Aral Balkan1d ago

Folks, this is a general Gaza Verified message.

Please note that while we know the unconscionable situation people in Gaza are having to go through, we are also seeing a rise (from a small number of people) of mass tagging of people in messages and unsolicited direct messages.

To our friends and families in Gaza Verified: this is against the rules of almost every server, including the one your account is on and it will get your account limited or suspended. It is also against our rules (see https://gaza-verified.org/guide/ or, in Palestinian Arabic: https://gaza-verified.org/guide-arabic/) as we don’t want your accounts to get limited/suspended.

If your account is suspended by your server for no reason or as discrimination for who you are, we will challenge that and, if necessary, help you find a new server (see our friendly servers list in the guide).

And we have also worked with some of you to help explain the rules and advocate on your behalf when your accounts were suspended for mass tagging or unsolicited direct messages.

However, with a small number of accounts, we have seen the same behaviour continue the moment the account is reinstated.

In such situations, we cannot help you further. And we will not verify any new accounts you create to avoid these suspensions.

The goal of Gaza Verified from the start was to ensure that Mastodon and the fediverse was a safe space for our Palestinian friends and, with the help of many server admins, I believe we have, for the most part, succeeded in creating a space where Palestinians are respected and valued. But this is a two-way street. It is also important that the people here who care and want to help are not constantly subjected to targeted messages imploring them to help. Many of those who help are not well off themselves and they help when and how they can.

The best thing about Mastodon and the fediverse is that it is a place where you can build genuine friendships. Everything else will flow from this.

So I beg our friends in Gaza to see the long-term value of being part of a community that cares and hopefully talking to one another and helping ensure that a very small number of accounts doesn’t jeopardise that for everyone for short-term gain.

To our friends and families in Gaza, I do not presume to tell you how to use Mastodon or the fediverse but here are some of my thoughts based on what I’ve seen in the past half-year of Gaza Verified’s existence:

1. Please don’t see this as a competition with each other. We all know that everyone who is in Gaza needs help.

2. Please try and make genuine connections with people here. Share your everyday experiences. People will follow you and they will engage with you. And from that, some of them will no doubt also help you.

3. Please don’t target messages that try to guilt people who have helped in the past to help again. If they can help, they will. Please remember that they may not be in the best financial situation either.

For those of you reading who want to know how they can help, there are three main ways:

1. Check out the list of Gaza Verified accounts at https://gaza-verified.org/donate (ranked by those who raised the least in the past week).

2. Perhaps pick someone and try and organise monthly patronages for them so they can have a certain amount of money coming in every month (call it a universal basic income, if you will, or crowdfunded income redistribution, etc.) so they can pay their rent and/or basic necessities. We just successfully did that for Aseel, one of our Gaza Verified team members, where 17 patrons, including me, are paying her family’s rent. If there was more of this, there would be less need for these families, who are facing genocide and famine, to keep asking for donations.

3. If you are mass tagged in a message or if you receive unsolicited direct messages, please either contact @gazaverified or mute the person in question but please don’t report them if you can. Please remember that our friends in Gaza are facing genocide and the possibility of another famine. Muting them will stop them from contacting you without jeopardising their ability to provide for their family. And if you contact us, we will talk to them.

#GazaVerified #Gaza #Mastodon #fediverse

Gaza Verified

We’ve personally had video conversations on Signal with the people from Gaza whose Mastodon accounts on the fediverse are listed here and we verify that their accounts are genuine. – Joy & Aral Balkan

Show threadBilal Zeyada1d ago
@aral @gazaverified
Okay, what is your standard for removing verification? I know very well that you can't tell if a report is racist or harassing. I don't think a harassment message warrants account deletion and removal of verification.
Show threadAral Balkan1d ago

@bilalzeyada @gazaverified Bilal, we can very well tell if an account has been repeatedly mass-tagging people and/or sending direct messages, getting suspended, getting reinstated after our help, then mass-tagging and/or sending direct messages again and then getting suspended and then telling us they understand what the problem is again and promise not to only to start mass-tagging and/or sending direct messages the moment the account is reinstated again and then, when the account is suspended again and it’s clear that it won’ be reinstated, creating a self-hosted server and starting to do the same thing there and then getting suspended *by other servers*. If such an account then asks to be reverified again, they will not be. If they were mistakenly re-verified, their verification will be removed.

We are here to foster a community and a safe space with mutual respect. The key term is mutual.

Show threadBilal Zeyada
@aral @gazaverified
My account was banned and cannot be recovered. When I challenged it, I received a warning the first time, and it was a mistake when I appealed. They acknowledged this, and this happened when I created the old account. Then, a week later, I received another warning.
Apr 2 at 2:53pmWeb
Show threadBilal Zeyada1d ago
@aral @gazaverified When I appealed to them, they told me explicitly that it was a mistake, and then a month ago my account was immediately suspended and remains so to this day. I emphasize again that I did not receive any prior warning or notification, because I remember very well that I was not warned.
Show threadBilal Zeyada1d ago
@aral @gazaverified Since you know the reason for the report, why not create an internal system for the Gaza family, severely punish the perpetrator, and give the targeted individual several attempts, which you would be aware of, before removing their documentation?
Show threadFabio Manganiello1d ago

@bilalzeyada @aral @gazaverified keep in mind that all the posts (including those of the suspended accounts) are also archived on gaza.onl.

We can see what you posted before your account was suspended: https://gaza.onl/accounts/@[email protected]

We can see that you were sending 20 mentions a day with the same copy-pasted text that asked for donations.

This was not prejudice - had it been a case of actual prejudice I would have thrown myself through the fire to defend you and publicly shame an intolerant admin.

This was clearly a case of spam.

We would like people on gaza-verified to create genuine boundaries with other people, not only send 20 copy-pasted donation requests a day.

Gaza Verified Archive

A public archive of all material uploaded by verified accounts from Gaza on the Fediverse

Show threadBilal Zeyada1d ago
@fabio @gazaverified @aral
Okay, but are you sure that these messages are the reason for my ban and removal from verification? I don't think that annoying messages are enough to delete a user and remove them from verification. Any member or server administrator could have muted or even banned me.
Show threadBilal Zeyada1d ago
@fabio @gazaverified @aral
Honestly, if someone is bothered by me, they can block me, mute me, or even report me. I don't threaten, insult, or abuse them. It's illogical to delete my account or remove its verification.
Show threadBilal Zeyada1d ago
@fabio @gazaverified @aral I believe you're employing a policy of silencing dissent by removing verification for a single annoying message. I'm free to express my opinion; those who like it are welcome, and those who don't can block or mute me.
Show threadBilal Zeyada1d ago
@fabio @gazaverified @aral I believe the federal platform is designed differently from previous platforms where a group of people controlled it. It's simple: whoever wants me welcomes me, and whoever doesn't want me mutes or blocks me.