Dear @Codeberg,
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RE: https://mastodon.ar.al/@aral/117036096486689894
Dear @Codeberg,
According to the anonymous Linux-Is-Best account, I am a scammer and Gaza Verified (https://gaza-verified.org), which I made and help run, is a scam, and every person from Gaza we verified using video calls – all 303 of them, by last count¹ – is also a scammer.
(Please see: https://codeberg.org/Codeberg/Community/issues/2971)
This presents a problem because I am also a part of the Codeberg organisation as an active member with voting rights.
And the Gaza Verified source code is hosted on Codeberg:
https://codeberg.org/small-web/gaza-verified.org(We’re clearly a very transparent scam operation that believes in FOSS, etc.)
So, if Linux-Is-Best is right, you are harbouring a known scammer in your organisation. Furthermore, by allowing the source code of the scam on your site, you could be held liable if you know of the scam but do nothing about it.
So, please:
1. Either remove me as an active member (and give me notice so I can cancel my direct debit and have time to migrate my account and projects elsewhere), or
2. Take down the libellous claims by this anonymous troll who is causing real harm to people facing genocide in Gaza (and who is thus, himself, complicit in genocide).
So I’m either a scammer and I should not be allowed to be part of the Codeberg organisation or the anonymous Linux-Is-Best is a libellous, genocide-complicit troll and should not be welcome at Codeberg. Because both of these cannot be true at the same time.
I’ll leave it to you to decide who you would rather want associated with Codeberg.
It shouldn’t be a very difficult decision to make.
¹ https://gaza-verified.org/people/
#Gaza #GazaVerified #genocide #libel #LinuxIsBest #fediverse #mastodon #Codeberg
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@aral @Codeberg @dpk
Please, I don't know how to verify my account. I'm from Gaza and I want you to promote and share my account. https://chuffed.org/project/178300-esraa-in-gaza@esraatar Please go to https://gaza-verified.org/join/
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@Malak1999 Hello Malak, I understand that you're desperate and that your life is difficult. But many donors who are able to donate will go to https://gaza-verified.org/donate/ to ensure a fair distribution of donations. And people who are unable or unwillig to donate will unfortunately only feel annoyed by your comments. They will block or report you, which will limit your reach. In order to not decrease your own reach, it's in your own best interest to not insert yourself into unrelated discussions to ask for help. Again, I understand that you're desperate and need help, but there are better ways to achieve that, which don't silence your voice. Much love and solidarity for you.
️🫂
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@linamahmoud Hello Lina, I understand that you're desperate and that your life is difficult. But many donors who are able to donate will go to https://gaza-verified.org/donate/ to ensure a fair distribution of donations. And people who are unable or unwillig to donate will unfortunately only feel annoyed by your comments. They will block or report you, which will limit your reach. In order to not decrease your own reach, it's in your own best interest to not insert yourself into unrelated discussions to ask for help. Again, I understand that you're desperate and need help, but there are better ways to achieve that, which don't silence your voice. Much love and solidarity for you.
️🫂 -
@linamahmoud Hello Lina, I understand that you're desperate and that your life is difficult. But many donors who are able to donate will go to https://gaza-verified.org/donate/ to ensure a fair distribution of donations. And people who are unable or unwillig to donate will unfortunately only feel annoyed by your comments. They will block or report you, which will limit your reach. In order to not decrease your own reach, it's in your own best interest to not insert yourself into unrelated discussions to ask for help. Again, I understand that you're desperate and need help, but there are better ways to achieve that, which don't silence your voice. Much love and solidarity for you.
️🫂@davidculley Thank you so much for your kind words and thoughtful advice.
️ I truly appreciate you taking the time to explain this to me. I never want to annoy anyone—I am simply a mother trying to keep my children alive in impossible circumstances.I will keep your advice in mind and try to reach people in better ways. My account is also verified, and I always do my best to be honest and transparent with everyone.
Thank you again for your solidarity and support. It truly means a lot to me. 🫂
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@davidculley Thank you so much for your kind words and thoughtful advice.
️ I truly appreciate you taking the time to explain this to me. I never want to annoy anyone—I am simply a mother trying to keep my children alive in impossible circumstances.I will keep your advice in mind and try to reach people in better ways. My account is also verified, and I always do my best to be honest and transparent with everyone.
Thank you again for your solidarity and support. It truly means a lot to me. 🫂
@linamahmoud Yes, I understand that. Others don't, unfortunately. And they will get you silenced. My goal is to protect you from that.
