Why Do People Want to Be Admin of Facebook Groups?

I have a Facebook Group for a buy swap sell group which has grown to 15,000 members. I now have people messaging me all the time asking to be moderators or admin. Is there some kind of incentive for them to do this or do they all just love mindlessly scrolling through content to moderate?

Comments

  • +31

    Think its more a power thing. Having the ability to deny posts, tell people to behave as they're admin and need to be listened to etc, or simply kick people for perceived slights.

    • +6

      For Exhibit A I present the Reddit moderator as the prototypical example of this powertripping. It's truly amazing what a few drops of make-believe power will do to a person.

      • +3

        Doreen… Uhuh.

        • +4

          It was an absolutely fascinating rabbithole, it was. The quintessential example of a powertrip.
          .>fox news wants us to give an interview about r/antiwork
          .>immediate problem though
          .>all of the old guard are blood-red commies that started the sub because they literally never want to work ever
          .>Doreen will be the hero that we all need
          .>run it by the subreddit members
          .>"No, none of you fools are equipped to do this interview, especially not Doreen, we object"
          .>ignore
          .>run it by fellow moderators
          .>"No, it's fox news, they're going to laugh at you and by extension us"
          .>ignore
          .>do the interview anyway
          .>come out looking like the exact caricature of a degenerate commie that the fox news hosts wet-dream about
          .>tank the subreddit in a single day
          .>lose moderator status to appease the mob
          .>a day-old account that has your exact same views and writing style becomes a 'new mod' while the heat dies down
          .>oh snap, nobody's buying it
          .>outed immediately
          .>doxed immediately
          .>revealed to be a sexual predator from a Facebook post that wasn't DFE'd in time

          Whew lad, life comes at ya fast. Even for the sedentary Reddit jannies.

          • +1

            @whatwasherproblem: Huh? Antiwork is tanked? There is a god! I have never contemplated the existence of SUCH degenerate filth as them prior to stumbling across that reddit. To the gulags.

            • @HelpMeiCantSee: Well unfortunately it recovered for the most part (it's still on r/all and most of the splinter subs from the schism like r/workreform never made it). So while many of the commie moderators have taken off, it's business as usual again. Which in r/antiwork's case means poorly-photoshopped texts of conversations with employers that totes for realsies happened. "Hey guys, my boss asked me to cover the weekend shift and when I told him I couldn't because I was having my dialysis appointment he told me I'm a slacker and to not bother coming in on Monday. AITA?"

  • +9

    Power trip. As someone who has been in a similar position, be wary of how much you give over to others.
    If you're managing fine, leave it. If not, add some but always have it so you can kick and block anytime.

    • Thanks. I actually don’t have time for it and it’s getting a little too big for me to have time to manage it. Just mulling what to do with it next.

      • +2

        You might want to carefully consider your groups rules, if you're going to have a mod enforce them. They'll probably step on some toes so it'll still take you some time managing them.

    • Founders cannot be removed so you don't have to worry about being usurped.

  • +2

    Why do people still use Stalkerbook? let alone admin it…

    • +1

      Facebook has good memes.

      • +1

        Well the question is where do most memes originate? I'll see a meme on reddit, then multiple other subreddits, then Facebook, then twitter and I'm sure if I cared to watch someone react to memes, I'd see it on YouTube too.

        • +2

          I wanna say Reddit but so much stuff is reposted I don't even know anymore. All the memes from Instagram though are from Reddit.

        • Reddit is dead. But memes definitely do not originate on Reddit, you'll see them posted on Facebook before they appear on Reddit regardless of where they first originated.

          • +3

            @AustriaBargain:

            Reddit is dead.

            I'd definitely like a source on that. I'd say most people under the age of 30 use it mainly for communication and events over anything else.

            I'd say most image based memes are posted on Reddit or Tumblr and eventually make their way to Insta.
            Additionally most video based memes are likely from YouTube first, then reposted to TikTok where they go viral and then finally end up on Instagam and Reddit.

            • +4

              @SnowDragon: I woke a long reply already but couldn't post it because the comment I was replying to was deleted. But look at r/watchredditdie for a summary of why Reddit is already dead.

              • +3

                @AustriaBargain: Did you see the Reddit jannys going into a meltdown over the word "groomer" earlier in the week? They're not even pretending to be on the side of the angels anymore.

            • +1

              @SnowDragon: They're booming in terms of user numbers and profit margins, but as a community, reddit has long since died in the sense that it's now just another overly-sanitized boring corporatised mouthpiece. They used to be pretty hands off (moderation wise) prior to 2017 but it eventually spiraled downhill from there.

              Too much red tape and insufferable tightass admins to be able to enjoy time on there.

              But to be fair, they are typically a good resource for technical troubleshooting and questions when you come across it in the search engines.

