Mutual aid spam is becoming a problem on the Fediverse.
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Mutual aid spam is becoming a problem on the Fediverse.
And to be sure, I'm not against mutual aid. What I am against is spam.
This person has not verified who she is -- or even if the profile picture is hers. Additional research on her name states she is a scammer with a record of grifting. I am therefore skeptical that any donations will help anyone in need.
Folks, please be cautious with mutual aid requests. Yes, people sometimes need help. But people also lie.
Yeah, the other day I saw a lot of posts like
"I am from palestine, my home is destroyed please donate to help"...
Spam is probably the significant problem on fedi -
I first heard it in 2019 or 2020 from the queer community but I have a feeling it has deeper roots
Originally a concept by late 19th century anarchist Peter Kropotkin:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_Aid:_A_Factor_of_Evolution
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I mean, I know phones can be cheap or donated. And I also know that homeless people may have possessions that some consider "expensive". It's not that uncommon.
But constant internet connection needs monthly payments that, in my very personal and particular mindset, are not really compatible with "I'm a beggar. I need help".
Having knowledge of the Fediverse it's too niche for me, and the stories like "I can't pay groceries!" almost every week are unlikely in a place where most of folks are tech workers. My spam-meter says that probably some people out there found the #mutualaid hashtag and are making some fake profiles and fake stories.
you can find plans for $15/mo. it's not unreasonable for homeless people today to have a cell phone. even homies in prison have tiktoks.
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I mean, I know phones can be cheap or donated. And I also know that homeless people may have possessions that some consider "expensive". It's not that uncommon.
But constant internet connection needs monthly payments that, in my very personal and particular mindset, are not really compatible with "I'm a beggar. I need help".
Having knowledge of the Fediverse it's too niche for me, and the stories like "I can't pay groceries!" almost every week are unlikely in a place where most of folks are tech workers. My spam-meter says that probably some people out there found the #mutualaid hashtag and are making some fake profiles and fake stories.
Again, the phone and the service, at least, when I was homeless in 2019, was covered along with other social services such as SNAP and Medicaid.
And again, I completely agree about not handing money out online. Just disagreeing about homeless folks having accessibility to a phone or the internet. And Public libraries or anywhere with wifi (if you have a phone) are other options.
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I see a lot of people asking for mutual aid, and it's often "I've had a hard day and just want some McDonalds, please help"
OK, that's not mutual aid, and you shouldn't be asking for that under that hashtag. if you need help paying your rent, or with gas money so you don't lose your job, that's something that appropriate for mutual aid. asking for money for vices should be something you do off the hashtag, or on your OF or something. mutual aid is for people helping where they can, when they can, for problems that are serious and life-altering. and nothing else.
Mutual Aid is not charity. Mutual aid is beneficial fir both parties.
Mutual aid for rent would be to join a tenants union so that people can get organized and perform a rent strike.
https://www.dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/tenant-unions-for-the-future/
Mutual Aid for food would be something like Food Not Bombs.
(It's an http site so only sign up if you're comfortable with that.)http://foodnotbombs.net/new_site/
Charity is not mutual aid.
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I can submit a post to Lemmy by mentioning the community handle in my post
That's why I thought you came from Mastodon; they have the same feature.
@Feathercrown Actually, you can do that with any Fediverse service, not just Mastodon. -
What we really need (and have always needed) is an update to the legal frameworks that classify what networks are and what protections are in place for users to ensure interoperability. The Internet has been the wild west for too bloody long, and the extractors and their monopolies need to be put away. That's why they have been so happy to jump in with Donny Diaper at this point, because he's letting them not only continue with impunity, but bring back company scrip.
That's why I think the history of the U.S. phone system is so important. AT&T had to be dragged into interoperability by government regulation nearly every step of the way, but ended up needing to invent and publish the technical standards that made federation/interoperability possible, after government agencies started mandating them. The technical infeasibility of opening up a proprietary network has been overcome before, with much more complexity at the lower OSI layers, including defining new open standards regarding the physical layer of actual copper lines and switches.
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I mean, I know phones can be cheap or donated. And I also know that homeless people may have possessions that some consider "expensive". It's not that uncommon.
But constant internet connection needs monthly payments that, in my very personal and particular mindset, are not really compatible with "I'm a beggar. I need help".
Having knowledge of the Fediverse it's too niche for me, and the stories like "I can't pay groceries!" almost every week are unlikely in a place where most of folks are tech workers. My spam-meter says that probably some people out there found the #mutualaid hashtag and are making some fake profiles and fake stories.
The plans can be super cheap compared to food and housing. A pretty poor person can still have consistent Internet now.
It's not the affordability that makes these things almost certainly a scam, but they pretty much are almost certainly a scam anyway.
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Mutual aid spam is becoming a problem on the Fediverse.
And to be sure, I'm not against mutual aid. What I am against is spam.
This person has not verified who she is -- or even if the profile picture is hers. Additional research on her name states she is a scammer with a record of grifting. I am therefore skeptical that any donations will help anyone in need.
