More votes here for “the book”, it got me through publishing my first community app quite nicely.

I hesitate to lean on the dictionary, but (from the new Oxford American dictionary):

mor•al•ize mor.al-ize | 'môra.liz I (British also moralise) verb 1 [no object] comment on issues of right and wrong, typically with an unfounded air of superiority: the solution to climate change is not to moralize from on high | the news media are sure to moralize about the arrogance of power.

Or from the collins dictionary:

VERB If you say that someone is moralizing, you are critical of them for telling people what they think is right or wrong, especially when they have not been asked their opinion.

Dictionary definitions are hardly absent of debate, especially on a global platform where colloquial definition is arguably more important anyways. It’s probably better to use context and debate in the spirit of the argument rather than worry about semantics.

Such as in this case, where the point was to find a comfortable middle where OP could do the right thing and feel good about it… not to debate lexical scope.

“Moralizing” is not the same as “moral reflection”. Moralizing is generally pontification, sermonizing, etc, with a focus on asserting your own air of (unfounded) superiority.

In essence, there are a bunch of holier-than-thou comments here.

There is an awful lot of moralizing in huge essays here.

Homelessness is a complicated problem, and feeling confused, conflicted, or otherwise unsure is natural and probably wise. There is no clean, simple answer.

If you don’t want to give money to people on the street then you shouldn’t, regardless of what people here tell you. Instead, find a way to help that you feel more certain of. Maybe look for homeless shelters and programs local to you and go volunteer, that seems like a pretty safe option.

People are being polite and well spoken about it?

This thread is a mess.