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@linamahmoud Yes, I understand that. Others don't, unfortunately. And they will get you silenced. My goal is to protect you from that.
@davidculley Thank you, I really appreciate your concern and your advice. I know you're trying to protect me, and I'm grateful for that. I'm just a mother trying to keep my children alive in very difficult circumstances. I'll do my best to be careful while continuing to share our story. Thank you for looking out for me.
️ -
@Codeberg I just received this email, titled “Your recent Mastodon post” from @dpk on behalf of the Codeberg “Presidium”:
***
Dear Aral BalkanIn your Mastodon post at <https://mastodon.ar.al/@aral/117041803584140945> you publically criticized a repository that was hosted on Codeberg, despite linking to an issue thread in which it was made clear that the content should be reported through our usual internal channels for moderation. The repository in question was reviewed by the moderation team and removed. We understand that you suffered reputational damage as a result of this repository’s content, but this does not justify damaging the reputation of Codeberg e.V. in turn. The moderation team is still a volunteer operation and sometimes it takes a few hours for someone to be available to deal with reports or to ensure that consensus exists.
We therefore warn you not to make posts of this kind that could damage the association’s reputation in future. Acting against the interests of the association can be grounds for exclusion from the membership (§5 (5) of the by-laws). If you have issues with content posted on our site in future, please report it to our moderation team at abuse@codeberg.org. In general, reports sent to that email address will usually receive a reply describing what action was taken once the moderation team has considered how to deal with the reported content.
Kind regards
Presidium
***So, I have a problem with this.
My post in no way damaged the reputation of Codeberg. It publicly asked them to do something about it and to state, publicly, where they stand on an issue. An issue, may I add, that has to do with real people facing actual genocide as we speak. Not to mention I thanked them for making the right decision (https://mastodon.ar.al/@aral/117043586669877395). If anything, until this email, it made the organisation look better. Unless, of course, opposing certain genocides is something that damages reputations in Germany.
I do not agree with the public issue being closed either. An issue was reported and the response was not “oh, this is serious, we’ll look into it”. It was, rather, “you reported it wrong. Report the same thing at this other place instead.”
And that other place is an entirely opaque internal system where no one gets to see what decision-making process is employed.
This is not the transparency that should exist in a member-run organisation.
So at the end of the day, I am the one being threatened with being removed from membership while the person who is actively trying to harm genocide victims (https://codeberg.org/Linux-Is-Best/) is still welcome on Codeberg?
This is a very insidious form of bothsidesism and, I can only imagine, is to ensure that I keep quiet in the future and to create a chilling effect where we cannot discuss certain things publicly for fear of reprisals.
Well, that won’t be happening.
I am sick and tired of people who cannot provide a proportional response when we asked to choose between people harming genocide victims on the one hand and those trying to protect them on the other.
If this means I cannot be a member of Codeberg, so be it.
Let me know if I’m not welcome there and I will leave.
And you can show the world that Linux-Is-Best is welcome and I am not. If that’s who you are.
#codeberg #israel #germany #zionism #genocide #ethnicCleansing #apartheid #settlerColonialism #fediverse #mastodon #transparency #ethics #morals
That's a very •German• email! "Follow orders or you vill be PUNISHED!" Makes me wonder how much Nazism is a matter of nature vs nurture.
And that I'm turn makes me wonder to what extent our ethnic backgrounds influence us. In my case, I suppose it would make me a 'natural' victim. Which is pretty much what I am.
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@heyamgaza @Codeberg Heyam, please don’t worry yourself. It’s nothing.
My love to you and your family.
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@ryanprior @aral There are good reasons we don’t discuss moderation in public, and why the moderation team is anonymous, which should be obvious to anyone who thinks about it for two seconds
(and who maybe takes this whole saga here as an example)
@dpk @ryanprior@mastodon.social @aral
~
U are wrong. If a discussion on a certain subject is in public, there is no reason to make it private. You yourself are here, in public, posting about it. Yes, I am a moderator. It's in the description on my profile. By the way: it wasn't me who put the position. It is the admin of the instance that identifies. -
@Hilalgazayafa @Codeberg Thank you, Hilal. Think nothing of it. The whole world should be hanging its head in shame at what we’re letting happen before our own eyes. Lots of love
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@Hilalgazayafa @Codeberg Thank you, Hilal. Think nothing of it. The whole world should be hanging its head in shame at what we’re letting happen before our own eyes. Lots of love
@aral @Codeberg Thank you, dear sir. I follow your posts with great admiration and appreciate your humanity.
