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Pay-It-Forward Movement Finds Niche on Web

Small but growing number of sites highlight good deeds

By Harry Kimball,  Newser Staff

Posted Sep 19, 2008 6:32 PM CDT

(Newser) – The Internet is home to a small but growing trend that would seem anathema to hard-headed bloggers and pithy posters who regularly lay waste to others online: niceness. In Philadelphia, New York, and elsewhere, the Inquirer finds, civic-minded netizens are setting up sites that extol, and even enable, random acts of kindness.

“These sites may be in response to a certain amount of sadness about the way Americans are positioned in the world,” said one webmaster whose site allows New Yorkers to post stories of everyday compassion. Another proprietor was slightly less philosophical about her project. “I thought there should be something to encourage people to be nice. It's such a harried society. Maybe we need a reminder.”

A maxim to live by.
A maxim to live by.   ((c) deneyterrio)
Something you might find on one of sites.
Something you might find on one of sites.   ((c) Unkle_Cheese)
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These sites may be in response to a certain amount of sadness about the way Americans are positioned in the world. The cruelty we've been a part of. It's a backlash, I think. We need the balance.
- Alyssa Wright, heroreports.org

We're influenced by the idea that people are selfish. It's really not true. We like to be liked. And we admire people who help others. It's a very fundamental human characteristic. - Zeynep Tufekci, University of Maryland

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