Folks, please be cautious with mutual aid requests. Yes, people sometimes need help. But people also lie.
POLICE! POLICE! PLEASE HELP!
I SAW A HOMELESS PERSON!!! THEY WERE ASKING FOR MONEY
PLEASE REMOVE THESE EYESORES
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Mutual aid spam is becoming a problem on the Fediverse.
And to be sure, I'm not against mutual aid. What I am against is spam.
This person has not verified who she is -- or even if the profile picture is hers. Additional research on her name states she is a scammer with a record of grifting. I am therefore skeptical that any donations will help anyone in need.
Folks, please be cautious with mutual aid requests. Yes, people sometimes need help. But people also lie.
There are needs and needs, I refuse to help a money begger unless is a close friend which I can control how is the best I can do for him, money being the last resource. Instead I always demand for social programs and services sustained by taxes to support those in real need (survival needs) unconditionally.
I would sleep much better if part of my tax contribution (together that of anybody in function of their resources) goes to grant the minimum for a "dignity survival" to any human being regardless of their returned contribution, with programs for reinsertion and mental support so they have the best chances to reach eventually a "dignity life".
And, if still they cannot but just "survive" for the rest of their lives, I still want to fund it and give them the security to do it with dignity until the very end.
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Mutual aid spam is becoming a problem on the Fediverse.
And to be sure, I'm not against mutual aid. What I am against is spam.
This person has not verified who she is -- or even if the profile picture is hers. Additional research on her name states she is a scammer with a record of grifting. I am therefore skeptical that any donations will help anyone in need.
Folks, please be cautious with mutual aid requests. Yes, people sometimes need help. But people also lie.
Donate those that provide something meaningful.
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It's not ignoring the topic. Mutual aid is an organized operation. Literally says it the link. This is not mutual aid. The topic is about "mutual aid spam" which this is not at all an example of "mutual aid". This is just begging or panhandling or scamming.
Read the link title - "Mutual Aid SOCIETY" - that's the organization part. Mutual aid is the helping other members part. Anyway, the topic is about these pleas for help becoming a problem on lemmy.
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Mutual aid spam is becoming a problem on the Fediverse.
And to be sure, I'm not against mutual aid. What I am against is spam.
This person has not verified who she is -- or even if the profile picture is hers. Additional research on her name states she is a scammer with a record of grifting. I am therefore skeptical that any donations will help anyone in need.
Folks, please be cautious with mutual aid requests. Yes, people sometimes need help. But people also lie.
Lol, comments in this thread forgot the 'mutual' part of 'mutual aid' and miss the point of this post (scams in mutual aid groups)
If you think mutual aid is a one-way street (/ don't benefit from it), is not for you, block and move on
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POLICE! POLICE! PLEASE HELP!
I SAW A HOMELESS PERSON!!! THEY WERE ASKING FOR MONEY
PLEASE REMOVE THESE EYESORES
This is why I turn off Google spam filtering. My attention is worth nothing so everyone who can message me should be able to.
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This is why I turn off Google spam filtering. My attention is worth nothing so everyone who can message me should be able to.
Imagine being so dead inside that automated emails and human beings occupy the same part of your mind
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That's why I think the history of the U.S. phone system is so important. AT&T had to be dragged into interoperability by government regulation nearly every step of the way, but ended up needing to invent and publish the technical standards that made federation/interoperability possible, after government agencies started mandating them. The technical infeasibility of opening up a proprietary network has been overcome before, with much more complexity at the lower OSI layers, including defining new open standards regarding the physical layer of actual copper lines and switches.
Yup. At least a decade ago I used to explain how important interoperability was to legislate for, and used this as the main example of why. Networks are better for everyone when there is no lock in, and the waste of competition for eyeballs could be avoided. It's sad that most people truly don't understand this.
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Fair 'nuff. I hadn't really considered an alt account.
It's not really an "alt" account, I just don't think of user accounts as an extension of my identity, and change very regularly.
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Mutual aid is not giving random internet assholes money because they begged for it. I'm not saying they should be banned from doing so, but calling it mutual aid is 100% a scam. Mutual aid is given freely, within a pre-established network.
Hosting a friend on your couch for a week cause they're in between apartments is mutual aid. Feeding your friends without expecting anything in return is mutual aid. Enabling e-begging is not mutual aid.
I guess in this case it's OP that labeled it as mutual aid rather than the requester.
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Imagine being so dead inside that automated emails and human beings occupy the same part of your mind
Imagine being so naive that you think that's a real person.
But if we're not being snarky for a moment... It's trivially easy to create a bot to do exactly what this person is doing. Spam others with begging for money and a bunch of sob stories.
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Yeah, the other day I saw a lot of posts like
"I am from palestine, my home is destroyed please donate to help"...
Spam is probably the significant problem on fediFunnily enough, I haven't seen many instances delicated to just spam, like there was conerns about. Its mostly from .world or mastodon.social
