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Original poster

Are there as many odd people on your local FB group as on mine?

87 replies

Anothernamechangeee · 20/09/2023 10:00

I swear it seems like quite a normal town but then you go on the FB page and it’s full of weirdos

Today it has all kicked off because the tap water tastes funny in the area. Loads of comments about how tap water is toxic, you should only drink bottled water, it’s all contaminated etc etc

Weird mix of posts about dog poo, local electricians, then some vaguely racist jokes (“you can’t have a laugh these days”)

Last year it all kicked off because someone spent ages knitting scarves for trees and then there was some appreciation but some people saying how weird it was and they didn’t like it at all

It’s just all so very odd. People are odd.

OP posts:

piglet81 · 20/09/2023 10:05

People are odd, and FB groups attract the oddest of them!

TruthSeeker2023 · 20/09/2023 10:36

But maybe they are not the odd ones and actually reflect your community better than the vanilla impression you previously had of it?

Willmafrockfit · 20/09/2023 10:42

a man complained about the lack of street lighting, in the village

he was put right in no uncertain terms.

people saying where can i go for a walk without dog mess
lost cats
complaints about house building - erosion of green spaces
jobs advertised with complaints below it owing to small wage offered
recommendations wanted for taxis/handymen/car mechanics

Hbh17 · 20/09/2023 10:48

I have no idea whether there is a local FB group where I live, but I'm not going to check and sure as hell I would never join one. Surely they are just for people with too much time on their hands, so I can't imagine how any sensible person would benefit.

BitOutOfPractice · 20/09/2023 10:50

Yes. Yes they are all as mad as a bag of cheese here too. They walk among us

BearSoFair · 20/09/2023 10:53

We have a guy who feeds any animals (cats, foxes, birds) that come to his garden then complains that animals keep going in his garden...

Plusque · 20/09/2023 10:53

I don’t use FB, but the local residents’ WhatsApp attracted loons who counted dogshit daily and drew chalk circles around them, and posted daily photos of tap water to demonstrate discolouration. What ended things was when a couple of people started posting their poems, though.

The non-poets decamped and now have a tranquil splinter group which occasionally finds lost pets or warns of road works.

Original poster

Anothernamechangeee · 20/09/2023 10:57

Hbh17 · 20/09/2023 10:48

Very occasionally they’re useful.

OP posts:

tokennamechange · 20/09/2023 11:08

Hbh17 · 20/09/2023 10:48

Really? You can't think of any reason at all why a group for individuals who live in the same area to comment freely and quickly on issues relating specifically to that local area could be useful?

For example, recommendations on local tradespeople, advertising, lost pets/kids, reporting crime/chuggers, advice when the local Dr surgery's phones have gone down or had to close due to an emergency, when the local dentist is taking on new patients, letting others know when bin collections are cancelled/changed, honest feedback on local schools from people who have older kids there, a way for local councillors to easily get in touch with the community and be aware of issues, emergency advice e.g. flooding or if phone lines go down, during covid a way of asking for help for vulnerable people, updates on bus or shop opening times, updates if theres been a crash affecting travel times etc.

Fair enough if literally none of that is relevant to you, and yes the vaguely useful stuff is often drowned out by a wave of dross but it's hardly inconceivable why there could be some benefits.

Polis · 20/09/2023 11:09

I can't imagine how any sensible person would benefit.

It really doesn’t take that much imagination, surely?

I regard myself as a sensible person and am a member of two relevant to me. I rarely post but do keep an eye on them. They are essentially village notice boards in electronic format. Very useful for hearing of roads closed due to accidents or trees down. The supermarket in town being closed, so saving a twenty old mile round trip for nothing. Lost animals found, dead or alive. Wandering livestock. Courier deliveries to wrong addresses solved. Fruit and veg going spare etc.

BlackAmericanoNoSugar · 20/09/2023 11:10

Just lost pets and large scale planning applications on ours.

cherryassam · 20/09/2023 11:12

We get a lot of posts about ‘suspicious’ vans on our one - usually just someone’s dog walker or a delivery driver.

fiddlesticksandotherwords · 20/09/2023 11:12

I hardly ever look at mine. It is almost entirely filled with people asking for recommendations of local tradespeople or tradespeople & local businesses advertising their services.

