The main reason I joined Facebook was to interact with others who shared my vocation and avocation, Electronics. It’s been a part of my life since I was very young. More than five years ago I joined several FB groups dealing with Electronics. During those years I have been banned from several groups not because I knowingly did something wrong, and in most cases I was banned because the admins violated their responsibilities to members.
.From Usenet Newsgroups To Facebook Groups
I was a user of Usenet newsgroups from 1993, for more than a decade. Most Usenet newsgroups were unmoderated and often they were not user friendly because there were users who were called Trolls who got into arguments with others and no one could stop the trolls. After a few years the spammers flooded email and Usenet with spam, making it difficult to use. So when I found that Facebook had groups that were moderated I was very glad. But I didn’t know that group admins would be so harsh and irresponsible with members.
I fully understand that the admin has to do many things which can be time consuming and which are like chores: they are not something an admin wants to do. These responsibilities are necessary for the group to function. The virtual world is like the Real World — there are things that have to be maintained to keep it functioning. So I sympathize with admins when it comes to dealing with problem members. For instance the spammers and scammers should be dealt with by banning them without warning. The responsibilities I propose may add more work for the admins, but these responsibilities and their group work can be lessened by changes to Facebook and the apps.
.Banned For Blocking a Whiner
In one case I was banned because I posted a legitimate, standard answer to a simple question, and another member claimed I was wrong. I explained why I was not wrong and he accused me of lying. I blocked him, and he complained to the admin that I blocked him. The admin suspended me and messaged me that I had to apologize to the whiner to get the suspension lifted. My feeling is that members were given the block tool to use as they see fit without interference from the admin. I told the admin I would apologize and as soon as my suspension was lifted, I left the group, and never returned. The reason why I left wasn’t because of the whiner, it was because the admin violated his responsibility to never interfere with member’s rights.
From my experience the group admin typically acts as Judge, Jury and Executioner. The member is not allowed any rights in the admin’s group and is usually banned with *no* explanation of what he did wrong, and is usually given no warning. The admin typically has some rules but the rules are often vague and/or capricious. Some rules are onerous and go against the whole concept of the World Wide Web, which is being able to hot link to another URL to get further information.
I found a simple set of rules for group members to follow.
End of this blog post.
