Tinu's Social Media Policy

Three main rules; 1- Do not tag/DM me on any social media platform for help. 2- Caption your videos, alt text your graphics. 3- Do not ask me for ANY additional labor than agreed.

Before I finish telling you these rules, let me tell you why they came to be.

I'm from the old school of the internet. The way you probably know me, might be from disability advocacy.

But other people know me from

• search engine marketing,
• corpoorate speaking engagements
  --at companies like Verizon or Network Solutions,
• internet marketing,
• business blogging,
• reputation management,
• consulting with PR or creative agencies,
• times I've appeared in national or international media
• start-up advisory
• activism,
• Black womanism,
• poetry or
• my social media maven days.

I get around, from being around since before the world wide web had pictures - true story. I'm one person so I refuse to split my social into many identities.

There's a history behind the way I move, a time in social media when many of us subscribed to a transparency philosophy - i.e. be who you are everywhere, because very soon there isn't going to be social online and social offline, just social.

Anyway, depending on how the news cycle is going, maybe there's ten people talking to me in private messages, maybe there's 2000.

No I'm not exaggerating. I have gotten 2000 pieces of relevant non-spam private messages in one day.

This has led to problems with people doing THEE most when trying to get help from me.

In response I have established additional boundaries.

They are non-negotiable. If you don't like them you can you can always get help from someone else.

First, I no longer take requests one at a time.

Instead, I have established instead a periodic thread on Twitter where you can leave me a reply. There you can ask me for shares or any other type of mutual aid. (To be replicated on other platforms once the newsletter launches.)

How to Find the Most Recent Mutual Aid Thread

You can follow this link to take you to the most recent one:

https://twitter.com/search?q=%23MuTualAidThread%20from%3Atinu&src=typed_query&f=live

(Yes, it's the same link as the one above and that is the level of beginner some people are so please just let the repetition slide please LOL. You can skip to the next section if you get it!)

If you would rather do it manually, search on twitter for the hashtag #MutualAidThread. You will find, like always, that when hashtags for a specific purpose other people jump on the bandwagon, not realizing that if they don't do all the work, they won't get the same views.

So don't be discouraged by that. At the end of the search add

from:tinu

- you'll then see only posts I created.

Now that views and posts themselves are public on Twitter you can look for yourself how the more people follow my advice in my free crowdfunding book, the more they are able to get views on their fundraisers, whether or not I share their link, but even better when I can lend them momentum.

Second, I no longer answer DMs from people who are not my friends outside Twitter.

Just. No. If we're truly friends outside Twitter, maybe we hang out in Chronic Loaf, you have my direct cell (not my public work cell 702.508.8468), we kicked it IRL once, we talk on the phone, etc.

That doesn't mean I don't love my Twitter-only friends. It's just there are 52K+ of you just on Twitter, and just the one of me.

Also a lot of you keep writing me about things I have clearly stated I don't do. I'm not going to 80 people's pinned tweets. And it's not fair to do just yours. Don't ask me.

I'm broke. Sending me money requests tells me you're a scammer and a spammer because why would I have money and have fundraisers? So you did no research. And I hate that.

Third, if you want more special treatment than that, Patreon members above $10 can ask me to boost any fundraising link any day through that app.

Why all the rules?

Well who is going to value my time if I don't. Just because I love helping people doesn't mean I am a community slave. I help when I can, how I can, as I can.

Plus, I am fatigued. I have cancer. I have brain fog. I have fibromyalgia. I have Long COVID. AND ten other major disabling chronic illnesses and conditions that are frankly none of anyone's business until I want them to be.

Frequently I have urgent health care matters where I can't meet or talk on the phone or use the internet without a screen reader. I'm not trying to be mean. I'm trying to be efficient.

Sometimes I only have the strength to either retweet the 25 new submissions of the people who followed all my rules

OR

write yet another email, text, direct message, tweet or social media post BEGGING people to observe the full set of rules for our community mutual aid thread.

I can't both help people and keep reminding people how to act right.

And in the event that I can personally not retweet those people now, I can wait until I have the energy to queue all the organized request from one place into my six accounts, and help everyone a lot, instead of one person a litte.

But the main reason is

I said no. No is a complete sentence.

I really don't have to explain to anyone.

And if you don't understand why I don't want to spend twenty years building a reputation so strong that a former President, a former Mexican President, writers and editors from every major mainstream publication follow me?

Just so I can piss it all away on a sketchy person who just met me asking me for a favor in the middle of my conversation with someone else?

I'm not the person you need help from and that's really fine.

DOs and DON'Ts to Expedite my attention

DO: Share a Tweet via DM GROUP on Twitter

I will happily reshare a tweet. Again, I do not take requests to write threads or tweets for people. I am a member of several DM groups. Often a secret member under an alternate handle. I do as much as I can. If I'm aware of your need and didn't share it, the only reason is I couldn't.

If I can't then I can't. Harassing me will not change that. It will only guarantee that should I get an extra burst of energy it won't be spent on you. Because You'll be blocked. So I won't see you.

I also run several projects that have their own handles. So if you're lucky? You might get a LOT of retweets by making this easy for me. Again, your best best is the provided help thread mentioned previously.

DO NOT: TAG ME FOR BOOSTS

EVER. Period.

