Today I discovered the conceptual treasure trove that is [pledgebank].

The concept is thus: Tell the world “I’ll do it, but only if you’ll help me do it”

So you get other people to help you do stuff that you probably all wanted to do, just not on your own.

Behind this sage meaningful exterior are also some of the most ridiculous suggestions ever. Here are some of my faves separated by rants :)

Active Pledges – more weird than funny I guess:

• “I will commute past Westminster on a bike wearing a vest that says “SOCPA sucks” but only if 10 other local people will too.”

  — Nik Shah, Kentish Town cyclist

• “I will patronise once a month, if Cafe Rouge open a branch in Plumstead Common, London SE18. but only if 300 other local people will too.”

  — Plumstead Common Resident

• “I will write to the Secretary of State for Health and insist she looks into the nutritional benefits of freshly extracted fruit and vegetable juice but only if 15 other people will too.”

  — Kris Talikowski

First off, people usually try and stop coffee shops setting up in small areas and secondly, Kris, what about the environmental implications of increasing our import of fresh fruit? or turning more forests into orchards? And I’m pretty sure no one really likes vegetable juice….

Failed Pledges – usually funny or stupid:

• “I will contact KFC’s Headquarters demanding that Zinger Chicken be reinstated on their menu but only if 50 people in the UK will too.”

  — Nick604, Distressed Zinger Fan
  

• “I will complain about the british legal system but only if 50 other people in the UK will too.”

  — Eddie Lee

Eddie’s case is a bit different from the others but still, you can’t just say it’s bad, try suggesting a way to make it better! Maybe we should remove the word complaint from the dictionary and make people use the word feedback instead…..?

Finally I would like to point out that there are some excellent pledges that people should sign up for, here are my chosen few (no I haven’t signed them yet, but you’re not a sheep are you!?).

Worthwhile Pledges – stuff that doesn’t suck:

• “I will pledge at least $10 USD towards the development of the open source nouveau driver for the nvidia card series but only if 1,000 other people will too.”

  — David Nielsen

• “I will close my First Direct Bank account on 1st February 2007 unless they reverse their decision to charge customers with a balance below £1500 but only if 200 other people will too.”

  — Kevin O’Malley

• “I will go to the hassle of switching to a renewable electricity supplier but only if 1,000 other people will too.”

  — Tom Steinberg, Director mySociety.org

I hope you all feel very slightly better about yourselves now :)