AIBU to be annoyed by these people on my local Facebook page?

I’ve always wondered about those people who feel a need to repost about a dog that went missing 200 miles away 6 months ago. What are the chances that a) the dog is in the local area and b) that it’s still missing? Pretty low, I’d wager.

Trivial I know, but the people who put laughing emojis next to comments that in no way warrant it.

"Cat run over on the road going past the coop" (😆)

"Husband's van got broken into and tools stolen, anyone see anything suspicious?" (😆)

"Found an injured pigeon in back garden, what should I do?" Reply: "Pull its head off 😆"

These are all true examples.

Who are these psychopaths that think everything's funny?

(and no, they're not using the wrong emojis, they honestly think such things are hysterically funny)

@nomas @whatwaswrongwiththatusername
Are you in Bolton?

Another fave is the NAME AND SHAME posts about cars parked perfectly legally all taxed and MOTd because they've been parked near the house of poster for more than three days.

Weird. I haven’t been on my nextdoor for a little while but popped on there yday or the day before and there was also someone posting landscape paintings they’d done that day. So you either live in the same vicinity or this is common?

Oh god yes, and the people who post photos of dead cats or dying wildlife. Just give a description of the cat and then DM a photo if someone thinks it's theirs, we don't all need to see.

Or someone posts is Tesco open today (say boxing day). Someone replies yes open til 6 or whatever. Then 54 people write exactly the same under. Like the OP hasn't believed the previous 53 people 🤣

We very sadly had an actual double murder on our estate on Christmas day last year. The local FB page went into meltdown, first with all the "why are there so many police cars/ambulances?" posts, which admin very sensibly started locking because it was clear something very bad had happened, and speculation was not helping anyone. Then "why was my post closed/deleted? Omg freedom of speech!"

I know one of the admins in real life and he said there were loads of journos trying to get into the group, clearly trying to scrape some local info. Not something I'd want to deal with!

We do also get a lot of lost cats etc - this week someone posted my neighbour's cat sitting by my car, saying it looked lost. Nope, it's just chilling outside, its house is literally next door!

We get regular spates of anti-dog poo posts usually accompanied by lots of angry face reactions. These are usually answered by the virtue signallers who piously tell anyone who cares to listen that they always pick up after their dogs. Yes we know dear, you posted exactly the same yesterday - we all applaud your conscientiousness. The post that I do remember and still makes me chuckle when I remember it, was someone was complaining that the dog poo had ‘gone wild’ in the back alley near her house. I was imagining it having loud parties, smoking weed, drinking all day and giving the middle finger to anyone walking past 😂

I’ve unfollowed my local one now, but stayed in it so I can search for something if I need to. So many nutters and whiners in there. Also I got sick off seeing photos of dog poo - fine, it’s annoying and gross, so post about it if you must, but do we really need a visual?

Plus on every other post “set it to share hun!” You bloody can’t! How many more times?

Sounds a bit like Mumsnet AIBU tbh

Yep we have one and it’s a combination of helpful, an annoyance and hilarious.
What we tend to see is

• double standards/inconsistency in rules eg they stipulate no business posts yet some seem to get through, probably the family and friends of the moderators!
• if not a subject they are interested in or care about it either doesn’t get approved, or, believe it or not, it gets laughing emojis. They think it’s a running joke the number of people who complain about dog poo on their gardens despite the fact it’s a serious problem. They don’t take it seriously, so no one else should. People post hoping to get others to share their video doorbell footage, or even just to shame the potential culprits, but because the moderators just laugh others follow suit and no one cares.
• You get endless repetitions of the same answers to questions
• If someone posts about the same subject or asks the same question as someone else already did within five years, you’re told it’s already been asked and expected to trawl back through years of posts.
• it can take so long for posts to be approved that the post becomes pointless eg ‘ anyone know what’s happened to the 47 bus it’s not showed up’. Yeah it’s not much good to me if not approved for two days.

My parents live in a very small town (basically a village, but woe betide anyone who calls it that) and the local Facebook page is one of the funniest things I've ever seen. Some highlights...

• 'Fish & Chips & Psychic Night' advertised. Psychic hadn't asked the chippy if they could cater for 40 people at 8pm on a Friday (they could not). Event renamed 'Fish & Chips & Psychic Night (No Fish)'. Everyone cancels. Event renamed 'Fish & Chips & Psychic Night (Cancelled due to unforseen circumstances)' - Seriously.

• Poster claiming they had just heard two gunshots in the park and everyone should take shelter. Police called. Reply asking if it could have been their scooter backfiring. Original poster "Oh yeah probably".

• Someone selling a half-eaten takeaway.

• Curry delivered to wrong house. Family take it in and eat it. Curry house tells the family that ordered it who nicked their curry. Family names and shames "the scruffs at number 8" on FB. About eight people from both households engage in weekend-long war of words in the comments.

• Woman who posts multiple times per day, every day, asking for free stuff. An egg. De-icer. A shirt. A TV. Some paper. A lift into town. Never replies or messages anyone who responds.

Endless fun.

I live near Paphos in Cyprus, and the amount of (usually British) people who have lived here for years and STILL call it Pathos is unbelievable.

Local Facebook bingo (M32)

1. "What was that bang?"

1. "This cat won't leave my house" (simple solution, STOP FEEDING IT!)

