Retweeting Big Asks

last updated 2/9/2021 @ 03:15 MST
~700 words, 6 minutes reading time. 3 hours for Mari to write:

TL;DR Due to scammers ruining things I will not retweet, share, or donate to anyone I am not a mutual with or whom is not recommended to me by a trusted mutual or close friend.

What I’m going to say might seem harsh, but it’s meant as gentle as I can make text. It’s related in part to Twitter’s algorithm, & me. I’m disabled, diabetic, and legally blind so my brain is still trying to get used to mobile-vs-web-vs-glasses. 

Please keep in mind I won’t (re)post every tweet where folks ask for ____thing.

But if you’re going to ask me to RT or boost your tweet or GFMe, asking over Direct Message is better.
Keep the following in mind when you DM me:

QUALIFICATIONS:

You need to be a trusted mutual, not just a follower. Failing this you MUST have someone I trust, IE a trusted mutual of mine or offline friend of mine, whom I’ve interacted with and who is willing to explicitly recommend you via DM. As of this writing I’ve had 18 robo-requests from accounts that either steal pictures or use fake ones from GAN systems. And while I’m not against not having a created avatar, if a basic twitter search of all your tweets reveals you are just asking others from money, please forgive me, I don’t have the ability to differentiate you from a scammer.

if you meet those requirements, great!

Please focus on what you want to say in a public, permanent forum, (The Internet, specifically Social Media) and gather up the most essential things you NEED and focus on those. 

Because of the algorithm I lose followers if I retweet “please help me get a Hermès Vertige Ring, and a new sports car! ” or “I need a new gaming console!” and I HEMORRHAGE followers if I tweet things like this example: “rt please cause James NEEDS a pizza party with his bros!” etc. 

Plus there are mutuals of mine out there who are just terrified of asking for help facing eviction or starving for the third day or bleeding…etc.

If I boost stuff that is incomplete, wrong or isn’t essential needs, I lose a nontrivial number of followers & reach) almost right away. (I use Twitter’s free analytics to track some of this.)

WHY MUST I SET THIS BARRIER?

People have to trust that when I boost people on their behalf, that A: I know them, B: that I know their situation, & C: I would donate (or go help them move if I am physically able.)

Correcting bad info is ON ME, & AS I CAN, but it makes it harder for folks to trust me if I have to redact stuff because my due diligence wasn’t done.

At my peak I had 18000 followers, I have just just over half that now. In 2017 I had maybe 150 @Patreon (think NPR radio donors) patrons that kept my child fed with a roof over their head. I had 300 patrons during my move in 2019. As of 2021 I have ~310. That’s my sole income at the moment. It’s about $10,800 short of what I need per year to meet basic needs and not fall into cascading debt from medical issues.

I tweet lighthearted material that SOMETIMES dovetails into HEAVY, serious stuff later on, but (as I'm relearning,) the worst part about being disabled/broke on the internet is that when you need help/cash most the only one who can best advocate for you is YOU. Not Mr Pulte, not Angelina Jolie, not even B̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶b̶l̶e̶e̶p̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶G̶a̶t̶e̶s̶ Jeff Bezos.  

Look, I’m sorry I had to say this, & I wish it weren’t this way, but I’m not a huge corporation or even a tiny nonprofit fundraiser. I’m just a very disabled poor person with 3.5 others to feed/house, a lack of my own meds/treatment that keep me physically healthy and not mentally ill, & definitely no gift cards for my ER visit bills. I do want to save everyone. (Even Trump-leaning Indigenous distant cousins…) I want to retweet everyone’s big asks. But sometimes I can’t get even out of bed without significant new injuries & agonizing pain. So help me help you, ok? Ok, that’s enough jibber-jabber! Thank you for reading this.