Help! My Facebook group members are harassing me! What do I do?
Most of the time my group members are pretty awesome.
However… occasionally, they will call me their favorite psychopath dictator… or accuse me of censorship, of being on a power trip, or of just being “in it for the money,” etc.
In the early days of the group, I engaged with them.
See, I really wanted people to like me.
And I would show them just how likable I am – or how right I am if we could just “talk it out” – and I could prove to them what a good person I am – or explain my reasons for admin’ing the group the way I do…
This did not work out so well.
You see, they had already decided they didn’t like me and no amount of back and forth would change that. Back then, Facebook groups also had fewer tools – we couldn’t close comments on a thread. We couldn’t mute members. We couldn’t delete a comment and select the rule it broke, etc.
Plus, it was really upsetting to have these conversations! It ruined many an evening with my family because I would get so upset. My heart would literally pound.
As I moved along my admin path, my skin got thicker (a LOT thicker), and I realized that how I ran my group wasn’t for everyone. And as such, if they didn’t like it – and if they decided to slam me right in my own group – they were out.
It is helpful to me to think of my group in this way: as a private living room.
Would I allow people to call me names in my own living room? Nope.
So now, here is how it goes – if a person decides to talk smack about the group or me personally, they’re out.
No warning.
Instant ban.
And I don’t feel bad about it any more. My rules and my group description make the purpose of the group perfectly well known.
TIP: Also ban that person’s personal profile/from private messages if you want to ensure the harassment doesn’t extend further. These types of people get bored easily and likely won’t attempt to contact you when you both ban from the group and from your personal profile.
The good news is, this doesn’t happen very often and I think part of the reason for this is I have an admin reputation for zero tolerance for any sort of harassment, and that includes both my members and me personally.
What about you?
Do you ban members? Why or why not? Share your experience in the comments!