I was a human rights education teacher in Gaza for years and helped develop those curricula. Sadly, I witnessed a painful contradiction: we taught justice and dignity, yet we became people seeking help in a world of silence and indifference. After three years of suffering in Gaza, the reality has shown that many human rights promises remain only words.
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@Codeberg I just received this email, titled “Your recent Mastodon post” from @dpk on behalf of the Codeberg “Presidium”:
***
Dear Aral BalkanIn your Mastodon post at <https://mastodon.ar.al/@aral/117041803584140945> you publically criticized a repository that was hosted on Codeberg, despite linking to an issue thread in which it was made clear that the content should be reported through our usual internal channels for moderation. The repository in question was reviewed by the moderation team and removed. We understand that you suffered reputational damage as a result of this repository’s content, but this does not justify damaging the reputation of Codeberg e.V. in turn. The moderation team is still a volunteer operation and sometimes it takes a few hours for someone to be available to deal with reports or to ensure that consensus exists.
We therefore warn you not to make posts of this kind that could damage the association’s reputation in future. Acting against the interests of the association can be grounds for exclusion from the membership (§5 (5) of the by-laws). If you have issues with content posted on our site in future, please report it to our moderation team at abuse@codeberg.org. In general, reports sent to that email address will usually receive a reply describing what action was taken once the moderation team has considered how to deal with the reported content.
Kind regards
Presidium
***So, I have a problem with this.
My post in no way damaged the reputation of Codeberg. It publicly asked them to do something about it and to state, publicly, where they stand on an issue. An issue, may I add, that has to do with real people facing actual genocide as we speak. Not to mention I thanked them for making the right decision (https://mastodon.ar.al/@aral/117043586669877395). If anything, until this email, it made the organisation look better. Unless, of course, opposing certain genocides is something that damages reputations in Germany.
I do not agree with the public issue being closed either. An issue was reported and the response was not “oh, this is serious, we’ll look into it”. It was, rather, “you reported it wrong. Report the same thing at this other place instead.”
And that other place is an entirely opaque internal system where no one gets to see what decision-making process is employed.
This is not the transparency that should exist in a member-run organisation.
So at the end of the day, I am the one being threatened with being removed from membership while the person who is actively trying to harm genocide victims (https://codeberg.org/Linux-Is-Best/) is still welcome on Codeberg?
This is a very insidious form of bothsidesism and, I can only imagine, is to ensure that I keep quiet in the future and to create a chilling effect where we cannot discuss certain things publicly for fear of reprisals.
Well, that won’t be happening.
I am sick and tired of people who cannot provide a proportional response when we asked to choose between people harming genocide victims on the one hand and those trying to protect them on the other.
If this means I cannot be a member of Codeberg, so be it.
Let me know if I’m not welcome there and I will leave.
And you can show the world that Linux-Is-Best is welcome and I am not. If that’s who you are.
#codeberg #israel #germany #zionism #genocide #ethnicCleansing #apartheid #settlerColonialism #fediverse #mastodon #transparency #ethics #morals
@aral @Codeberg @dpk I was following this situation and I didn't see any damage to Codeberg's reputation. Situation was ongoing, things take time. Normal.
But this thin-skinned, presumably consensus-based response is actually the thing that harms Codeberg's reputation.
Threatening a member with exclusion over some harsh criticism ?
Pretty lame.
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@aral @Codeberg Thank you, dear sir. I follow your posts with great admiration and appreciate your humanity.
I was a human rights education teacher in Gaza for years and helped develop those curricula. Sadly, I witnessed a painful contradiction: we taught justice and dignity, yet we became people seeking help in a world of silence and indifference. After three years of suffering in Gaza, the reality has shown that many human rights promises remain only words.@Hilalgazayafa @Codeberg Dear Hilal, please, just call me Aral. And here’s to a future where we can take them beyond words together.
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@Hilalgazayafa @Codeberg Dear Hilal, please, just call me Aral. And here’s to a future where we can take them beyond words together.
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@Codeberg I just received this email, titled “Your recent Mastodon post” from @dpk on behalf of the Codeberg “Presidium”:
***
Dear Aral BalkanIn your Mastodon post at <https://mastodon.ar.al/@aral/117041803584140945> you publically criticized a repository that was hosted on Codeberg, despite linking to an issue thread in which it was made clear that the content should be reported through our usual internal channels for moderation. The repository in question was reviewed by the moderation team and removed. We understand that you suffered reputational damage as a result of this repository’s content, but this does not justify damaging the reputation of Codeberg e.V. in turn. The moderation team is still a volunteer operation and sometimes it takes a few hours for someone to be available to deal with reports or to ensure that consensus exists.
