Is it okay to beg for money on Mastodon?
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Is it okay to beg for money on Mastodon?
Every week I see accounts asking for money, often tagging me or others directly.
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 my question is, should Mastodon servers have a policy about begging, and if so, what should the policy be?
@randahl I just block and report them.
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Is it okay to beg for money on Mastodon?
Every week I see accounts asking for money, often tagging me or others directly.
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 my question is, should Mastodon servers have a policy about begging, and if so, what should the policy be?
@randahl These accounts are practically all on "mastodon.social" and this monster instance don't have any functioning moderation, so reporting them will not help. The only option is to block them. -
Is it okay to beg for money on Mastodon?
Every week I see accounts asking for money, often tagging me or others directly.
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 my question is, should Mastodon servers have a policy about begging, and if so, what should the policy be?
@randahl the Fediverse’s #MutualAid network is one of the strongest ones I have ever seen, and it is something to be proud about, not concerned about. remember that not everyone is a (probably quite rich) political journalist like you. there are programs like @aral’s Gaza Verified to ensure the people asking for this stuff are reputable. how about you sit this one out, my guy.
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@leeloo if you read the last line again, you will see I am talking about individual servers.
@randahl
My point is that you're talking about one policy. The idea is that there will be as many policies as there are servers. -
@randahl It’s strange that they’re tagging you directly, though. I think that’s way too much pressure.
The messages that I've seen direct-messaging someone or replying to an un-related post were clearly spam.
If you start the 'report and block' process on a message, the software (on my server anyway) shows the account's other recent posts, and asks if they illustrate a pattern of spam. Usually all the account posts is begging messages, across every server it can reach.
If it's not a person you've known for some time, block and optionally report; assume they're scammers.
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Is it okay to beg for money on Mastodon?
Every week I see accounts asking for money, often tagging me or others directly.
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 my question is, should Mastodon servers have a policy about begging, and if so, what should the policy be?
@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.
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Is it okay to beg for money on Mastodon?
Every week I see accounts asking for money, often tagging me or others directly.
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 my question is, should Mastodon servers have a policy about begging, and if so, what should the policy be?
@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.
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Is it okay to beg for money on Mastodon?
Every week I see accounts asking for money, often tagging me or others directly.
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 my question is, should Mastodon servers have a policy about begging, and if so, what should the policy be?
@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
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@randahl
My point is that you're talking about one policy. The idea is that there will be as many policies as there are servers.@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.
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Is it okay to beg for money on Mastodon?
Every week I see accounts asking for money, often tagging me or others directly.
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 my question is, should Mastodon servers have a policy about begging, and if so, what should the policy be?
@randahl in timeline post or DM?
DM = scam - they focus on specific account to land the gullible that will pay
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Is it okay to beg for money on Mastodon?
Every week I see accounts asking for money, often tagging me or others directly.
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 my question is, should Mastodon servers have a policy about begging, and if so, what should the policy be?
@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.
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Is it okay to beg for money on Mastodon?
Every week I see accounts asking for money, often tagging me or others directly.
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 my question is, should Mastodon servers have a policy about begging, and if so, what should the policy be?
@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.
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Is it okay to beg for money on Mastodon?
Every week I see accounts asking for money, often tagging me or others directly.
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 my question is, should Mastodon servers have a policy about begging, and if so, what should the policy be?
@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 ... -
@randahl I agree that a policy is needed because I get the same thing and I suspect scams are part of this
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.
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@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.
@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
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Is it okay to beg for money on Mastodon?
Every week I see accounts asking for money, often tagging me or others directly.
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 my question is, should Mastodon servers have a policy about begging, and if so, what should the policy be?
@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.
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@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.
@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.
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J jwcph@helvede.net shared this topic
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Is it okay to beg for money on Mastodon?
Every week I see accounts asking for money, often tagging me or others directly.
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 my question is, should Mastodon servers have a policy about begging, and if so, what should the policy be?
@randahl@mastodon.social I block, but don't report.
It's impossible to know which, if any, are genuine. -
@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.
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Is it okay to beg for money on Mastodon?
Every week I see accounts asking for money, often tagging me or others directly.
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 my question is, should Mastodon servers have a policy about begging, and if so, what should the policy be?
@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.
