u/LawyerEnjoyer

I tried to post this in girldinnerdiaries, because I'm seeing this behaviour more there, but boys aren't allowed to post, so I'm posting here instead.

PSA: stop giving money or buying gifts for OPs on this sub

This will get removed but in the meantime, hopefully it will reach some people.

Reddit is inundated with bots and fake accounts. So many of the sob stories posted on this sub aren't real - perhaps they're AI generated to farm engagement or just good ol' lies posted by attention seekers. That's fine if you just want to consume content - it's relatively harmless.

But I've seen too many posts with stories about being broke, being scammed, not being able to afford rent because OP's horrific ex, father, brother, mother etc etc did something to them. Then, boom, an Amazon wishlist is shared, or people start commenting about how they want to make donations to OP to help them get back on their feet. Suddenly, this turns from emotional solidarity (which costs nothing) to financial solidarity.

There was a story this week about this brave, inspirational woman who had been abandoned by her cartoonishly evil, horrible husband and she was left alone with her 18 month old daughter (an only child). A comment asked how they could help (I suspect an alt account), and instantly a wishlist was shared on Amazon, and suddenly lots of commentors (either real people or other alts designed to legitimise this exchange) are buying things off the list. Except, two days prior, the account had posted about their 5 year old son.

People - these stories are for entertainment (if fake) and emotional support (if real). Please do not financially reward posts. Doing so encourages scammers and you're sending money into the void. Chances are, you're not helping someone in need; you're benefiting a low life willing to emotionally manipulate people for profit.

Dinner: homemade shakshouka. Fucking delicious.