16 June 2023 – I treat social media like a library. I join the platforms to connect with others and see what is out there to learn about specific interests I have.
Let’s talk about one particularly large social media platform, “BookFace” {wink wink}. Officially launching as a platform in 2006, I joined in 2008. By July 2010, they had reached 500 million users. In October 2010, ‘groups’ were added. They were intended to allow users to focus their attention and interact with others who were like minded under the umbrella of said ‘group’.
Groups are like restaurants. If you go to a burger place you wouldn’t order seafood. If you did, you would get a strange look and perhaps be asked to leave. On that same note, consider groups like a specialty store. You wouldn’t walk into a shoe store and scream at the top of your lungs that you once owned a pair of high dollar boots unless you wanted to get strange looks and a lot of scoffs. I will go out on a limb here and say that if in fact my examples happened in real life, SOMEONE would be inclined to speak up and set the record straight.
OK. Well, maybe not since the world seems to be operating like ‘BookFace’ these days. How many times have you seen on there, ‘Comments have been disabled’, or ‘Anonymous’ user posts? How many of you know of someone who has been in ‘BookFace jail’? Face it folks…we are being silenced! It starts with something as trivial as a social media group then it bleeds into your own personal content when folks ‘report’ something they saw on your profile or feed. Half the time it isn’t someone in your circle, it’s someone who just happened to see something you posted elsewhere and ends up down the rabbit hole that lures them to your profile and they get offended. WHAT THE HELL?? I mean…my profile didn’t invite them in.
So, let us stay on topic here.
What I am trying to get at is this…I have joined social media to connect with like minded people that I may not otherwise meet in my small geographic area. It opens my world up. I join groups so that I can focus on specific interests and again, share that interest with a selected group of individuals that I may not engage with otherswise. I NEVER join a group, or groups, and barge in with an introductory post that is NOT on topic. I NEVER post anything to said group or groups that isn’t on topic. I NEVER post to a group, or groups, that I am unhappy and I am removing myself. IT DOES NOT MATTER! When I have gotten out of the group what I want, I tend to delete my content and then remove myself. They won’t even know I am gone. If I ‘met’ individuals within a group, I tend to add them to my social media in ways that allow me to connect with them outside of the group. I went into a group with one goal, research, learn, gather, meet and retreat. Lingering in a group, not contributing or interacting for too long, is called ‘trolling’ and if I feel like I am at that point, I just go.
The other day, I was cleaning up my groups on ‘BookFace’. I happened upon this group that I have been considering leaving as members had clearly gone off topic.
I was in a foul mood and one post that day just got under my skin. The individual posted this:
Now…me, being me, posted the first comment, “….and…? That means what to us?”
Needless to say, almost as quickly as I hit enter, I got a notice that I had been ‘silenced’ for 24 hours.
I wasn’t allowed to post or interact within the group for 24 hours. That is kinda cold! I mean, I wasn’t given an opportunity to speak up on my own behalf. This administrator of this group was judge and jury. Oh no…I hurt their precious feelings. They were hiding behind a damn keyboard and generic ‘admin’ warning.
Doing this DID make me angry and I wasn’t going to be nice when I got back in. The time came and about an hour after the ban, I logged in, deleted my content from the group and then searched for a way to contact the admin. By the way, it’s not easy as a user to contact the administrators of these groups. I also didn’t know which one had banned me. It took some digging but I figured out there were two. One had a profile picture of an individual on a Ryker.. not even a Spyder! I mean come on people…get it right! This group isn’t for Rykers, it says so in the name!
I used messenger and typed a message to the two administrators. I wish I had the opportunity to get a screen shot because once they answered me, they left the chat and booted me from the group and the messenger screen disappeared!! Essentially, I stated that I was not being rude because if I had I would have used all caps and some more adult language. I pointed out that citing me for not being ‘nice’ wasn’t nice the way they did it maybe someone should ban them for 24 hours. The response was, in a nutshell, I was rude to a new member and it’s not up for discussion. Then it all went away. I’m thankfull I had already packed up my contributions to the group and prepared to leave but DAMN!!! People are so damn petty and sensitive these days.
So, if you are a member of this group…you better be nice cos someone is watching you and judging you. You WILL be silenced!
To Mr. Ryker Admin – I am gonna pray for you…I will pray your tent leaks, your tires are flat and all of your clothes get scattered all over the interstate because you overpacked a RYKER!
CLIMB ABOARD MY SOAPBOX 