Is it okay to beg for money on Mastodon?

[depereo@mastodon.social]

@randahl a good resource for understanding mutual aid is the book 'mutual aid' by dean spade which is available in its entirety here:

https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/dean-spade-mutual-aid

I don't know if you'll have a definitive answer to your question after reading but it might help. I don't have settled thoughts on direct individual requests from internationally distant strangers either.

[newsgroup@social.vir.group]

@randahl This is a difficult issue, and it really requires thoughtful measures to address it properly. Charity is important and valuable, but there also needs to be a level of responsibility and common sense in how it’s handled.

[shadsterling@mastodon.social]

@randahl some instances do have policies, and I think it’s good to have a policy. I think posts asking for help from whoever happens to see the post are fine, and most of the policies I’ve seen encourage that. I think asking specific accounts for money, especially without some kind of longstanding relationship, is too much, but I’m not sure what response a policy should call for

[randahl@mastodon.social]

@leeloo no, not at all. I hope there would be different policies. I am just asking, what should the policy be? Because I do not think that is a simple question at all.

[assaf@mas.to]

@randahl in timeline post or DM?

DM = scam - they focus on specific account to land the gullible that will pay

[iveyline@mastodon.nz]

@randahl I agree. There are a lot of people asking for money. Few are verifiable. I would prefer to see these eliminated unless totally verifiable.

[gra3432@mastodon.world]

@randahl your question and a lot of the answers make me shiver. Yes, there might be fakes. But most of them had to swallow their pride to come here and ask for help because they, worse, their children, are in dire need. Nobody forces you to give them anything. Showing up in your time line doesn't cost you a dime. So why do you want a 'policy'? To get them banned, as already some instances do? I only regret I can't help. It hurts bad enough.

[jabgoe2089@hub.netzgemeinde.eu]

@Randahl Fink of course people and organisations can ask for money here in the fediverse. but if that's all they do i will stop following them and when they show up in other followers' comments will mute them.

this is a very good point:

I support recognized aid organisations, but these direct requests make me concerned, because as a Mastodon user I have no way of verifying if the requests are legitimate, or some nefarious person is pretending to be a person in need.

so i mostly ignore such requests ...

[npars01@mstdn.social]

@Robo105 @randahl

Not comfortable having my account used to platform scam artists. Riding the coattails of someone else's effort.

Also not comfortable ignoring the heartfelt appeals for aid, when I can't help monetarily, only informationally with a boost.

If the account is new, has no posts, no followers, no profile information, decline the follow, mute & block. Sock puppets ditto.

If the account has posts that contain unwanted sales, disinformation, violence or nudity, block & report.

[leeloo@chaosfem.tw]

@randahl
"The policy" implies one.

Also, if you assume that there will be as many different policies as there are servers, asking what the policy should be doesn't make sense.

You might as well ask "if cars had colors, what should the color be".The answer would be that each car owner picks the color they prefer

[aral@mastodon.ar.al]

@randahl Hey Randahl,

It’s 2026, not Dickensian England; we call it mutual aid, not begging.

If we’re talking about Gazans, they are currently facing genocide at the hands of Israel with the full support of countries like the USA, Germany, and the UK and the complicity of almost the entirety of the so-called civilised West. International organisations like the UN are deliberately being prevented from functioning by Israel and US.

If you want a list of people we’ve verified via video calls that you can help during this ongoing genocide by settler colonialists, please see:

https://gaza-verified.org/donate/

I would strongly urge you to take the context into consideration. Ask yourself what you would do if you couldn’t feed your family, if you couldn’t afford to treat your sick children, if the institutions that were supposed to be helping were shackled, and if you were actively being hounded off of every other online space by corporations complicit in the genocide being perpetrated against you.

If people are being forced to ask for help, it’s not their failing but the failing of the system that is forcing them to do so.

[jwcph@helvede.net]

@aral @randahl Also, the other main demographic I see appealing for mutual aid are trans and/or neurodivergent and/or cronically ill people who are either actively marginalized where they live & therefore cut off from "regular" aid sources, or have fallen through some sort of crack, also cutting them off from other, more readily available forms of support.

In many such cases, just asking for aid requires more courage than you or I will ever know.

Like Aral says, context matters.

[mikefromlfe@cupoftea.social]

@randahl@mastodon.social I block, but don't report.
It's impossible to know which, if any, are genuine.

[krig@goto.liten.app]

@jwcph @aral @randahl In these situations, I try to take a step back and ask myself not only the question ”what if it’s a scam”, but also ”what if it isn’t?”. Because to face THAT question openly is to open the door to a more altruistic existence.

[jimmyb@mas.to]

@randahl hey Randahl - I try to support a wide range of requests from all over to the extent I can manage it. If some of the folks asking aren’t what they say - well - it’s cost me a few quid and that’s on them not me. The alternative is I harden up and shut myself off from the desperate.

That’s on me.

[gunchleoc@mastodon.scot]

@krig @jwcph @aral @randahl Apart from Gazans and queer and neurodivergent people, I also have indigenous people in my timeline, struggling artists, a journalist needing a legal fund to fight racial profiling and an African whose family lost their house in a storm.

[gunchleoc@mastodon.scot]

@krig @jwcph @aral @randahl
If you can't or don't want to give anybody any money, that's fine. Just don't make it harder for these people to exist by chasing them off the Fediverse.

If you don't want to be tagged and the account isn't an obvious scam, you can always ask them politely to stop tagging you or mute/block.

[randahl@mastodon.social]

@aral
Dear Mr. Balkan

Thank you for reminding me that we should take an interest in the context of others.

And thank you for informing me there is a genocide in Gaza. As the producer of the film “Genocide in Gaza”, this is a profound surprise to me.

And especially thank you for informing me that it is 2026 — something someone of lesser cognitive ability than yourself could easily overlook.

I agree that an unprejudiced approach to global dialogue is of the utmost importance.

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[randahl@mastodon.social]

@aral
Since we agree that context is important, allow me to share a bit about my context.

As a political commentator, it is important for me to be precise; and in my context, terms like “begging” or “panhandling” are very precise legal terms which define a specific action that is illegal in some jurisdictions, while legal in others.

I respect that in your context, this term is not preferred because it may not express the empathy we both desire, but now you know my motivation for using it.
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[randahl@mastodon.social]

@hiker I hear that a lot. But from my experience, account reports are handled quite effectively on mastodon.social.