How and why to end a conversation in your Facebook group
Have you ever had a thread in your group go completely off the rails?
Maybe it started out fine, but somebody got triggered, and a vicious social media battle ensued?
Or maybe it’s a trigger topic and as soon as you saw the post, you heaved a big, loud sigh, knowing the usual suspects would predictably pile on?
Next, come the reported posts and private messages… the people who report comments simply because they don’t agree with them are my favorite.
And, of course, just when the post’s comments finally die down a bit, bam! Somebody else comments and it starts all over again.
Did you know you can turn comments off and put an end to the conversation?
Sometimes, doing this can lead to you lovingly being referred to as a tyrant, a Nazi, or squelcher of free speech (and, to clarify, nobody is entitled to free speech on a private platform like Facebook), so it may not be worth it.
But if you’re getting notification after notification of the post being reported, and your private messages are overflowing, it might be time.
Quick checklist for why you’d want to turn commenting off – if one or more of these things is taken place, it might be time:
- A group rule or rules have been broken
- Threats have been made (in this case, you may want to delete)
- People are being overwhelmingly unkind to one another
- Nothing productive is happening from further comments
Using something funny like a meme, and maybe also reminding people of the rules, can help take the sting out of shutting down comments.
How to turn comments off:
- Navigate to the offending post.
- Click the three dots in the upper right hand corner.
- Scroll down to turn off commenting.
Here are some fun memes. Feel free to steal one or all:
What do you do when conversations go south in your group?
Please leave us your advice in the comments!
