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   Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Friday, 14-Aug-2026 14:15:57 JST Aral Balkan

   in reply to

   • Jules she/her
   • Kate Hildenbrand

   @rootsandcalluses @afewbugs Sadly we can no more vouch for the character of every Palestinian than we can for the character of every USian.

   All we verify is that they’re Palestinian and from Gaza and thus that they’re suffering through genocide and starving at the hands of Israel. Servers have rules and we have our guides and we try to communicate what’s in their best interests but it’s also difficult to preach Internet etiquette to people who are watching their kids starve.

   • Embed this notice
     Kate Hildenbrand (rootsandcalluses@mstdn.social)'s status on Friday, 14-Aug-2026 14:15:59 JST Kate Hildenbrand

     in reply to

     • Jules she/her

     @afewbugs I've had accounts that were Gaza Verified message me privately, asking me to donate, as a first interaction. Even if they are real, that's just no way.

     And yes, I don't know you are real either but that's beside the point. If the interaction is scammy, it doesn't help if they are indeed real people in Gaza.

   • Embed this notice
     Jules she/her (afewbugs@social.coop)'s status on Friday, 14-Aug-2026 14:16:00 JST Jules she/her

     in reply to

     • Kate Hildenbrand

     @rootsandcalluses for the Gaza accounts I trust anything on Gaza Verified because they have had a phone call with a team of people, two of whom I've personally interacted with and know are real (but I realise the chain breaks down because you have no way of really knowing I'm real), and have had their IPs verified as coming from Gaza by the same people. It's the same problem though that many of them do write in very inauthentic sounding ways, probably because they're using some sort of translation software if they don't speak English. I must admit that I tend not to donate in response to actual Gaza Verified posts but I have an amount I allocate for charity, crowdfunding and mutual aid each month and if there's any left at the end of the month I go to https://gaza-verified.org/donate/ and give it to the accounts that have raised the least

   • Embed this notice
     Kate Hildenbrand (rootsandcalluses@mstdn.social)'s status on Friday, 14-Aug-2026 14:16:01 JST Kate Hildenbrand

     I'm really sorry for the real farms and projects in Uganda and such, for the real people suffering in war zones. Unfortunately, it's almost all scammers. It's especially hard with the projects in Africa because there are actual real projects worthy of support. But they all go by the same schemes here... it's annoying and disgusting.

     As to the people from Gaza: well, their stories just don't add up at all, so that's much easier to dismiss...

     Despicable to use the suffering of others like this.