“YOU ARE SPAM!” MY DISAPPOINTMENT WITH FACEBOOK AND MY LOST LITTLE STAR TREK BLOG

               

               One of my most enjoyable hobbies is blogging.  I am not a big time blogger by anyone’s standards.  I first started blogging about 12 years ago when I started this blog where I would review history books I had been reading, an occasional political opinion I would want to strongly express, or an occasional tribute to a lost loved one.  Around that same time I joined Facebook and one of the things that I loved about it, in addition to being able to contact with lost-by-distance friends and relatives, was being able to share your likes and hobbies with other like-minded people.

                In 2016 with the new Ghostbusters movie coming out I decided to go down a trip in memory lane and watch the classic films and animated series.  I started a blog documenting that journey and would share it with my friends on Facebook.  Lately with the 2020 movie, now moved to 2021, I started re-watching episodes, re-editing posts (that Ghostbusters blog was a rushed job it needs it), and re-sharing with my current Ghostbusters Facebook groups.

                Around this time last year I decided to work on a life dream.  With my CBS subscription giving me access to the entire franchise I would start a new blog where I would cover the entire Star Trek universe.  Not on a time limit set to make a new movie or series date, just in order bit by bit putting quality over quantity.  Chip away at it as a hobby.  Like with my other blogs, I also chose to share the posts on Facebook with my fellow fans.

                In my short time plugging away on my blog I had written an article on it about Continuity and Canon, made reviews for every episode in the first season, an article about why production order is the best way to watch The Original Series, and I started posting episode reviews from season two.  And when I shared them with my Facebook groups I received positive and constructive feedback from my fellow fans, which was great.  There was a bump or two in the road when one group didn’t approve my review for “Mudd’s Women” because I called Harry Mudd a pimp!  However it is their group and they can approve whatever they like.  I also enjoy being able to respond with a written review if anyone randomly asks what I thought of an episode I already covered.

I am currently a member of seven Star Trek Facebook groups: Star Trek, Star Trek Forever, Everything Star Trek, Star Trek Forever and Always, The Original Star Trekkers, The Star Trek Fan Pagefor Everyone, and Star Trek Universe.  I want to point out that in these groups I will often like, comment on, or visit links to other fan created content not just to air my own stuff.  Now I wouldn’t always post the same reviews to each group as I joined them at different times.  When I joined a new group it seemed ridiculous to me to post a bunch of post on that new group right away.  I wanted to do so in the same timing as I did with the older group.

I usually share a new post with my own page then with Star Trek and Star Trek Forever over the course of the next two days as those were the first two groups I joined.  A day later I would share a post that was 4 posts older than the new on Everything Star Trek.  A day after that I would share one that was about 20 posts-old in Star Trek Forever and Always and the Original StarTrekkers.  Then a day or so later I would do the same in Star Trek Fan Page For Everyone and Star Trek Universe. 

               

Okay not my stairs but you get the idea!

                Last week I was in a horrible freak accident where I fell down a flight of stairs while carrying a laundry basket and I broke my leg.  I am writing from there now and I wanted to say that the hospital doctors and staff at Central Maine Medical Center have been incredible.  When I was able to access to social media again I got flood of loving messages from family and friends who because of the outbreak can’t actually come and see me.   However there was also a note on several of my groups that a number of my posts were being pulled off as spam.  At first I thought I was being spam-targeted by a fellow fan upset by something I had written.  That had happened once before.  However after taking with several of the administrators of the groups I am a part of we quickly determined that this was not the case.

                The truth was worse: I was somehow caught up in an anti-spam algorithm.  All of my links in all seven of my groups and my own personal page have vanished.  My blog still exists safe at blogger.com but my connection to the Star Trek Facebook community reduced to a whisper.   Now I want to be clear Facebook told me this was spam, it was not a trademark or copyright issue which normally would be covered by fair use anyway.  I am very broken-hearten it is like getting kicked when you are down, or in my view hospitalized after surgery.

                I messaged Facebook and they have not yet responded.  To be frank customer care was never their specialty.  As disappointed as I am by Facebook I can never say they cheated me.  I had always been a defender of theirs and my defense was this: if you don’t like the product ask for your money back for you always get it.  So I am now going to be looking for a new audience for my blog and I hope this can serve as a warning to others to be careful about sharing your posts too much you might not get invited back to the party.