I don't have much more to say that hasn't been said before about the whole situation w/ tumblr implying that users should assume anyone from the global south with a fundraiser is a scammer.
But I will say, after having staff in my DMs talking down to me about scammers and now this? This whole situation isn't coming as a complete shock. I was reached out to by staff prior to this happening (like earlier this year), and was sent a list of the same "signs of scammers" that zionists were weaponizing against us (and still are, I suppose).
They couldn't provide me with any solid proofs of people being scammers beyond weak arguments and the classic "just trust me, bro" They did not want to listen to or take in my perspective, which is built on my lived experience as a Palestinian, knowing Palestinian culture, knowing how we talk and our attitudes and how to communicate. And they insisted that they were right and I was wrong. They dismissed any clarification I gave on the vetting process and how Gazans on tumblr operate. They dismissed when I pointed out the flaws I saw in their own methods.
And I didn't press the issue at the time, just said that I'd be careful and moved on. My friends and I kept brainstorming to take more measures to make sure we were even more strict and even more careful that every single person we add to our list is legit.
(side note: they proved they were staff by answering a months old ticket where I'd reported blog #398534394 by that ox/ford comma loser, as if he hasn't remade another billion times since then. And I know this post is about something else, but WILD that this dude's been allowed to harass Palestinians on this site for YEARS and staff does nothing about him)
Anyway this is staff, yet again, thinking they know better than Palestinians, speaking down to us, acting like we don't know what we're doing or what we're talking about.
I was told that if I wanted to check on blogs, I could just submit a ticket and send it to staff and they could run a check to see if it's legitimate, and honestly? With staff's track record of deleting Palestinians on this site? People like Mohd Ayesh who has time after time proven he is a real genuine Gazan. This man was trekking through a war zone, putting himself though intense stress to do this for YOUR benefit. So you can have peace of mind knowing that you're donating to real legitimate people. And tumblr staff seemed to be certain enough he's a scammer apparently to delete his blog every single time he remade it.
There is no way I can trust tumblr staff to tell whether or not someone is a scammer, not back then, and certainly not now.
