I haven’t done this in a while...not sure why except that life gets in the way. I have been putting my views on Twitter and Facebook, and I have been trying to use Instagram more. I just find that I get lost in life and neglect the blog.

Since my last post, I have sold my house and moved to Austin. I think it was a good move. I’m doing better here than I was in Beaumont and that’s only a good thing.

Since I recently learned how to do threads on twitter, I’m not sure if a blog is necessary, but I’m still going to try to blog some. I guess I got out of the habit because of the circumstances I was in and probably from some depression that I was dealing with. So, if you want to read my blog and have never been here before, welcome! Look around and comment. Let me know what you think.

But know that I won’t deal with hate. I know how to remove anyone who lets hate take over.

On Being a Facebook Group Admin

As an admin on several Facebook groups, I have learned many things about being an admin that I would like to pass along to anyone who is going to start a Facebook group.  Many of the things are simple, but others are important to the integrity of the group.

How to deal with spammers
Facebook groups are a favorite place for spammers to try to get people hooked to their crap in a way that seems safe because, hey, we are part of the same group that is interested in doing good in our community so why would someone use this group to phish for gullible people?

So how do you deal with this?  First of all, if you are going to be the only admin, you need to be the only one to control who is added to the group.  This can be done in the settings.  Allowing anyone to approve adding people to the group gives control away and allows the group to become something you never intended it to be.  If you started the group, then you admin the group and only you approve who joins.

What should the settings be?
My rule of thumb is that my settings are as controlled as possible.  Depending on what the group is for, you may want to set it to secret - no one can even find the group if you don't tell them about it.   I used this for a neighborhood group (more on that later) that was just for people in our neighborhood so we could communicate.  There's also a setting that is private that allows anyone to see an entry page for the group, but they have to asked to be added, and the admin is the one who can approve.  This is useful for, say, class reunion groups.  Then there's the least restrictive setting that is open.  This setting allows anyone to see the group, who is in it, what people have posted...and this is the one that needs the control for who is approved for the group.  Unless the setting is changed, anyone can add and anyone can approve people in the group.  Just decide what the group is for and what the target audience is and you will know what settings are appropriate.

How do I know who not to let into the group?
This is the tricky part.

In an open group, you might want anyone to be able to join without restriction.  I admin a group for a youth sports league.  I don't want to restrict who can see what is happening with the league, so anything but open is not what I want.  I do, however, want to be the only one who is the admin so that if someone slips in that should not be there, I have the option to remove them from the group - this includes spammers.

How do I know they are spammers?  If you see that someone has posted something that looks like an ad, and you have no idea why that particular ad would be on the group page, then this is usually a spammer.  You can also tell if you go to that person's wall.  If this individual has just joined Facebook or doesn't have any friends...or isn't connected to anyone else in the group in any way, then this person is a spammer.  Go to the list of members, search for this person, and then block them.  You may have to do this over and over, but eventually it will be less and less often.

Now that I have a group, how much control do I actually have?
You have all the control.  Facebook links groups you created to your personal page.  This makes you responsible for everything posted on that group page.  Comments that can be construed as racist or pornographic can come back to you.

THIS IS IMPORTANT: You can delete anything you deem offensive or anything that is not appropriate for the group.  I know people will cry censorship, but you have the right to remove any inappropriate comments from any group you admin.  Some would say you have an obligation to do so.

I ran into this in the neighborhood group I started.  When I created the group, I intended it to be for all of my neighbors...even those with whom I had no desire to be friends.  That wasn't part of my intention.  I don't have to be friends with everyone to allow them to be part of something that is for a neighborhood.  I intended for the homeowners to be able to communicate with each other, and it worked really great at times...like when cars were being broken in to, or when the pool had to be closed for maintenance.  But there were times when some people decided to use the page to slander others and this was unacceptable.  Posts were deleted, and people cried foul....and it always happened to be the 30-something dead-beat son of a homeowner who was living off mom and dad because he is just a loser (my opinion, deal with it).  You have to deal with people like him, but you don't have to be bullied by them.  It is your group, your Facebook, and therefore, your right to censor if need be. 

