Dear @Codeberg,

[aral@mastodon.ar.al]

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

[olbird@mstdn.social]

@aral - Spammer isn't much better, not yet verified. What happened to you? For now i've to kick you out, sorry.

[aral@mastodon.ar.al]

@Olbird I’m sorry, I really don’t understand what you’re saying. Are you having a go at me?

[olbird@mstdn.social]

@aral - Noo, just don't like my timeline spammed, so i've to mute or kick, thats all. Good luck for you, seriously.

[olbird@mstdn.social]

@aral - typo, spammer not scammer, i'm sorry, fixed.

[gra3432@mastodon.world]

@aral @Olbird and... another one to block. One look at his account, oh, of course, German.

[aral@mastodon.ar.al]

It appears that Linux-Is-Best’s libellous blocklist of “Gaza Verified scam accounts” has been removed from Codeberg.

I appreciate your taking action @Codeberg; thank you.

#Gaza #GazaVerified #genocide #libel #LinuxIsBest #fediverse #mastodon #Codeberg

[rania@freesewing.social]

@aral @Codeberg
Thank you, Aral, for standing up for truth and for standing against those who target and defame families from Gaza. Your support and your voice mean a great deal to us during these difficult times. We truly appreciate your solidarity. 🤍

[aral@mastodon.ar.al]

@Rania @Codeberg

[_elena@mastodon.social]

@aral I had completely missed this and I’m so sorry Aral!

Glad that Codeberg took swift action.

I think it’s the same person who harassed me 2 years ago when I was taking too long to write an article about Sharkey and he made up crazy conspiracy theories about me

[michelpatrice@jasette.facil.services]

@_elena @aral

Des théories du complot à ton sujet?

Que tout ton activité en ligne n’est qu’un prétexte pour des placements de produits pour Lego?

[_elena@mastodon.social]

@MichelPatrice hahaha j’ai oublié les choses qu’il a dit - c’était vraiment lunaire

Mais oui peut-être je bosse pour LEGO pour faire de la pub cachée /s obvi

[aral@mastodon.ar.al]

@_elena Thanks so much, Elena.

And I’m so sorry he targeted you too. Unbelievable, really. What’s wrong with these people?

[aral@mastodon.ar.al]

@Codeberg I just received this email, titled “Your recent Mastodon post” from @dpk on behalf of the Codeberg “Presidium”:

***
Dear Aral Balkan

In 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

[adrian@mastodon.design]

@aral @Codeberg @dpk Whut? Are you not free to criticise the org if you are a member there? You didn't even slander them or anything, just pointed to the fact that they hosted this repo.

[mihamarkic@mastodon.social]

@adrian @aral @Codeberg @dpk Yeah, this is real weird response from codeberg. Not good.

[dpk@chaos.social]

@aral @Codeberg You were warned concerning your membership of the association, not your ability to use the site. Linux-is-Best is not a member of the association, they just have an account on the site. They were informed of the action we took in removing their content and the reason for it.

[dpk@chaos.social]

@aral @Codeberg We could not accept the situation where you claimed you had got the moderation team to remove content by public shaming, while as an association member you have other options to raise the issue within the membership, even besides the usual moderation report channels which are open to everyone (and which you cannot deny that you knew of, since you linked to an issue thread explicitly pointing to them). Unfortunately this lesson seems to be hard for you to learn.

[dpk@chaos.social]

@mathew @aral @Codeberg The imputation that we wilfully allow defamation and racism on the website is not public criticism, it is public bullying

[androcat@toot.cat]

@Codeberg @dpk

Your reputation is not harmed by someone talking about abuse.

Your reputation may be harmed by your response thereto, however.

We are not infants. We base our opinion of you on your actions. Not the fact that abusers exist.

Being an abuser is on the abuser.
What you do about abuse, that is on you.

And we want to respect you, so please do live up to the expectations.

@aral