Max:
I don't know if this will matter much, since you seem to have stirred attention for the need to support The Mudcat, but my wife was pretty ill after she read this thread. She had just recently felt well enough to start posting again, and was so happy to be back at her only cyber-pub. Then comes this prank. First she was severely alarmed by the ruse and then heartsick at the deception. And I mean that last adjective literally. Wasn't there a less traumatic way you could have solicited funds?
Akiba