Hello users of hexbear:
Due to recent meta posts in our mutual aid community we wanted to open up discussion about the community !mutual_aid@hexbear.net
We will never require explanation or justification from a user asking for aid in the community, and the mod and admin team continue to commit to not featuring an individual’s mutual aid request to prevent unfair exposure.
In addition, we will maintain a strict “No critical comments or meta comments” on a mutual aid post.
This post is to discuss the mutual aid community’s rule of allowing meta posts: mutual aid as a community, those making posts in it and those commenting on posts.
We are considering removing the exception allowing meta posts but wanted to involve the userbase before committing to a change.
Please comment with any thoughts, feelings, or suggestions regarding this change.
Thank you
I think the non-monetary aspect of “mutual aid” could be focused on better in this community, instead of “aid” just being solely monetary donations, we could organise groups and discussions devoted to keeping each other honest with finances, and helping each other budget, find potential sources of income, things like that. Have it work like an actual mutual aid org instead of just a donation bucket. Maybe have a monthly/weekly discussion topic about financial issues and ways to deal with them, or more emphasis on mentorships and accountability, if people have trouble organising their finances and would like someone to help keep them on track for their longer term goals.
This isn’t unique to this mutual aid comm, I’ve seen way too many people spiral despite getting financial aid, because they don’t have the emotional support network they actually need to push past their current issues. I don’t think we can do things on the same level as an IRL organisation, but a little bit of help beyond just financial aid, might end up going a long way, both for the health of the comm and the people in it.
At the same time, I do recognise that being too open about locations and events is bad opsec, and I’m honestly not really sure how to square that circle.
I feel caught in this tension of paternalism vs being solution oriented, you know? I don’t want to be lecturing on what a person needs to do or feel the money has strings… but also if a person is requesting the amount they are as frequently as they are - they are in a real crisis, crisis even a sudden infusion of quite substantial semi-anonymous cash (as much as hexbear could donate) won’t fix because some of what’s keeping them down is systemic society level issues and maybe more intractable personal health issues like mental health or chronic medical health. I could care less if they wanna service an addiction or buy ubereats (I waste plenty of money on both), that’s their perogative - but I do hope there’s some forward momentum and, really, a spot of cash here or there is probably not gonna be that. What I would hope for is they stabilize out of a crisis and hook into their local scene not just for aid coming to them but ways they can assist others as well but I feel so trapped by a sense that this is a paternalistic or whatever attitude!! Ugh