What to do about entitled Facebook group members

I posted last week about the recent oppressive heat affecting attitudes in my Facebook groups. Last week’s post was courtesy of a hostile member.

This week, I’d like to talk about entitlement. This often goes hand-in-hand with hostility.

Take this post, for example, where Pete feels super entitled to an admin (me) explaining how the group is run:

Let me explain some background on how I run my monetized Facebook group

1. I don’t allow people to advertise their businesses for free in my group.

2. When a member asks for recommendations for a specific business, I don’t allow the business to recommend itself. 

This is a way around the advertising rule, plus, I found that there were several businesses whose only purpose to being in the group was to comment on every single post that might apply to that business. This is not an example of a valuable group member.

I do allow a workaround: the business can respond with “DMing you” and send a private message. There are plenty of businesses who do this successfully – and by that I mean, they avoid any paid advertising and still get clients.

Both #1 and #2 are very clearly stated in my rules, which members also agree to when joining the group.

Enter entitled group member

What really kills me here is Pete’s entitled demand: “administration explain that.”

Why does Pete think he’s entitled to an explanation? 

Does Pete walk into Home Depot and demand that management explain why he has to pay for a new toilet seat?

When Pete gets an electricity bill, does he demand that the company explain why they charge for his electricity?

Also, if Pete had half a brain, he’d either READ the reason why his comment was removed – or – he could check on the rules that are pinned to the top of the group, those rules he agreed to when he joined, where it explicitly says, literally in two different ways, that he’s not allowed to recommend his own business.

No further explanation is needed, nor does Pete get to demand one.

I’ve never experienced so much entitlement as there is in the land of monetized Facebook groups.

I can’t imagine going into a business, really liking what that business is doing, and then demand I get to enjoy it for free, while ALSO feeling entitled to an explanation of their business model.

Pound sand, Pete.

I know this sounds like a rant, and maybe it is, to an extent.

But the reason I’m sharing this with you today is to let you know that it is absolutely OK to not change your business model or rules because of group members’ complaints.

They like what you’re doing. They want a piece of it. And it’s okay for them to pay for that piece.