Some myths and complaints from changing Facebook group to Self-Hosted

[aiprm-christophc]

We received a lot of great feedback from many of you - Thanks so much

We also received complains, like with every change - and I want to share some of it

If the Facebook group is closed, then I’ll uninstall the plugin. Without the group it’s worthless.

Clearly someone has not experienced the true power of AIPRM it seems.

WARNING FALSE: “If a company cannot run a Facebook group without getting the mod banned, what’s that worth”

The ban had nothing to do with AIPRM or the AIPRM facebook group.

But we explained that in detail anyways before, and also here

• led to the ban of Ammon
• were additional reasons to move away from Facebook (ownership)

Those were thin arguments for not using Discord.

Yes, we get it - a lot of people like Discord. We don’t.

The main reason was “not self-hosted”. Simple as that.

We tried to give some additional context, and most users appreciated that

The forum doesn’t work in Safari iOS

Well, maybe install a modern version, or use the Chrome you use for AIPRM anyways.
We’re not officially supporting Safari, just like we don’t support Firefox.

Overall we are very happy we made the move and already experienced a lot of pleasant interaction in the first hours in the forum.

Some users also mentioned they only joined us now, because they refuse to be on Facebook.

[Ammon]

To really underline the issues with Facebook, this is the second time they’ve locked me out of my own account in 2 years.

The first time, no kidding, they apparently needed me to provide more security to my account (read: even more personal data) because, and pay attention, because I had a lot of followers and my posts got a lot of views. Facebook explained that because my account was popular and had reach, it was really important that it be really protected… So to better serve all those people who liked my content and what I had to say, it was vital that Facebook stop me from saying or posting anything…

I mean: how dare I be more interesting than their ads, or distract anyone’s attention from those ads eh?

And yes, really. Just one year ago.

This time I got no excuses or reasons at all. Just one email telling me my account was suspended, by which they mean closed but I have some time to dispute it. Once again they want further information and personal ID … you know, beyond my email, phone, address, name, DOB, check-ins and photos of the past 17 years…

I only found out that it was the entire set of members, mods and admins of one particular (large and long-standing) SEO group that had all been banned when others from that group contacted me on Twitter, only one of whom had the full story about the post that Facebook had deleted before any of us saw it that apperently triggered the whole debacle. Facebook have even admitted their error to (some of) those they have reinstated, yet still have not bothered to traceback the error and fix it for everyone it affected. Only one by one. And several of the moderators and admins who did submit the relevant ID stuff just got an automated response in mere moments confirming the ban was permanent, with no links or means to appeal further.

Terrible, terrible implementation, awful coding of even worse logic.

So, I have refused to provide extra ID. They didn’t need it until their error, an error they are knowing of and have admitted to with others involved. It is not relevant in any way to some unknown person posting some unseen thing to a group I merely help moderate, using every single tool that Facebook provided us. They have my Name, Address, Phone, DoB, and 17 years of photos, travel details, check-ins, etc. Their request for further data isn’t even in line with the legalities of GDPR in that they provided no idea of whom would have access and for what precise purposes.

My response is basically something that rhymes with “duck hem”

[aiprm-christophc]

Thanks so much for further details @Ammon - that are annoying experiences.

Part of the few negative resonances were, I guess, that I clearly stated in my mails and postings about the move, that we’re not interested in the dopamine-triggers of modern social media on Facebook, Discord or even Linked.

I guess that put the finger on the wound for some Facebook addicts and “Social Media Experts” selling that stuff to businesses, themselves.

Our sovereignty and peace-of-mimd is more important to me and AIPRM than some self-proclaimed marketing guru teaching me how “every SaaS company” has a Facebook group with 100k users… funny that e.g. Ahrefs just announced their own, new community - same day, for example.

I have today uninstalled it on my phone again as well, as I used to be very much off Facebook before AIPRM, and will go back to lighter presence there also.

In any case, I’m happy we’re “among us here” and as I’ve also stated elsewhere, the community is a supplement of the product, not “the marketing channel” as again some self proclaimed expert explained that the 1% share of users in that Facebook group would be.

Oh and the guy who “threatend” to uninstall the plugin without Facebook group? what shall I say to that. Almost like the “I will steal your success” threat from some other user some days ago.

[Christel_Guillen]

This is great to know and makes me even happier to be a part of this community, which I didn’t join until now because I don’t do FB.

[Gareth_Ellis]

It’s a good move; Facebook is a liability with no real support channel. I’d have the page as a signpost, at best, to something in your control, i wish everyone on FB did this.