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1. Embed this notice
   Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Sunday, 07-Sep-2025 20:05:07 JST Aral Balkan

   Folks, just a quick heads up: I’m in touch over Signal with Mahmoud from the “Help Mahmoud Family” accounts you might have seen contacting you.

   Like you, I was hugely suspicious of them due to the many accounts and automated spam-like messages (I also reported and had one of them taken down as a scam).

   It’s looking to me now like this was more of a misguided (and understandably, given the circumstances) desperate attempt to get help.

   I ask that we keep an open mind and offer Mahmoud and his family the benefit of the doubt.

   Here are the steps we’ll be taking with Mahmoud going forward to try and fix this and give him a proper introduction to Mastodon and the fediverse and hopefully rebuild trust:

   1. Joy and I will meet Mahmoud for a video chat next week.

   2. Once we’re happy, I will contact a friend who runs a Mastodon server to ask that Mahmoud is allowed to set up his one (and only Mastodon account there). This way, we will also know that the account will be safe in the future.

   3. Mahmoud has already agreed not to use automated messages in the future.

   I will update you about the state of things next week, after our video conversation.

   https://mastodon.ar.al/@aral/115162189104716836

   #Gaza #fediverse #Mastodon

   • Embed this notice
     Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Sunday, 07-Sep-2025 20:05:04 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     • Sexybiggetje🐖
     • SolSoCoG

     @martijn @SolSoCoG Thank you.

     I also want to add a list of Mastodon servers that are welcoming to Palestinians to the Gaza Verified guide (https://gaza-verified.org/guide). May I add yours to the list?

     💕

   • Embed this notice
     Sexybiggetje🐖 (martijn@ieji.de)'s status on Sunday, 07-Sep-2025 20:05:05 JST Sexybiggetje🐖

     in reply to

     • SolSoCoG

     @aral I'm sure if you've verified the account and person that @SolSoCoG and our team provide a safe haven if needed. We do provide a high level of anonymity and overlay network access. Feel free to sign up here. If they do so, let me know, I'll add a moderator note to the account

   • Embed this notice
     SolSoCoG (solsocog@ieji.de)'s status on Sunday, 07-Sep-2025 20:40:09 JST SolSoCoG

     in reply to

     • Sexybiggetje🐖

     @martijn @aral yeah that's fine, thanks

   • Embed this notice
     Sexybiggetje🐖 (martijn@ieji.de)'s status on Sunday, 07-Sep-2025 20:40:11 JST Sexybiggetje🐖

     in reply to

     • SolSoCoG

     @aral @SolSoCoG that's your call. We don't do much in public opinions, and welcome everyone that adheres to the server rules (which are quite reasonable). So that should be fine imho

   • Embed this notice
     Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Monday, 08-Sep-2025 02:22:18 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     • Sexybiggetje🐖
     • SolSoCoG

     @SolSoCoG @martijn Thank you 💕

   • Embed this notice
     Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Monday, 08-Sep-2025 21:44:54 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     • Sci-Fi Girl

     @5ciFiGirl I’m sorry to hear this. I’m talking to him today. Let’s see what happens.

   • Embed this notice
     Sci-Fi Girl (5cifigirl@starbase80.wtf)'s status on Monday, 08-Sep-2025 21:44:56 JST Sci-Fi Girl

     in reply to

     @aral

     They are still mentioning people by the minute, as of right now. Uninvited mentions like that still feels like spam and harassment:

     https://liberdon.com/@MahmoudsFamily10

   • Embed this notice
     Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Wednesday, 10-Sep-2025 18:15:17 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     • Alex von Kitchen

     @Dangerous_beans 💕

   • Embed this notice
     Alex von Kitchen (dangerous_beans@aus.social)'s status on Wednesday, 10-Sep-2025 18:15:18 JST Alex von Kitchen

     in reply to

     @aral thank you
     They did seem desperate and unaware of how things worked here (totally fair given their situation), i'm gald someone has finally gotten in touch with them to help