(Thanks, wk. :)

Reader wk writes (and I'll do my best to respond, following):

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Re: VegaBob: 'A reply to Bob re: 'RMN should c....

I have to admit that I just don't get what the problem is with Raylyn. Of course, I do not know her so I am going to acknowledge that I do not understand. However, that being said, I have to say that you guys need to get your stories straight as far as the need for money.

One week, Raye will say she needs money for a move--that the landlady is coming to get the money. The next week, she need more money for the same place. I do not want to accuse since I do not know the situation; but, the stories don't fit anymore. It has been months and it doesn't make sense that there has not been a reprieve when the widget shows people giving more and more and more.

It would behoove you to help the readers understand why the same problem seems to go on and on. I hope the best for Raye, but I have to say that if feels strange that people give money for a computer or something else only for Raye to have to pawn it a week later. Please explain. It would help.

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(hobie here.) Granted, Rayelan's predicament is extraordinary and extraordinarily difficult to understand and fully appreciate. I think those who have been following it closely these many months -do- have some understanding of it, but for others, it's simply mind-boggling.

A key factor has been that Raye had a houseguest who was apparently contentious and disputatious but who proved very difficult to remove from the premises. That uncomfortable situation went on for, I believe, three years, with Raye paying the bills all that time.

Contributions that Raye requested from RMN Readers were always intended for RMN itself and for related expenses of its publisher including Internet connectivity, etc. Rayelan's personal expenses were being covered by other things, including some amount of money each month from Google AdSense ads on the RMN website.

In early September 2014, Google AdSense suddenly dumped RMN, citing infringement of their "no gore" rule by an archived post from 2006 on the Brown Recluse spider, which included photos of examples of damage done by the bite of that spider. We felt that reason was disingenuous but there was no recourse made available. Google's decision, apparently, was final.

That meant an abrupt drop in money available for Rayelan's personal use and for Susoni's, too. Susoni has spent many hours trying to find a suitable replacement for the Google AdSense ads but there doesn't appear to be one short of ad suppliers who deal in ads for porn sites, gambling sites, etc.

Then in late September 2014, a hacker took advantage of the news of the "Shellshock" vulnerability to make his way onto the RMN server and then to delete over 300,000 post files, including most of the RMN Archive. RMN website traffic dropped a full one-third not long after that event, as thousands of links into our Archive suddenly became non-functioning.

And, RMN began gradually to disappear from the search engines for the same reason - searchable pages covering an enormous range of topics had vanished from the site, so they were no longer being indexed by Google and others.

The drop in website traffic meant RMN was no longer attractive to certain higher-class and respectable remote ad suppliers.

Meanwhile, I'm not sure of the exact timing of the events, but, not long after September, long overdue bills and shut-off notices began turning up in Raye's postal mail. Raye rather strongly believes her unwanted houseguest had been intercepting and hiding the bills for awhile, only then to make sure the larger bills and shut-off notices did arrive for Rayelan's attention. Even the single-month bills seemed extraordinarily high, so that Rayelan wondered if the presence of the unwanted houseguest might be the reason for that.

Let's pause to think about that: Rayelan's available money had been reduced at the same time that due-and-payable bill amounts were significantly increased, and at a time when she had begun to feel unsafe in her own home. Imagine the stress of that.

2015 began with Rayelan already in at least a low-level panic, seeking for ways to handle all the bills and extricate herself from that untenable living situation. It must have been January, I guess, when Raye began seriously to plan to move out of the situation she'd been in for several years, and there came a period when she was responsible for paying rent in two locations. Her existing landlord was taking the position that Raye could not move out while that houseguest was still there. One or more lawyers were involved (more expense); ultimately a court ruling was required in order to effect eviction of the houseguest.

During this period it happened that Rayelan's bank account became overdrawn on more than one occasion, worsened by the high fees charged on every check that arrived while the account was overdrawn. Presumably those checks were returned as unpayable, which led to further difficulties with the companies who had received those checks. Et cetera. So it would seem one situation had been handled, only to have it come up again, only now with further hits on her bank account.

The situation today is that the houseguest has moved to other accommodations, and Rayelan is out of that house and into her new one, only to find someone pounding on her door and demanding payment of $2000 for overdue electric bills on the new house that she's only just now moved into.

Raye had no idea that electric service to the new house was going upaid for the past several months, during which time painters were living there while making the place presentable but Raye herself was not. She never saw a bill for that electric service, and if she thought about it, she figured either the new landlady was paying the electric bill till Raye actually moved in or else that the bill amount for the new house had been added to the bill amount for the old one.

(I'm told by a third party that it's possible the electric bill was not delivered at all during the time in question, as it appears the mailbox at the new house was knocked down by a snowplow during the winter. The postal person would not deliver if there was no mailbox.)

Because of the amount of the bill and the number of months things had gone unpaid, the fellow pounding on her door said partial payment would not be accepted; the full amount had to be paid, or electric service would be shut off - which it has been, now. And because water at the new house comes from a well, there's no water there, either.

I haven't heard from Raye today (Wednesday), so I don't know what her current status is.

I hope this helps. There are more details in posts Rayelan has made in recent months. Use the 'Search' function here in the Reading Room if you'd like to find those.

Blessings, all.

--hobie