my small donation too and put it toward the expenses associated with maintaing the best LOST site on the net. Thanks again for all you do.
Comment by gusteaux — October 26, 2007 @ 8:35 am
what happened is that Doc realized he needs to pay taxes on this money and will go to jail if he doesn’t refund it. Idiot.
Comment by borgolaborgo — October 26, 2007 @ 8:45 am
Well anyone that reads the comments knows that I usually am the first to vehemently disagree with Doc and other people here, and I do it at great lengths and usually very condensendingly.
That said, I must say that I am completely with Doc on this one. (gasp!) Tax issues aside, (and seeing that the Doc seems to have a grasp on tax information) the fact that he could have simply said to himself “gee, i actually didn’t need this money, but I’ll just pull a fast one and never tell anybody so I can keep the money for myself!” and had the good honor to instead return it to everyone is a pretty clear depiction that he was not attempting or doing anything illegal by collecting it in the first place. And donations are donations. He didn’t solicit them. Anyone can make a donation to anything.
The “i was going to sue you for reasons I will not discuss” is just evident that he didn’t actually have any grounds for actually sueing Doc. Furthermore, you can’t sue somebody if you yourself didn’t contribute. To sue there has to be a wrongdoing TO YOU. If this guy didn’t donate money he has no justification to sue anyway. And the fact that he can’t list his reason just proves he doesn’t HAVE a reason!
‘Nuff said.
Comment by LockeIsGOD — October 26, 2007 @ 11:05 am
I wonder if the "haters" here even contributed money, LOL.
And I agree … nobody made you click on that Pay Pal button and donate money.
Free will, brotha.
Lastly, it seems like the haters have some sort of resentment, like Doc perpetrated some sort of fraud. I don’t see that myself.
In my opinion, it looks like Doc got to go to Hawaii, see some location sites, and make a set visit … which he cannot talk about yet.
Did anyone really think that giving Doc $15 bucks was going to get them a spoiler about a character death or a major LOST plot-point?????? If so …… dumb.
Doc said he had an invite to visit the LOST set.
Did anyone really think that the LOST people were going to let Doc on the set the day that a character dies? Or the day a major reveal was filmed?
That’s my two cents.
Comment by Matt — October 26, 2007 @ 11:40 am
why did you wait until now to tell us that the money we gave you wasnt actaully used for the trip?
you were planning on keeping all that ill-gotten money, werent you?
Comment by joe blow — October 26, 2007 @ 12:35 pm
I’m glad it all worked out for ya Doc! Very cool of you to return the money when it turned out you didn’t need it. I raised $1000.00 for a charity walk I did last year almost ALL of it came from cool peeps I had met online. The internet can be an awesome place. ^_^
Comment by TrillianM — October 26, 2007 @ 12:37 pm
Doc - I would like for you to keep my money too. Please put it towards your next trip to see your son or use it however you see fit. Thanks for being a class act and for running a website that keeps me coming back everyday. Ignore all the "hostiles" out there, this is our Island.
Comment by KatesFate — October 26, 2007 @ 7:39 pm
Three cheers for Doc. Like most others Doc I would like you to keep the small amount I’ve donated. I’ve been reading the site since it first started and was glad to have a way to contribute to it. Keep up the good work.
Comment by valentin_50 — October 26, 2007 @ 8:31 pm
Thanks Doc! But do are those who did donate still involved in the lottery-thing for getting the heads on a stick? Just curious is all….oh and the sand from the beach for those who donated $15…is that still on?
Comment by Rachel — October 28, 2007 @ 11:47 am