We therefore warn you not to make posts of this kind that could damage the association’s reputation in future. Acting against the interests of the association can be grounds for exclusion from the membership (§5 (5) of the by-laws). If you have issues with content posted on our site in future, please report it to our moderation team at abuse@codeberg.org. In general, reports sent to that email address will usually receive a reply describing what action was taken once the moderation team has considered how to deal with the reported content.
Kind regards
Presidium
***So, I have a problem with this.
My post in no way damaged the reputation of Codeberg. It publicly asked them to do something about it and to state, publicly, where they stand on an issue. An issue, may I add, that has to do with real people facing actual genocide as we speak. Not to mention I thanked them for making the right decision (https://mastodon.ar.al/@aral/117043586669877395). If anything, until this email, it made the organisation look better. Unless, of course, opposing certain genocides is something that damages reputations in Germany.
I do not agree with the public issue being closed either. An issue was reported and the response was not “oh, this is serious, we’ll look into it”. It was, rather, “you reported it wrong. Report the same thing at this other place instead.”
And that other place is an entirely opaque internal system where no one gets to see what decision-making process is employed.
This is not the transparency that should exist in a member-run organisation.
So at the end of the day, I am the one being threatened with being removed from membership while the person who is actively trying to harm genocide victims (https://codeberg.org/Linux-Is-Best/) is still welcome on Codeberg?
This is a very insidious form of bothsidesism and, I can only imagine, is to ensure that I keep quiet in the future and to create a chilling effect where we cannot discuss certain things publicly for fear of reprisals.
Well, that won’t be happening.
I am sick and tired of people who cannot provide a proportional response when we asked to choose between people harming genocide victims on the one hand and those trying to protect them on the other.
If this means I cannot be a member of Codeberg, so be it.
Let me know if I’m not welcome there and I will leave.
And you can show the world that Linux-Is-Best is welcome and I am not. If that’s who you are.
#codeberg #israel #germany #zionism #genocide #ethnicCleansing #apartheid #settlerColonialism #fediverse #mastodon #transparency #ethics #morals
@aral By the way, if you do want to leave the membership of Codeberg e.V., the place to do that is not here, but in a clear, unambiguous email to codeberg@codeberg.org.
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@Codeberg I just received this email, titled “Your recent Mastodon post” from @dpk on behalf of the Codeberg “Presidium”:
***
Dear Aral BalkanIn your Mastodon post at <https://mastodon.ar.al/@aral/117041803584140945> you publically criticized a repository that was hosted on Codeberg, despite linking to an issue thread in which it was made clear that the content should be reported through our usual internal channels for moderation. The repository in question was reviewed by the moderation team and removed. We understand that you suffered reputational damage as a result of this repository’s content, but this does not justify damaging the reputation of Codeberg e.V. in turn. The moderation team is still a volunteer operation and sometimes it takes a few hours for someone to be available to deal with reports or to ensure that consensus exists.
We therefore warn you not to make posts of this kind that could damage the association’s reputation in future. Acting against the interests of the association can be grounds for exclusion from the membership (§5 (5) of the by-laws). If you have issues with content posted on our site in future, please report it to our moderation team at abuse@codeberg.org. In general, reports sent to that email address will usually receive a reply describing what action was taken once the moderation team has considered how to deal with the reported content.
Kind regards
Presidium
***So, I have a problem with this.
My post in no way damaged the reputation of Codeberg. It publicly asked them to do something about it and to state, publicly, where they stand on an issue. An issue, may I add, that has to do with real people facing actual genocide as we speak. Not to mention I thanked them for making the right decision (https://mastodon.ar.al/@aral/117043586669877395). If anything, until this email, it made the organisation look better. Unless, of course, opposing certain genocides is something that damages reputations in Germany.
I do not agree with the public issue being closed either. An issue was reported and the response was not “oh, this is serious, we’ll look into it”. It was, rather, “you reported it wrong. Report the same thing at this other place instead.”
And that other place is an entirely opaque internal system where no one gets to see what decision-making process is employed.
This is not the transparency that should exist in a member-run organisation.
So at the end of the day, I am the one being threatened with being removed from membership while the person who is actively trying to harm genocide victims (https://codeberg.org/Linux-Is-Best/) is still welcome on Codeberg?
