This just in - ‘Online bum’ chronicles his story on Web site

I love this story, I really do. These guys are trying to help the homeless and right off the bat they are getting advocate stupidity...why don't these people say thanks!?

Rhetorical, here's the story.

Homeless advocates bristle at controversial name: pimpthisbum.com

Not that long ago, only a few weeks ago, Tim Edwards was just another one of several men begging for change at a busy Houston underpass, ignored by most drivers.

Now, thanks to an Internet marketing campaign and unlikely allies, Edwards has become the human face of homelessness to thousands of online viewers drawn to his Web site by its deliberately controversial name — Pimp This Bum.

During regular Webcasts, countless visitors to www.pimpthisbum.com ask questions about the man, soon to most certainly become the next best thing for debate, they ask about Edwards himself, his life and his slow fall from office manager with a home, car, and a future to a nameless face, a shell of a man short of hope and with little prospect of help.

The Web site also is a venue where visitors can donate money, services and goods to help Edwards yank himself out of this sad and unfortunate state of homelessness.

Some advocates say it makes Edwards a victim of exploitation, but the organizers say that edgy tone is what makes the project succeed. And succeed it will, it's fresh, savy and new....exactly what the net needs.

"We wanted to insult people's sensitivities so that they would go to the site and see Tim, and people seem to have fallen in love with him. He's funny and doesn't blame the world for his situation," said Kevin Dolan, 55, a marketing specialist from the Houston suburb of Katy who started the Web site with his 24-year-old son, Sean.

If the site had been called "Help the Homeless," many Web surfers might just have clicked on past, says Sean.

It's true isn't it. That is such a normal everyday phrase, drilled in our brains.

With this website up it will give people more insight into a homeless person's daily life and maybe removing the stereotype of how most of us see them now.

"I'm the world's first online bum," jokes Edwards, a lanky, bearded 37-year-old who talks about life on the streets with a mix of dark humor and unvarnished honesty. "The whole idea of this project is to get people off the street. I'm the pioneer, but I've got friends behind me. If I don't get this right, it ain't gonna work for them."

It's a great idea for the homeless and it gives Tim a sense of worthiness and purpose ofter 5 years of being on the street.

Check out the site and meet Tim.

www.pimpthisbum.com