1. "NE1 no the best kebab?"

Our local ones are full of:
*The Pride of Britain wannabes, who make out they love animals and care about the local old and homeless people.

• The wannabe flippers. Skanks asking for free stuff, then trying to sell it for a profit
• The boring and pretentious 'artistic' photography
• The snidey and unfunny 'I bet you're fun at parties' responses. They probably haven't been invited to a party since they were 10.

Also, I live in a coastal tourist town that hosts a 4 day airshow every summer. The local Facebookers either hate it or are devoted to it on a religious scale. Quite amusing, despite both sides having good points. And there's the sad cases who think they're witty by posting 'what time are the Red Arrows on?'.

Our village had two newbuild estates built in the past 5-10 years. Some people are still adamantly against them and moan on the Facebook groups about the “destruction of our village”. One was built on the site of an abbatoir, the other on a former trucking depot. Hardly destroying a serene peaceful countryside village.

Fair enough to complain they haven’t increased amenities for the new houses or about traffic, but a few months ago, someone posted some “throwback to the good old village before X developer built all those houses” and it was literally some industrial looking photos of roads and sheds of the cattle market.

Can't you mute the the notifications and just go in to the group when you're looking for something specific?

But I do agree these groups annoying and useful at the same time. One guy comments "is this still available?" when people post about things they have found like lost wallets, keys etc. He really thinks he's so funny but I just want to set him on fire 🔥

Tad drastic, I'm aware, so I won't, not today anyway!

The person who runs ours literally can’t string a sentence together. I don’t just mean full of typos, although god knows there are plenty of those, but random full stops, semi colons and apostrophes, sometimes one after another and no actual sentences but I wouldn’t say they’re writing statements either. I can’t describe, it needs to be seen to be believed. They are forever going on about the abuse they get when all they are trying to do is help the community (they are playing the martyr constantly). So I did laugh one day when I clicked on an article from the local paper which had made it on to ‘Angry People in Local Newspapers’ where they joined in a pile on of a local woman who had bought what turned out to be a mouldy instant porridge in Poundland. I took a screenshot and am looking forward to being able to use it 😆

Apart from the dear leader on a power trip it’s just endless photos of dog shit. Every day it’s multiple photos of dog shit and people complaining about the ‘dirty bastards’ that don’t pick up after their dogs.

Once someone posted ‘did anyone hear a bang’. Personally I didn’t hear a bang but enough people replied that they had heard a bang that the post made it to the local papers page. After the article, which was literally just a copy and paste job of the original post and a phone number for people
to call if they heard the bang, like you used to get if you witnessed a crime or a major breaking news story. We never did find out what the bang was but the post rumbled on for days and days.

I posted on mine one July asking for recommendations for a birthday cake for September and I got a couple of middle-aged men thinking they were funny commenting “don’t buy one until at least the end of August” 🙄

I live between 2 areas so I’m in 2 groups. One is an utter joy, run by the local councillor and it’s used to pass on actual information and she uses it to pick up and deal with issues.
The other one seems to be an excuse for people to try and advertise their businesses constantly. A lot of eye brow stuff. I left before because a chiropodist kept posting pictures of peoples infected and rotten feet. They were banned eventually.

The good thing about those pages are that they certainly make you realise who the idiots are and who to avoid in real life.
I live in a friendly village, the sort where people will stop for a chat. I know most of my neighbours but there's one in particular that I will be avoiding more than a cursory 'hello' with having seen his regular and unecessary comments on every post on all the local Facebook groups.

Everyone should watch If Facebook was a pub by Kevin Bridges. He sums it up perfectly. 🤣 (It's 4 mins into this clip).

Also, slightly off topic. But these groups are like the wild west and this post reminded me of a forum I joined years ago before Facebook was a thing. The pinned post asked you to read the rules before posting.

One rule was "do not type posts using capital letters". Okay, I thought, the Mods don't want "shouty" posts. Fair play.

So I posted a new thread and the Mod instantly replied. The conversation went like this.

Mod: did you read the rules?
Me: Yes, I did thank you. ☺️
Mod: do you have a problem following ruler?
Me: Um, no. I just checked again and I don't seem to have broken any.
Mod: what about rule 4? posting in capital letters?
Me: Yep, all understood.
Mod: are you taking the piss?
Me: Excuse me? I'm don't understand.
Mod: so you are taking the piss!
Me: I'm not, what do you mean?
Mod: very funny.
Me: I don't get it.
Mod: obviously. you're either thick or you're trying to wind me up.
Me: I don't know you. I've just joined. I don't know what you mean.
Mod: right, that's your first warning.
Me: For what?
Mod: typing in capitals. and that's your second warning.
Me: I'm not 'typing in capitals'. I'm just typing using correct grammar, and mechanics. You mean I can't use any capital letters at all?
Mod: oh, the stupid person finally gets it. you're banned.

😂😂😂😂 And banned I was. I think the Mod was absolutely fucking barking mad.

The thing with social media (and mumsnet really) is that it you interact with people from all walks of life.

When I’m raged by something I see, my husband reminds me of the coffee shop test. These posters are not people you would choose for your circle and sit talking about stuff in a coffee shop. They don’t think like you and that’s ok. It’s almost like eavesdropping into the next table where everyone is so different. This is why I try and avoid debates on social media!

Try and remember this and keep scrolling!