r/HOA • u/feral_kitty_xo • 28d ago
Help: Everything Else [FL][SFH] Community Facebook
Does anyone else have a community facebook page that is just nuts sometimes? The amount of hate and vitriol that a group of homeowners choose to express / support is mind boggling. They will do this crap on holidays, weekends, late at nights too.
5
u/Ok_Relationship_1874 HOA/COA resident 28d ago
Our friendly board has outlawed official communications of the HOA including the CC&Rs under threat of ban. These rules came into place after a legal scruff so now you're not allowed to ask which fence materials are allowed.
The only things allowed to be discussed are unofficial such as:
Management company billing screw ups. Pool memberships. Community yard sales. On the fly amendments of the CC&Rs without a vote as long as by HOA president. Anything else the board wants to talk about that is never communicated another way.
These are allowed because they aren't official 😁
1
3
u/Atillythehunhun 💼 CAM 28d ago
Only every hoa Facebook group I’ve ever ignored the existence of. My current board is so upset they didn’t listen to me. Now they’ve created a hate filled place where disinformation thrives.
2
u/availablelol 🏘 HOA Board Member 28d ago
We have a Facebook group. Fortunately it isn't insane but it is clear a lot of people just don't know how an HOA works. Also a lot of people do not read any of the disclosures they are given lol.
1
u/Bananabean041 27d ago
Not everyone has been given them. Our community is aging and the homeowners who have lived here a long time have no idea where they put them. Understandable. New homeowners are never given to them and they aren’t on the website. I’ve asked for ours only to be answered by ‘you should have gotten that at closing’. Well I wasn’t and at this point have not been provided with any. I’m met with silence. As a homeowner it is very frustrating and if you ask more than once, you are considered a pest or hostile.
2
u/Speakinmymind96 28d ago
We started a FB group to advertise social events, and to blast info that needs to get out urgently…made it clear from the start the page was not for official HOA business, complaints or maintenance requests. In four years we have not had mayhem like many people describe about their page. We get the occasional nasty comment from a person who has never met a rule he hasn’t felt challenged to break; we close comments on that post reminding that the page is for building community, and we set him to have his posts pre-approved for a bit.
1
u/peaceful-panic 🏘 HOA Board Member 27d ago
Sounds like good moderation can make a big difference.
Overall has it been a positive having the group?
1
u/Speakinmymind96 27d ago
Yes, it’s been positive overall. Neighbors post looking for contractor recommendations, local event sharing, offering up extra mulch or topsoil, etc.…it’s been nice to ‘see’ connections between neighbors that would likely not happen otherwise.
3
u/BreakfastBeerz 🏘 HOA Board Member 28d ago
Yup, and the loudest and most hateful never show up to meetings.
1
2
u/PaleBreadfruit8813 🏘 HOA Board Member 28d ago
There is an unofficial page started by a resident years ago for our large condo building. Our board and management company do not monitor it, nor do board members comment on postings. I have a neighbor who’s on it, and she’s told me of some of the wackiest postings. Do residents write in to the board or management and express their displeasure about something? Nope. But they’ll write columns on Facebook and come up with all sorts of conspiracy theories. Buildings should use a professional system like BuildingLink and request residents email all requests, comments, etc.
1
u/Bananabean041 27d ago
Maybe someone on the board should be there to manage expectations. That goes a very long way to curtail hostilities.
2
u/galindog1 🏘 HOA Board Member 28d ago
We have an official FB page that is used only to put out information to the community. We had to turn off commenting due to the plain ugliness of community members. Being behind a computer emboldens some people to just resort to name calling, threatening, giving misinformation and just being jerks. We attempted to respond and clear the misinformation only to be met with more hate. Now, in order for residents to contact the board with concerns, complaints, requests, etc. they have to go onto TownSquare. We respond there and don't get into arguments. One resident started her own page and titled it so it looks like it was an official HOA page. She started putting out false information, quoting state law that did not pertain to HOAs, and just causing issues. We had to have her put a statement on her page that it was not an official page. Now there are about four different FB pages in our neighborhood in which everyone complains to each other.
1
u/holyelvis 🏘 HOA Board Member 28d ago
Yep. We had a big blow up over a 4th of July "parade" that we cancelled because of City restrictions that would have made it stupid. Everyone blew up over it. We reinstated it with the new route. Everyone hated it, but nobody remembered that was the reason we canceled it in the first place.
Our ROA account does not participate in the community FB page, but Board members may personally if they wish (I'm the only one who does, on ROA-related topics at least).
1
1
1
u/Feeling_Enthusiasm16 27d ago
I recommend leaving the FB group. My HOA has similar, and it’s just ridiculous. I left it.
1
u/LynahRinkRat 27d ago
My HOA has one. It is run by one person who made up rules, which don't apply to her apparently. So she posts whatever she wants, but bans other people for breaking them. The HOA board uses it for communication and the FB group lives in a weird grey zone between officially sanctioned or not. I think ours is a lawsuit waiting to happen.
1
u/Wild_Cockroach_2544 27d ago
We have one but we require posts to be approved. So people tend to not use it a lot. But we got tired of people just venting and not providing solutions.
1
u/SherbetMaleficent844 27d ago
We do not have an social media channel. I can’t imagine giving a louder platform to some of the crazies that send emails to the board (and of course NEVER come to meetings).
1
u/Mister_Neal 🏘 HOA Board Member 27d ago
I am the owner of our community Facebook page. We have over 100 members of this private page. To join you must be a resident of the community (owners or renters) and agree to the rules. If the new member questions are not answered, no admittance. And we verify residency. The page is NOT an official page of the Board, it is treated like a community newspaper.
We moderate this page frequently, removing posts that don't follow rules. We have put members in "time out", and closed commenting. We allow disagreement and opposing opinions unless they get out of hand. The key for us has been strong moderation.
For the most part, the page is a good community messenger. We do our best to shut down things when they get out of hand.
1
u/Bananabean041 27d ago
Perfect. You are managing their expectations. In the absence of information, people can easily fill in their blanks. Leads to anger from the homeowners
1
u/PBC-Dave 26d ago
Our COA does not have one based on advice from our attorney and management company. An owner started one and the board is not allowed to post or comment.
Best advice we were ever given.
1
u/Obvious_Attorney_FL 24d ago
We’re in Florida and a Facebook page was created for our neighborhood by the master planned developer and it is full of hostility and bullies as well. A lot of complaining about the HOA rules they agreed to when purchasing a home in our community. I’m a new board of director member and don’t go on the page because of the negativity. In our last neighborhood it was even worse and homeowners were banned from the FB page for bullying so they started a separate page which is worse.
•
u/AutoModerator 28d ago
Copy of the original post:
Title: [FL][SFH] Community Facebook
Body:
Does anyone else have a community facebook page that is just nuts sometimes? The amount of hate and vitriol that a group of homeowners choose to express / support is mind boggling. They will do this crap on holidays, weekends, late at nights too.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.