For feeling upset that I have been banned from a FB support group for no fault of my own

[Rainbowpeppercorn]

I know in the greater scheme of things this isn't a huge issue but it has really upset me.

For the last 3 years I have been a member of a Facebook support group for a chronic health condition that I have suffered from for the last 30 years.

There are other support groups for this condition but I particularly liked this one as it is UK based, many of the others are worldwide and often US based so a lot of the advice is for products and medical advice that is not available here and I simply liked this group, they were all very kind and understanding. It has 20k members and I was a 'Top Contributor' as I would often ask questions and would offer up advice to fellow sufferers every day.

A month ago I suddenly couldn't get onto this group. I have made a couple of friends from this group and asked them to look to see if the group had gone down. They said it is up and running as usual but I am now down as a 'former member'. I couldn't understand this as I would not leave the group as it is a lifeline for me, I also could not understand why/if I had been banned because I never offer anything other than advice and empathy.

I managed to contact the admin and have found out that they banned me by mistake, it should have been someone else with the same first name as mine. They said they will try to re-instate my membership but nothing has happened. I have contacted them several times, the first few times he apologised and said he will try his best and now he just ignores my messages.

I know to some this may seem trivial and insignificant but I loved that group and knowing others were experiencing similar issues helped me so much. I am gutted.

Does anyone know if there is anymore I can do to get back on this group other than to set myself up another FB profile?

Ask someone on the page to invite you, that sometimes works.

To be honest, FB can be a bit glitchy for admins and mods. They won’t all have the same tools available, every phone/app/platform has tools in different places.

Finding banned people can be really hard, and not everyone will manage it.
Can you approach a different admin and see if they can help? Admins have more tools than mods.

Set up a new Facebook account and join the group from that account. You can have more than one Facebook account

I expect a glitch has occurred and now the group has banned you it's finding it difficult to reinstate that particular banned account

I empathise because I was part of a FB group that I loved interacting with. It got really popular and they introduced a charge £5 per month 😭 greedy fuckers!

Anyway, I refused to pay and they removed me. I really miss it.

My advice would be to try and join a new group. I know it’s not the same but you don’t want to feel constantly stressed out about the old one. You could do that whilst reminding the admins to re-admit it you?

Why was it greedy. Five pounds a month isn't alot
The bigger the group the more work goes into it.
Most people never even think to thank admin and mods.

It’s a hell of a lot of work, @ThriveIn2025

On bank holiday weekends, in the middle of the night… it’s unending.

My friends have tried the invite method but it won't let them. I have spoken to the admin but they don't seem to be able to reinstate me. Looks as though I'm not going to be able to go back on. Shame but I suppose there is nothing I can do about it.

I think this is going to be the only way I can get back on.

It’s very common to do this. Many people have a ‘fake’ FB account to join groups. I used to have two FBs, one for real life friends and one for groups. Then as everyone (and me) moved to Insta and Snap, I deleted the one for real life friends and use the fake FB for groups.

However, I can see it would be a blow to lose your ‘Top Contributor’ status.

Have you tried contacting FB yourself?