It is imperative that ACCURATE and verified information gets out from Iran. You can help by doing the following:
DO NOT RT (retweet) ANYTHING to do with any of the Iranian Tweets, and especially DO NOT mention any of the trusted names/sources.
Do not tweet anything that is not VERIFIED by one of the trusted sources.
There are now trusted sources in Iran and trusted people on the outside who are working tirelessly to assist those sources and to verify links and information.
FOLLOW ONLY TRUSTED SOURCES
There are many government agents now on Twitter. At first their posts seem credible, but in reality, they want you to follow them, and once they have a decent following, they'll start spreading lies and pro-Ahmadinejad propaganda.
DON'T USE A TWITTER STREAM FROM #iranelection OR #gr88
Use any twitter client where you can set only those you follow, or where you can enter multiple searches for those user names you want to follow. That way you can avoid the hundreds of people who are posting in the Iran related hashes (#) just for the hell of it, for nefarious purposes, or simply posting and reposting misinformation.
KEEP LOOKING AT
THIS PAGE
This page lists known and suspected fake Twitter IDs, who are posting on the vital hashes (#iranelection, #gr88). To avoid huge streams of misinformation, just follow trusted sources. These are people well known to those who've been on twitter since the beginning of the Iran Election. We can no longer tell you who they are for security reasons.
If you know who the trusted sources are, DO NOT advertise it in any Twitter message, or anywhere else.
WHAT CAN BE BLOCKED FROM TWITTER
While Twitter itself and most other sites are blocked from Iran, some very clever and resourceful people in Iran know how to get around it. Once they're around the blocks, EVERYTHING on Twitter is available to them. Hashes can't be blocked. User names can't be blocked.
CHANGE YOUR LOCATION in Twitter and DON'T ADVERTISE IT!
Most people on Twitter now know to change their location to Tehran, Iran with the Tehran time-zone, but PLEASE DON'T ADVERTISE IT.
Anyone looking for fake geolocations can easily go back through your posts and see, "I'm now posting from Iran", or "I've now changed my location". It's total stupidity to advertise - you're just making it known that you changed your location, curtailing the government's search so they can quickly eliminate you from the real posters in Iran.
USE COMMON SENSE, KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT
Many of the people following the Twitters from Iran, are not Iranian.
Please don't assume anything about what they really want for THEIR regime.
You may think that total democracy as in the USA is desirable, for them, but don't assume you know what they want. Derogatory comments about Islam or about any other deeply-rooted religious and/or cultural practices in Iran only serves to fuel the anti-USA and other anti-Western World sentiment that is drummed into them.
If you want to know more about Iranian culture, there are plenty of places on the Internet you can learn. The Iranian people are good, kind, generous and loving people with a very long history. They generally do not reflect their government's views. Having said that, don't assume they all want the moral freedoms we have. Some do, some don't. Even in a totally free and democratic Iran, you will still see some people in veils who are deeply religious, just like you'll see people f all religious persuasions in the west.
Any rude comments about Islam or about Iranian culture will only fuel the government's anti-western sentiment and will insult those people in Iran who who have beliefs other than yours. Not all in Iran are religious, but please respect those who are.
Don't forget that the basis of the current problem revolves around the election and the cheating that took place. That is the primary issue and remains so.
The goal of the protesters is to have a fair election. They didn't get that. Anything else you think they want, can be a false assumption on your part. Like anywhere in the world, in Iran there are opposing views of cultural and religious practices.
Don't assume that government agents will or won't do something. They can be brutal. If you think that they won't do something based on common sense human rights violations, think again. Remember, they've had 30 years of an oppressive regime - time enough for young children to be brainwashed, time enough for some people to submit to the government's will and promote it.
Please use common sense and don't assume anything unless you really know better!
Most of all, think twice before you post ANYTHING that you think is fact to any of the Iran Election twitter hashes, or to any part of Twitter for that matter. You may well be putting someone else life in danger.