Oh, and slagging off Nadine Dorries. That has happened quite a lot in recent years. 😂

usernother · 20/09/2023 11:12

Where I used to live had a very large and active fb group that became quite infamous in the city. It was useful, informative and very funny at times. I'm still on it even though I've moved away.

cocksstrideintheevening · 20/09/2023 11:14

It's the only reason I still have FB, I dip in to read them when I need a laugh.

Approaching · 20/09/2023 11:17

Ours is total batshit. So much so that I’ve decided the stress of it isn’t worth the useful information in there! In fact there are now three splinter groups for just one village, because so many people have fallen out and set up their own group out of spite…

Willmafrockfit · 20/09/2023 11:20

the problem can be that a tree down or road closed/accident announcement is often held up by admins so it is cleared by the time it reaches the pages

rhino12345 · 20/09/2023 11:24

Ours is mayhem. I cannot believe how rude people are to people who live in the same town as them!! It's utterly fascinating.
We have an issue with people setting off fireworks and so people go on and complain about it as it effects their animals etc. There are always countless bizarre comments about the world wars (?) and Ukraine (?) underneath.... Ie "think of the poor people in Ukraine". And it's like.. ?????

I find the groups helpful generally as they'll warn if there's bad traffic or crime etc, but some of it is total eccentric drivel 😂

EvilElsa · 20/09/2023 11:26

I left Facebook ages ago, but our local page was similarly bonkers. I actually left that long before I left Facebook as I couldn't cope with the daily bullshit anymore.
We also had someone who would go and spray paint (!) around dog shit -but would also paint around fox shit that nobody could do anything about. Lots of wars over local horse riders, noisy neighbours, noisy exhausts, dogs barking. A classic about falling leaves ruining the look of the village with a volunteer group formed to deal with this horrific incident.
Glad I don't have to read it anymore.

countrygirl99 · 20/09/2023 11:26

We had one complain that there were horses being ridden on a bridleway and it spoiled her walk. There are many, many miles of footpaths she could use instead. About 5 times as many miles of footpath as bridleway.

Highlighta · 20/09/2023 11:35

We have a WhatsApp and a Telegram group and they are quite something at times.

The Telegram group is a big group for a wider area, and I call it the Moaning Group, as that is all that is on there. Nothing useful, just moaning that the street light was reported as not working yesterday and today is it still not fixed. Barking dogs is another popular one. Someone a thousand streets from us alarm is going off so can someone sort it out (not even in our wider area)

The WhatsApp group, is more to the surrounding streets, and that one is completely batshit. We have flirting between neighbours (and yes their spouses are on the group too), and last week we had a domestic dispute. The woman posted on the group asking if the treatment she was getting was fair, and he replied, and it was just back and forth between them. In between there was some popcorn gifs chucked in by other residents, and it was just bizarre. We also had a woman ask the group which colour fabric she should use to sew with and posted photos of the three options.... And then there is Grumpy George... he jumps on everyone's post, batshit or fairly normal to scold everyone for asking anything as ' you could Google that', and then he posts the Google reply. FFS 😂

Highlighta · 20/09/2023 11:36

I almost forgot about the Rugby World Cup predictions. That is quite popular at the moment.

sarsaparillatree · 20/09/2023 11:49

I find the local fb quite useful for the sort of info mentioned above - road closures, power cuts and so on. Also, now that a lot of shops have CCTV and people have Ring doorbells video of thieves gets posted very quickly - one guy who regularly used to come over from the nearby big town by bus to go on a shoplifting spree eventually got accosted by a group of angry locals as he tried to alight from the bus and was forced to go home again. Thankfully he's since been prosecuted.

However there are some nutters - there's a flat-earther who also rants about the dangers of phone masts, for instance. And quite a lot of dog poo pictures...

PToosher · 20/09/2023 11:53

On the first warm day of any year there are people on ours complaining about dog owners walking their dogs 'in the heat'. At one point someone suggested some sort of leaflet should be produced that could be handed to such dog owners when spotted, telling them how irresponsible they are. This was regarded as a non-confrontational way of handling it. I pointed out it could become extremely confrontational and I was abused for my opinion.

Original poster

Anothernamechangeee · 20/09/2023 11:53

cherryassam · 20/09/2023 11:12

We get a lot of posts about ‘suspicious’ vans on our one - usually just someone’s dog walker or a delivery driver.

We had one of these.

”I keep seeing this suspicious van near my house, please keep an eye out. The man looked cross when I took a photo of him so probably up to no good”

2 hours later

”hi that’s my van and my house. I deliver flowers for a living. Please stop taking photos of me”

OP posts:

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