This is a very insidious form of bothsidesism and, I can only imagine, is to ensure that I keep quiet in the future and to create a chilling effect where we cannot discuss certain things publicly for fear of reprisals.
Well, that won’t be happening.
I am sick and tired of people who cannot provide a proportional response when we asked to choose between people harming genocide victims on the one hand and those trying to protect them on the other.
If this means I cannot be a member of Codeberg, so be it.
Let me know if I’m not welcome there and I will leave.
And you can show the world that Linux-Is-Best is welcome and I am not. If that’s who you are.
#codeberg #israel #germany #zionism #genocide #ethnicCleansing #apartheid #settlerColonialism #fediverse #mastodon #transparency #ethics #morals
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@Codeberg I just received this email, titled “Your recent Mastodon post” from @dpk on behalf of the Codeberg “Presidium”:
***
Dear Aral BalkanIn your Mastodon post at <https://mastodon.ar.al/@aral/117041803584140945> you publically criticized a repository that was hosted on Codeberg, despite linking to an issue thread in which it was made clear that the content should be reported through our usual internal channels for moderation. The repository in question was reviewed by the moderation team and removed. We understand that you suffered reputational damage as a result of this repository’s content, but this does not justify damaging the reputation of Codeberg e.V. in turn. The moderation team is still a volunteer operation and sometimes it takes a few hours for someone to be available to deal with reports or to ensure that consensus exists.
We therefore warn you not to make posts of this kind that could damage the association’s reputation in future. Acting against the interests of the association can be grounds for exclusion from the membership (§5 (5) of the by-laws). If you have issues with content posted on our site in future, please report it to our moderation team at abuse@codeberg.org. In general, reports sent to that email address will usually receive a reply describing what action was taken once the moderation team has considered how to deal with the reported content.
Kind regards
Presidium
***So, I have a problem with this.
My post in no way damaged the reputation of Codeberg. It publicly asked them to do something about it and to state, publicly, where they stand on an issue. An issue, may I add, that has to do with real people facing actual genocide as we speak. Not to mention I thanked them for making the right decision (https://mastodon.ar.al/@aral/117043586669877395). If anything, until this email, it made the organisation look better. Unless, of course, opposing certain genocides is something that damages reputations in Germany.
I do not agree with the public issue being closed either. An issue was reported and the response was not “oh, this is serious, we’ll look into it”. It was, rather, “you reported it wrong. Report the same thing at this other place instead.”
And that other place is an entirely opaque internal system where no one gets to see what decision-making process is employed.
This is not the transparency that should exist in a member-run organisation.
So at the end of the day, I am the one being threatened with being removed from membership while the person who is actively trying to harm genocide victims (https://codeberg.org/Linux-Is-Best/) is still welcome on Codeberg?
This is a very insidious form of bothsidesism and, I can only imagine, is to ensure that I keep quiet in the future and to create a chilling effect where we cannot discuss certain things publicly for fear of reprisals.
Well, that won’t be happening.
I am sick and tired of people who cannot provide a proportional response when we asked to choose between people harming genocide victims on the one hand and those trying to protect them on the other.
If this means I cannot be a member of Codeberg, so be it.
Let me know if I’m not welcome there and I will leave.
And you can show the world that Linux-Is-Best is welcome and I am not. If that’s who you are.
#codeberg #israel #germany #zionism #genocide #ethnicCleansing #apartheid #settlerColonialism #fediverse #mastodon #transparency #ethics #morals
@aral @Codeberg @dpk I'm sorry, but this is just stupid. First of all, I don't see how Codeberg's reputation was damaged in any way whatsoever. Secondly, if the main point is to get @aral to direct complaints to the "proper channels" the smart thing would just have been to send something along the lines of "Thanks for bringing light to this. However, we hope you'll consider using our internal channels for moderation if it should happen again, and give us a chance to solve any further issues that way first, before starting a public issue. That way we have a better chance to get the people dedicated to moderation to see it straight away and act quickly. Thank you."
Instead you just made yourself look butthurt and vindictive, and in the process you endangered your own reputation more than @aral ever did.
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@aral By the way, if you do want to leave the membership of Codeberg e.V., the place to do that is not here, but in a clear, unambiguous email to codeberg@codeberg.org.
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@aral You’ve said in multiple toots now you want to leave, but a toot posted into the ether is not a legally valid declaration of resignation
I know everyone is busy, but I'm reaching out because my family still needs support. If you're able to donate or even share my campaign, it would make a huge difference for us. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for standing with us. 