        • +1

          Redditors have always had this unjustified superiority complex of "we make all the memes lol". Yes they do make a fair few but it's mostly "nobody: literally nobody:" or some marvel reaction image copy pasted crap. Out of the actual good stuff they do have on there, much of it comes from well, pretty much anywhere else online, whether that's twitter, facebook, 4chan, youtube, hell even ifunny pumps out a lot more then people realise (but now they are also dying too these days because of tight rules and mods)

    • +1

      It’s still probably one of the more used and accessible platforms for many age groups. People are already on there for extended family and friends. Most people have or have had access at some point. Many groups don’t actually need a great deal of privacy.

  • +6

    I personally created a group a number of years ago as there was nothing for that particular purpose at the time, and I wanted it to be a group I would enjoy being part of and by being in control I can make sure that happens (making it drama free, bully free and friendly). This might be why people want to be admins, so they can help shape the group to be how they would like it to be (though if you are joining an existing group it would have its own rules already so that probably wouldn't end up happening).

    I was very lucky as a media company bought that group from me and pay me to continue running it, I believe so they can funnel the contents into their webpages. I was also lucky as I also started a different group for a different discussion topic a year or two later, and an individual bought that one off me (which I was happy to get rid of as there was constant drama I was sick of being in the middle of) just because he wanted to have his own group. If you get sick of running your group, look to see if you can sell it to someone.

    • +3

      I was very lucky as a media company bought that group from me and pay me to continue running it

      Oh wow! Good work! Was it a decent some of money? What were the benefits for the company that bought it from you?
      I'm sooo curious what kind of group it is, but I don't to ask because I wouldn't want someone to be able to guess who you are. haha

      • +4

        It's just a community group where people ask questions and have discussions, there's probably quite a few the same nowadays for any location. I think they just wanted to use the content, and need to be admins to be able to use APIs to get the info they want from it. Yeah I feel like it was a decent sum considering it was basically like free money, I didn't really give anything up to get it! 4 figures. The smaller more niche group that the individual bought was only 3 figures (but I would have taken $1 or even paid him to take it as I was so sick of it lol).

        • +3

          That's actually really interesting! Thanks for sharing the info. I wasn't even aware there was a market for these groups!

          but I would have taken $1 or even paid him to take it

          🤣

    • +1

      I made a group for a game a long time ago. I also used an alias, cos fk facebook. They banned me and wanted ID, I didnt care about the game enough but I checked up on the group a few years ago and they are still going strong.

      • Glad your group is still going strong. It is a nice feeling to have made something that brings others joy

  • Power & To ride off the back of your coattails.

  • +2

    Not sure why people want to take on those roles, but keep in mind as the owner of a Facebook page, you are now liable for any defamation posts on your site

    https://www.sydney.edu.au/law/news-and-events/news/2021/09/1…

    • More reason for me to move on or delete it

      • +1

        Read the article before making up your mind - there is balance.

        That wouldn’t be allowed now. Under new defamation laws that came into effect this July in NSW, Victoria, South Australia Queensland and the ACT, plaintiffs must now serve a concerns notice on each defendant and wait at least a fortnight before suing.

        Those same reforms also introduced what’s called a “serious harm threshold”. Under this rule, the plaintiff has to prove they have, in fact, suffered (or are likely to suffer) serious harm to their reputation as a result of the published comments.

        This clause aims to rule out trivial defamation cases because while it’s true anyone can cause serious harm to a person’s reputation on social media, there is also a lot of banter and to-ing and fro-ing which might be offensive but might not cause serious harm to a reputation. This may give some protection to admins of social media pages in future, particularly private individuals.

  • +7

    The 2010s saw a fundamental change in how forum administration was viewed. In the past it was a thankless job of weeding out spam advertisements and consistent agitators.

    But then political types came to a realisation: they could turn administration into one of the most powerful forms of propaganda there is: filtering out opinion they didn't like, so that all people saw was what the administrators wanted them to see. This had two effects, firstly it made existing users fearful of expressing dissenting opinion, so they shut up or were banned. And new/younger users were heavily influenced/brainwashed into believing the only visible opinions were a majority view.

    That's why even forums that would otherwise have nothing to do with politics have turned political. When the Black Lives Matter protests were taking place in 2020 programming forums were banning the words master/slave and black/whitelist - and banning anybody who called out how ridiculous this was.

    Remember, propaganda is about half-truths. And what's more potent than pretending not to present your own opinion but making select opinion from others speak on your behalf!

    Newspapers have been doing this for years, some more balanced than others, but the bias is still clear when viewing "letters to the editor" when only one kind of opinion is presented. Websites/social media have weaponised this form of propaganda to a whole new level.

  • Many people end up monetising the groups one way or another. i.e its black friday, admin post check out these deals and the links are referral links. Or funnel attention to a youtube channel/instagram account etc.. where brands will pay to have sponsored posts i.e. "15% off at specific-car-model-parts.com using the code ADMINCASH"

  • Wanting to get their level of censorship into the group, whether it's being more censored or less.

  • +4

    First you get the power

    Then you get the money

    Then.. the women…

    Bow before the might of my admin powers or be booted from Gosford community page forever!!!

  • Mo PoWaH.

  • +1

    I must be the only one that hates joining Facebook groups, where most people cannot spell or use commas.

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