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

[Anothernamechangeee]

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.

Mine is bonkers. As PP have said, I keep an eye on it because there's the odd useful post, but most of it is people asking why a helicopter is in the area, or making personal posts addressed "to the man who parked across two spaces yesterday afternoon" or "the person who dumped a mattress".

Oh yes, these, plus ones about a teenager walking down my road who doesn't live here. Obviously a wrong 'un apparently.

Not FB but was on Streetlife a few years back - it was useful for road closures, missing cats, etc but there were a few odd people who would be rude and argue with you about plans for bus routes, yellow lines, cycles lanes for example, with such vitriol that I just backed out.

There were many nice ordinary people also but the underlying aggro at times wasn't worth it.

I'm going to go against the grain and say that ours is lovely - really helpful, often funny and people are kind and supportive.

This is potentially a bit identifying, but there is a group member who has a significant brain injury which can make their posting style seem a little bit odd. Everybody in the community knows this person and supports them.

A few years ago, a 'newbie' to the group started making fun of this person and the instant swell of support for the long-standing member (and the almost-instantaneous deletion and banning of the newbie by the very efficient admins) was pretty heart-warming.

😂 This reminded me of when I was reported.

My dd was learning to drive and we live in quite a quiet neighbourhood, so she was driving quite slowly and took the same route a few times.

As I am sitting in the passenger seat my phone pinged about strange car driving slowly and it must be scoping the houses. With a photo of us.

We were in my ds car which was quite an unusual colour and there was only that one type of car in our area, so it isn't like the car isn't known the in street.

So just to make a point, each time we were going out, I would post and say please don't photograph us, as dd isn't yet as the stage of making it as a good getaway driver.

They're all odd, apart from me.

I love our local FB page. It’s hilarious. Lots of complaints about noise, Mrs Porter showing off her giant vegetables and “WILL NO-ONE THINK OF THE BEES” when someone helpfully sprayed weed killer along the edge of the pavement as a public service.

I’m also on the one for the village I grew up in, which is a very different place. It’s all about local youths vandalising the swings again and using the bypass as racetrack, photographs from Ring doorbells of dodgy people in balaclavas at night, and my personal favourite, when someone posted a link to the local rag reporting a story about a burglar from the village finally being caught and imprisoned. The first comment below was from his sister “Don’t worry Gary lad, you’ll be out soon”

Ours is mostly dog shit photos.

In the last 5 years I’ve lived in:

• dodgy bit of SE London with lots of gangs and crime
• tiny but fairly poor semi-rural village
• affluent large town

Ive been on the Facebook groups for all 3 and still on them all. They’re full of exactly the same people all just moaning about variations on the same themes. I actually find it quite reassuring that no matter where you go, they same bonkers curtain twitchers exist.

OP I think we must live in the same estate. We’ve also had a completely mad tap water thread. I was tempted to post the Guardian article https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/sep/17/should-i-worry-about-drinking-tap-water

There's a bloke on mine who basically just hates roadworks, no matter how necessary they are. Recently a large water main burst, requiring immediate emergency repair. He was straight on our FB group moaning that no advance notice was given 🤦‍♂️

I think we must be in the same one

I love a bit of local FB madness.

We get things like 'anyone know why there are police cars on Algernon Road' and 9/10 first reply will be something like 'why don't you get a life and mind your own business!'

One of my favourites was when someone asked why a local shop was not open, basically it came down to staff shortages. Someone helpfully said 'if you are that bothered about it being open all the time why don't you get a job there instead of moaning??' Like we are only entitled to go in a shop if we are committed to actually running it as well, oooook.

Mine is mostly full of people complaining about the state of the roads, while also complaining about the roadworks. I do wonder how they think the roads are going to be fixed without working on them

I am only recently back in the UK after several years abroad.

Our local FB page has been great for local tradesperson recommendations and finding out what local events are coming up.

It is also hilarious as some posters have obsessive agendas - mostly about noise from live music, Morrisons and the lack of a McDonalds. Any sensible question will cite one of the above three as the cause/answer.

My local one always has all the same old faces posting and commenting! It does make me laugh! Though can be useful at times!

Mine is full of people either complaining about the speed of traffic through our village or complaining about the measurements put in place to control the speed of traffic through our village.

Oh, and lost cats that aren't actually lost half of the time.

We get a weirdly high number of posts saying "anyone know who this cat belongs to?" with accompanying picture of healthy looking cat. OP will then clarify there are no issues, it was just in their garden and they wanted to make sure it wasn't lost. Weird.

Plus people praising the local Dominos. Why? It's Dominos Pizza.

We have (and @lalaloopyhead may recognise it if it's the same Algernon Road as near us):

One lady who must spend literally every waking moment pissing about on Facebook, sharing and cross-sharing things between 5-6 local groups that most people are on, and tagging people who really don't need tagging. Always in the style of

B. AWARE
LOOK
LEWISHAmE

And so on.

A guy who almost certainly has MH issues, has posted previously about suicide attempts, and who flits from one do-gooder project to the next when he (inevitably) falls out with the organisers. So one week he wants plants for an allotment he's inveigled himself into, the next it's winter coats for Calais. With occasional digs at previous projects he's fallen out with and how they are all about "ego".

CARNAGE!

WOKE BASTARD COUNCIL!

The problem? They realigned the traffic lights so people on bikes were less likely to get squashed- next to a school.

Mine can be very useful, especially as the local counsellors are on there and can help with issues/give information.

There are a disproportionate number of mad cat ladies with chip readers though. There’s a cat that likes to lie around on a grass verge most of the day and there was a hilarious post about how concerning it was.

There have been maybe half a dozen incidences where an air ambulance has been required in the town.

Every time some nosey git someone posts "an air ambulance has landed in the park....hope everyone is ok...." and wheedling for info.
Aka does anyone know what's happened at the park so I can share the gossip with my neighbours

However apart from them and the people who whinge about anyone making any sort of noise after 7pm, it's fairly useful.

Someone once moaned about a police search helicopter being too noisy....🙄

Our local group consists of reports of
lost dogs/ vicious out of control dogs/ poop
Lost credit/ debit cards
Potholes
Car accidents ( usually reported by someone expressing concern and definitely not being nosey about those involved or hurt)
Lost shoes ( we have a fox shoe thief where people find an odd shoe in their garden!)
potholes
Electric scooters and bikes running riot on pavements etc.
The poor quality of flowers in Waitrose ( this was a real debacle that nearly caused a riot a few years ago!)
Overgrown trees and bushes
Damage caused by potholes
Weekly enquiries about the best local Chinese takeaway/ complaints about the worst Chinese takeaway.
Concerns over the local peacock who usually lives in the park but has been known to fly into gardens and roads nearby!
Rubbish not being collected.
Potholes ( we have a lot of potholes...)

Someone posted in our village FB group asking if the shop had an ATM. Asking because she hadn't been to the shop yet so didn't know. Previous posts suggests she's lived here a few weeks now.

Why not just pop to the shop and see what it sells and if it has an ATM?

That and dog shit, roadworks and selling tatt.