I'd like to think that I'd never ask for donations on a message board, but I can't say with 100% degree of certainty that I wouldn't. I hope to never be in circumstances that make doing so seem like an acceptable course of action.
As for the people that have asked for donations, I figure that unless they are just total scammers that their circumstances are bad enough that I don't need to add to their misery by telling them how I wouldn't ask for donations on a message board. Not much to gain by getting all superior to someone who is down on their luck, whether they created the circumstances or not.
