Help with the search for Madeleine McCann

[flyingfairy]

DO YOU WANT TO HELP IN THE SEARCH FOR MADELEINE AND OTHER CHILDREN?

Our group is not a discussion group - there are lots of forum's on the internet where you can discuss the rights and wrongs of what happened on 3 May 2007. Our group is an action group, therefore if you feel the same way as we do, and would like to help in however way - large or small - please get in touch to [email protected] - (stating where you saw this message).

During our campaigning throughout mainland Europe and the rest of the World, we also highlight cases of other abducted children in countries such as
Spain, Italy, France, Turkey (to name a few). If by highlighting Madeleine's abduction, we make contact with other people whose children have been abducted, and who do not have resources available to highlight their plight, we hope to provide support and assistance.

As at Monday 23 July 2007, Madeleine has been missing from her family for over 81 days, and if we stop now, sit and do nothing then we achieve NOTHING. Your help may be just what Madeleine, and other children need right now. So if you want to do SOMETHING, then please join us and assist the search.

WHAT WOULD I HAVE TO DO?
Each person who joins up is assigned to a group either working on ideas or countries. The type of things we are doing includes direct emailing to specific businesses and industries to raise awareness and asking for help by either putting up the poster, or seeking support to our fund raising efforts.

The Madeleine McCann campaign has chosen not to specifically endorse any particular groups, however our founding member is in direct contact with the Spokesperson for the campaign.

has this thing kicked off yet?

see what I get for spending a gorgeous day out with my children ?

helping has only posted on this thread

flying fairy has posted on thos trhead a worcester one (with the same msg)

Noone is being nasty, if you read what has been posted everything has been explained in a calm way.

There are already organisations that exist that are run by professionals who are looking for missing people (including children) around the world, you would do better to join one of them i think.

nation missing persons helpline

Emailing specific businesses?

What's that going to achieve exactly

"Do none of you have anything better to do that say nasty things? How is that positive. Why aren't you getting involved in helping to find missing children? It's pretty small minded to say that you can do nothing.

Hello flyingfairy. I'm one of your helpers on the forum"

Oh FGS.......

are u also searching for 15 yo Smantha Osborn who went missing from Bucks in April? or is she too old and not high profile enough?

I am completely astounded that anyone considers it appropriate to take the posting name 'HelpingMM'.

If you'd bothered to look you would have found

this thread

and

this

one asking for help to send out find madeleine emails, and the other giving opportunity for people to light a virtual candle. So before you start touting for contributors to your spam campaign, perhaps you might like to do some research first. And yes, the "find madeleine" emails are now termed as spam as they have been the world over and most reputable businesses in the UK are now preventing them from coming through their firewalls.

Secondly, to the poster who says "why aren't you doing something to help missing children" how exactly do you know who does what to help who. Just because people don't declare their activities on public message boards doesn't mean they're doing nothing.

Agree with posters who have said there's nothing we can do. The police haven't found Madeleine so the members of an email campaign aren't going to find her are they - get real. And you're probably not going to find her because she's almost certainly dead.

If you want to campaign for all missing children then start a post suggesting that. But to campaign for one child when so many are missing is just jumping on the bandwagon.

Now shoot me.

Surely the thing that needs to be changed is that we (society) don't do enough to stop children being abducted, or enough to do those that have been abducted, rather than stopping people supporting the McCanns - who after all are only trying to find their daughter.

Or am I missing something here?

SG - thanks for the reply . I can see your point after all the heated debate on the subject.
I just felt that a new poster to MN looking for campaign support would not necessarily think to search the archives first to see what the response would be.

Sherbert - The 'nasty piece of work' comment was totally uncalled for.

But just to respond to post 'No one is being nasty and if you read what has been posted everything has been explained in a calm way'. If you read the first 3 or 4 responses to the OP, sadly that is not the case.

Okay,

Maybe it is just the American in me but this seems like an awful mean reaction, to someone trying to do a good thing. Maybe you don't agree with it or maybe you don't like it. I don't completely understand but I think some of you are being down right mean.

Has it occurred to any of you well meaning types that the reason the police aren't emailing and leafleting and ..er.. posterising in this way is because its not an effective means of finding her? or that it might actually cause her abductor to move on again and make the trail even longer and it even harder to find out whats happened? Not to mention the fact that saturation posters have the opposite effect and stop seeing them.

by all means raise money to support professionals in this but for gods sake stop participating in it, its not about how much you care, it should be about what you can achieve. Its too important for amateur detective work.

meowmix

I could totally see your point. I just don't see what berating the OP achieved.

its history Leati. There have been some thoroughly distasteful threads where people have wallowed in this dreadful situation and enjoyed it. So it can get a bit punchy on this subject.

Have to say that compared to other threads this one is mild.

If the op had been serious about her "campaign" she would have checked the site first to see if anything similar had already been suggested/was being done on here, instead of arogantly portraying herself as the only one that has cared enough to do anything.

even the family have decided that

it's time to move on

so think it's time everyone else did the same.

This campaign has achieved nothing. In the beginning it was a good idea but we're months on now. If Madeleine is still alive, which is highly doubtful, she's not going to be being paraded around holiday resorts frequented by brits just waiting to be spotted is she? She probably doesn't even have long blonde hair any more so it's unlikely she'd be recognized anyway.

Meomix - agree with Leati. If that is the case, then explain this constructively to the OP. No need for unpleasant comments and sarcasm.

BTW, out of genuine interest, If the police do believe the leafleting and putting up of posters is hindering the case why are they allowing the major chainstores/banks etc to continue to distribute them?

FWIW, it seems to me too that it can have little real effect (along with the mass emails), but just want to know why they would allow actions that would harm an ongoing case.

Well I agree with Leati. I didn't find the OP offensive in any way and I would have started by saying err welcome to the forum. But then maybe I mix with too many Americans these days and I'm becoming all nice and courteous or something...

Flying fairy, you say you ask for support from businesses for fund-raising. Is the fund raising to contribute to that Madeleine fund on the official website or for your general aim of highlighting child abductions in various ways. Wasn't too sure what you meant.

sorry that was a question of course, forgot the question mark!

excuse me meemar but I think you'll find thats what I did.

why the police are allowing it? Keeping awareness is no bad thing in moderation. Plus I would imagine they're actually looking for her rather than worrying about posters per se.

.. and thats the last time I get sucked into one of these threads.

meemar it's not about allowing/not allowing though. The police can advise, but distributing posters etc is not illegal, and the only way the police could prevent this from happening would be if they had an actual reason for believing it would hinder the case. I believe that the portuguese police have said that the increased media coverage may have prevented an abductor from giving Madeleine back though, and that the offers of reward money has hampered their investigations because they have had to field calls from hoaxers trying to claim some of the reward.

Can understand why the parents/families/friends of missing children might want to keep the profile raised but can't help having misgivings about splinter groups and ongoing threads, both diluting the original focus and undermining the credibility of the main search. Isn't this more about satisfying the impotence and frustration of sympathisers than being proactive ?

meomix - sorry if you thought I was accusing you of unpleasantness - I was referring to the initial reactions to the OP, not anything you personally said

I too am bowing out - I signed up to the nork-clutching thread and have weakened

also I think that by having the world involved in a "search" takes the attention away from the police investigation somewhat. While the world is running a "find Madeleine" campaign, the police can get on with their investigations, and are less likely to have to explain what's going on, because those who are still interested are too busy conducting their own "search".

hug meemar? (not that I'm here you understand)

{{{{{meowmix}}}}}}