Okay, I am going to say it:

[juergen_hubert@mementomori.social]

Okay, I am going to say it:

Whether or not the people of #GazaVerified truly are who they say they are (and I am withholding judgement on that), quite a few are behaving in a manner that is indistinguishable from scammers.

There is the mass following of Fediverse users. If someone follows me, I assume that there is actual interest in what I have to say, not because they want money from me.

And first following me, then immediately sending me Direct Messages asking me for money is something I have otherwise only seen from scammers. This does not build trust in me.

Hence, I will use the block button more frequently in the future.

[cptbutton@dice.camp]

@juergen_hubert

Some people can follow me without a problem, some instead "Request to Follow", I suspect some local instance thing that flags some Follows as questionable & asks me to confirm or deny them. Sometimes the requests look legitimate and I grant them, other times they look spammy, either attractive women w/o much content (which makes me suspect they want me to subscribe to their naughty webcam) or like you describe, & both types are rejected.

[cptbutton@dice.camp]

@juergen_hubert

I've been on the other end of this, and requested to follow people. Not sure what my success rate is on that.

[juergen_hubert@mementomori.social]

@cptbutton

You have the advantage of sharing a wide range of things on your stream that makes it likely that you are a real person, and not just a scammer.

Also, I don't ever recall you asking Internet Strangers for money, which is another big hint.

[julian@activitypub.space]

Anyone can make a hashtag, and so anyone can co-opt a hashtag just as easily.