I allowed people do that in the past, and they abused me terribly. That's over. About three people are allowed to tag me to ask for anything and none of those things are labor.

And none of them are you. It is the number one reason I skip/mute/block people.

Again, I have brain fog and other cognitive/ neurodivergent/ other issues that cannot deal with being tagged thousands of times a week as a way to take in projects or information that needs to be acted upon.

Please don't. It will be the last tweet of yours that I see, whether that means muting your or blocking you.

DO: Nudge me gently a week later if you need more help.

I'll un-retweet and re-retweet your same tweet again after a week ONCE, in a monthly thread, daily in a week-long thread. To get that, just update in the old reply you put in the Mutual Aid Thread. After that post in the new thread.

No, I cannot do it more than that. Doing this has allowed me to meet my goal is to be able to help all people who ask for it, though not on the first day they ask.

For that I'll need to have at least one assistant to queue them up for me after I review. The faster I get to having most people comply with my guidelines, the more people I can help.

For example, when I first put these up I went to being able to help a max of 25 people a day to being able to help up to 75 people a day. Now I can help 200+ people a week.

DO NOT send me to your pinned OR expect/ask me to do any other additional labor in order to help you.

It bears repeating that I can't write your thread. Not for free. Because no matter how many times I say it, people STILL ask.

NO, I can't go get your tweet from where you pinned it on your profile.

Dozens of people ask me to do that per day. It adds up to time I could have been helping more people who could have taken five extra seconds to share a tweet with me.

So please, just cut and paste the link to the Mutual Aid Thread. If you're fatigued ask a friend to do it.

This goes for friends, acquaintances, princes, duchesses, strangers, colleagues, unicorns, everyone.

If I did labor for every person I could help, I could not help myself.

This includes making me have to say things I shouldn’t have to tell you, newbies, like not retweeting your email address and phone numbers. The size of my account draws scammers. I’ll draw more if I help them.

No. I'm not doing that. I will skip you so I can help more people get help.

DO: Check my pinned thread for recent updates

You want a favor that brands would pay me cash for? Then YOU do the labor.

You will get helped faster anyway. I sometimes cannot physically do the labor, it's not JUST a preference. Having to stop and tell you these rules or ask you if you read them is again taking up time I could be using to help someone or myself or sleep or work.

And my help works. That's why you want my help, right? You heard. But you want to now why it's working, after all these years and through every algorithm change?

Because I have proven to my community that they can trust me, and brought people who WANT to help people together with people the community can vouce for who NEED help.

And the more people need help, the more they are willing to do a few common sense things to have the most help.

Scammers are the ones who tend to protest that I have guidelines the most. But I don't owe anyone anything. I CHOOSE TO GIVE. It's not an obligation. For it to work, I must have boundaries.

How will you know if I can't do extra labor? You should really just assume that means always.

I am never not disabled.

I am never not chronically ill. But there are times when things are worse than usual, so it make take me longer to get back to you.

Normally you can tell, again, from my pinned tweet.

For example: if my pinned tweet is about fundraising for myself, I'm in a state bad enough where I can't help you. Weird that I have to state that, but apparently that's not obvious, despite the fact that crowdfunding for oneself is a full time job.

And I only fundraise for myself if I have no other options. I must be flaring or recently in the hospital or something has changed about my health or the cancer is back.

That limits my daily activities - and sadly that happens several times a year.

BUT. The Mutual Aid Thread is forever. It's for ANY request.

When in doubt, add the hashtag #MABCrowdfund and one of the volunteers will try to help you before I can if they are available. Please don't use the hashtag AND contact us another way.

It will just get your request stalled while four people check with each other to see who vetted the tweet. And then possibly never again, which is what happens when someone screws up our process.

Also I'm also struggling, just maybe less than you.

I'm not a damn bank. Being a verified user of several platforms does not give you an automatic revenue stream. The fact that I do things for other people is partly to show that if someone in my situation can do all these things, with no resources?

People with lots of resources can do ONE thing. The goal is one day to have hundreds of us all doing our small things working together in the same direction for the same thing.

I do not want unsolicited advice of any kind. If I wanted it I asked you a direct question, usually by text or email.

Even when I'm not broke, I have expensive medical needs, retired parents and kids to feed. Stop asking me for money.

So do not EVER send me a money request unless you get a text or phone number from my home number asking you for one.

Instant block.

If you need to contact me urgently, once again you may text me at 702.508.8468. I enjoy helping people when I can.

Most of 2024 I will be in cancer treatment.

If people keep violating my boundaries, one day you will come here and find that this page just says "no. I do not help people I don't know."

It's not as if it's a job I get paid for- respect my boundaries and let me enjoy bringing people who want to give directly together with people who need help.

At my worst i can help 200 people a month keep from slipping into or further into poverty. At my best it's up to 200 people a week.

If I was better, brands would (and have!) paid for my help spreading things on social, for speaking or writing, and other things that help me pay for more help to help others.

I choose to do this. It makes me happy especially when I'm sick and fills me with a sense of purpose. You can help by respecting my boundaries, and if you don't need help yourself, sharing the needs of these folks with your network.

IF this continues to work I will soon be able to show others how to duplicate my success.

And we can build nationwide, even international care communities as a layer of support while we fight to get proper accommodation from the government, and/or become self governing.

Updated August 2024