A Little Something I Tried

(I totally stole this design, but used different fonts and stuff, but I still needed a template to go by...so here it is.)

I saw this invitation on Pinterest today.  So wait, if we are supposed to steal things from Pinterest, did I really steal it?  Anyway, I spent the majority of the day making this invitation.  I think it turned out pretty close to the one on Pinterest.  Nicholas said it did.

I want to show that I can do things like design invitations, or make banners, or pretty much whatever you want.  I have been doing stuff like this for a long time.  The invitation I did in Publisher with fonts I found online, and then I added the frame and the banner across it with photoshop elements.  I would love to get a job that utilizes this skill as I am pretty good at it.  It uses my grammar and spelling as well as my design skills with the desktop publishers.

You can see some of my Facebook covers and banners for my blog here.  I can design one for anyone with any theme.  They also work for Twitter.  If you're interested, let me know.  I will give you pricing if you ask.

Traffic is Up!

Since I started posting my blog to Twitter and Facebook, the page views on this blog have gone up exponentially.  In numbers, there were 200 page views last month.  Considering there were only 1200 posts over a year's time, I doubled my monthly readers!  I'm impressed.

I am going to start doing a little more here, like loading pictures and talking about more than BISD.  I hope I keep you interested.  If you like what you read, please leave a comment to let me know.  I like reading and responding to comments.  That's part of what makes a blog fun.

Thanks for reading!!  Come back often!!  

My Resume

As you may have noticed, I am updating my blog to better network myself.  I have added a link to the posts about BISD that I have written, plus I have added a page telling you a little about me and one that shows where my footprint can be found online.

Today, I added a page that has my resume on it.  I'm not sure this will help me get a job, but maybe if someone actually read my blog (which I hope someone is) that maybe if they see my resume, something will click and it will help me get a job somewhere.

My Return to Blogging

It has been a while since I have blogged.  I felt that most people I knew were migrating to Facebook so that's where I should be - so that's where I have been.  But I think it is now time to return to blogging, and here's why.

Last night a classmate of mine observed that although I seemed to be passionate about what I was saying, sometimes it was hard to discern exactly what my thoughts were about...where was the frame of reference for what I was saying?  I get this...sometimes a post comes up on Facebook and unless you have specifically read the article or the previous post that was referenced you are lost as to why this person is saying this thing.  I get it.  Add to that the fact that facebook is so static that sometimes you have to go back what seems like forever to find what the post refers to...and then while do that Facebook refreshes and you have lost what you were trying to understand.  It gets confusing.

Blogging allows us to fully develop thoughts in a way that readers can get the entire grasp of what we are saying.  We have more room for thoughts to be spelled out and for references to be made without them getting lost in the shuffle.  So here I am, back to the blog where it all started six years ago.

When I started blogging it was purely for my own personal reflections.  I posted pictures of my kids and talked about their accomplishments.  In that I posted personal commentary on current events and political issues that are important to me, but mostly kept it family oriented.  This worked for a while.  I look at that blog and remember how I was blogging daily, sometimes several times a day; but then I found Facebook and all of that changed.  I migrated with the crowd and found myself totally intrigued by the constant updates and just everything people decided to share.  So much has changed since I first started blogging.

Back then, Facebook was still for the college set.  If you were not on one of the college campuses, you really didn't use Facebook.  Blogs were for the stay-at-home-moms and professionals who had something to say and wanted others to read it.  It was our way of communicating and coming together before Facebook.  Back then no one knew what a tweet was, and Instagram and Pinterest hadn't even been though of yet.  We are so much further along now than we were just a mere six years ago.

So why am I coming back to blogging?  Well, because I feel I have something to say and I want to share it in a way that is more informative and has a frame of reference that can be understood.  I want to talk politics and grammar and all of those things I comment on when on Facebook but I want to do it in a more open way.  I want you all to join in the discussion.  I want you to become more informed by the discussion.  I want to spark dialogue that is rational and provocative without being hateful.  If you want to participate, you are welcome to do so.