I don’t care!
That was the response from the Administrator of a Facebook forum I enjoy. But, I’m not enjoying it much now. I posted a message the Admin disagreed with. He deleted it.
It’s what Admins have to do. I’ve managed multiple Facebook groups over the years. I’ve deleted messages. Mostly it’s when SPAM or Porn finds its way into the forum. Personal attacks are also subject to deletion. Also, posts that are not relevant to the forum are deleted.
My post was not deleted for any of these reasons. It was deleted because it was a duplicate.
It wasn’t, of course. My post was unique, but the Admin decided it was too similar to existing posts.
So far, so good. But, it was what happened after. Let’s just say he didn’t take kindly to my objections. More posts got written and then deleted.
And then a long DM conversation happened. The result being that the Admins all posted an update to the rules in the forum. For my part, I took a self-imposed two day time-out.
When I came back, I asked questions asking for clarification on the new posting. They were also deleted.
There are a group of Admins. Two of them were offended by my questions and posts. The third agreed with me, but couldn’t out vote the other two.
He offered me the name of the group founder if I wanted to escalate.
But, please don’t cause a public fight
My friend was responsible for keeping peace in the forum. If I started a public fight, it would make his life hard. And, we both knew how it would end. My posts would be quickly deleted and eventually, I would be banned.
But, I wasn’t worried about that. I wasn’t intending to start a fight. In fact, I wasn’t even planning to follow up with any of the Admins via DM to “discuss the issue with them privately.”
Why would I? The natural tendency when you are challenged is to want to fight back. We feel offended at perceived injustice. Why would I not want to fight back?
Because of the meme that says,
This is Rodney.
Rodney sees something he disagrees with on the internet.
Rodney ignores it.
Be like Rodney
Are they wrong? Yes.
Are they being counter productive? Absolutely.
Is anything I say going to change their mind? Not a chance.
I’ve often wondered what I would do if I were in a truly hopeless situation that I had time to contemplate. If I were on the Titanic what would I do? If I were sentenced to die,, how would I approach it?
I like to think I would approach my untimely end stoically. I’ve always enjoyed the ending of the movie Breaker Morant. Harry Morant tells his executioners,
Shoot straight, you bastards. Don’t make a mess of it!
When there is nothing to gain, stop fighting. The Admins hold all the power. They appear not the least interested in sharing any of that power. And they don’t have to.
I still find value in the forum. I enjoy the people. I’ll continue to visit and even participate.
But, I will not be fighting city hall. And don’t want to.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
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