People have rallied to help Australian academic and Muslim Susan Carland after she spoke out about her unusual method for handling Twitter trolls.
On Oct. 22, Carland declared she would donate one Australia dollar for each hate tweet that she received. Now, others are joining her campaign.
Speaking to Mashable via email on Friday, Carland says she's been delighted by the unexpected response.
"A number of people have tweeted me or posted on my Instagram that they are 'sponsoring' the next 50 or 100 hateful tweets, so I don't have to pay for them -- which is very kind of them, as I was starting to wonder if I would need to put a cap on my donations!" she said.
"One man even emailed me and said he was a secular Jew and had just donated A$500 to children in Gaza because he was inspired by what I was trying to achieve."
Before her initiative came to the public's attention, Carland estimates she had donated "around $1,005." Since gaining global attention, the trolls have hit harder which is no doubt costing more money.
"Interestingly, I've gotten a few unpleasant emails, which makes me wonder if they warrant more than $1, since they are more than 140 characters," she said.
Some of the messages are just plain awful and include disturbing imagery. "One particularly charming man has also been tweeting photos of corpses all morning, so I wonder if they warrant more than $1 each too."
Thankyou for kindness, everyone (& shout out to haters who still can't help themselves ).Overwhelmed by tweets.Donate to @unicefaustralia !— Susan Carland (@SusanCarland) November 12, 2015
By speaking out, Carland has accidentally started somewhat of a movement with her unique take on handling one of the worst problems on the Internet. "I really wasn't trying to start a movement or a campaign -- I was honestly just trying to live what I believed ... and it went from there," she said.
It's a belief that has certainly inspired plenty of others, it seems.