Yes. I have.

But I should hasten to say that I've only had that experience in groups run by people I knew to be knowledgeable.

If I had the sort of experience you describe, I'd probably unsubscribe from that group.

I agree with Jeri- that group sounds unworthy, lol. Seriously speaking though, isn't it embarrassing to see how ignoble some people can be? They literally cannot tolerate criticism,to the point that they will simply "slam the door in your face" if you ever dare to touch their precious, delicate egos...

Yes, Bart. That is so true.

Yes, I agree too. Unless a post or whatever is intentionally nasty, I try to stop any immediate negative reaction I might have to it, read it again, and then either say something nice, or just ignore it. Using written communication makes it much more difficult to get any sort of nuance into communication, and makes misinterpretation and misunderstandings easier.

Reacting to a sort of factual comment by screeching, and walking off in a huff, is so unfortunate, and I personally do not need to communicate with people who do that.

Jackie

Why in the world would you care enough about growing roses that you'd want to "report" someone for "bad" info? Especially when you could just post the correct rose growing info.
It's like everybody has appointed themselves Hall Monitor nowadays,  trying to control other people. It's not a good look.
Carla in Sac

@sautesmom Sacramento I did post correct information. The reason why I reported this person is because in his posts he set himself up as the end all of information and that his was absolutely unquestionable. I wanted the people who ran the group to know that someone was ultimately hurting the group and rose growing in general with bad information. To put my feelings in another way, I'm not going to stand by and let someone announce on a megaphone that the best way to know that your stove's burner is hot enough to cook is to place your hand on the burner.

This is why Facebook is the WORST place for seeking quality information. Way too many self-appointed "experts" spouting nonsense and claiming it as definitive and accurate. And as Brandon has illustrated, if you try to correct misinformation, you can be sure someone has a cyber-flail ready and waiting to eagerly punish you.

I wouldn't touch that sh*t.

Oh, boy, do I agree with Paul. I wouldn't touch Facebook with a 10 foot pole, never have, never will. Diane

I got rid of facebook years ago and I don't miss it at all. Any hesitancy you have should scare you. A tech company should not have inserted itself that far into your day to day life.

One word: FARCEbook.

It's not worth the stress, Brandon. I applaud your effort, but it's a losing battle.

"This is why Facebook is the WORST place for seeking quality information."

@User, I agree that looking for quality information on facebook isn't the place to do it. However, there are people out there that don't know where else to look. There have been times that I have pointed out to people helpmefind.com and here.

I get it, facebook isn't for everyone. But if someone isn't there to help people find other solutions then why should we on the forum bemoan the fact that when people think of roses they think of either a) fussy, too much work, chemical dependent, etc; or b) Knockout roses and their ilk?

@roseseek @fig_insanity Z7b E TN since you guys referred to picking my battles and it being a losing battle, I get that as well. I'm not saying that you are wrong. I just can't say that I feel good about myself just letting incorrect information about roses go. I have spent far too long growing them, learning about them to not try.

I hope that I didn't offend anyone by stating my opinion on a few of the comments.

@Brandon Garner nope, not offensive at all. You picked the battle in which you wished to engage. As you "mature" (ahem..) and energy becomes more precious, your choice of battles is highly likely to "evolve". Yes, FB is the worst place for seeking quality anything, other than photos. But, there are still many who prefer the "coffee table book" photos and information as opposed to anything with any real "nutrition". Unfortunately, it's the one remaining way to continue engaging with a number of people with whom I wish to remain engaged and I HAVE seen photos of roses (and many other plants) I have only ever read of previously.

Brandon, you certainly haven't offended me. I'm the one who jumped in late with my two cents' worth, lol. If anything, you have my sympathies.

@fig_insanity Z7b E TN in my opinion there is almost never a late point to jump in a conversation if you feel like you have a point to add.

sometimes the way that i phrase things has offended people unintentionally

Facebook has never interested me. I joined for about a half day, had someone I never met ask to be my friend, and it just seemed silly so I ended my membership. I have a sense from what others say about it that people can judge themselves harshly compared to the dazzling way some people present themselves on Facebook. Maybe it's common for people to create a super version of their lives on Facebook to impress people. Seems like that could be addicting

.

I feel sad for those teenagers who take Facebook so seriously that some have killed themselves as a result of a group forming a consensus against them. Death by hive mind. Facebook likes or dislikes must seem the voice of the universe has spoken!

An Emily Dickenson poem:

I'm Nobody! Who are you?
Are you – Nobody – too?
Then there's a pair of us!
Don't tell! they'd advertise – you know!

How dreary – to be – Somebody!
How public – like a Frog –
To tell one's name – the livelong June –
To an admiring Bog!

I don't think teens take Facebook seriously (I live with one)--maybe TikTok. Diane

I didn't hear about teens killing themselves over Facebook. Yikes. Fortunately for me Facebook wasn't around when I was a teenager. It did come out until I was in my 20's

I need to report here that there have been positive connections made via Facebook. One of the European rose people I have met contacted me for assistance in downloading information from a US source on old catalogs. People in the US could access it but overseas couldn't. I supplied him with the pdf files and he compiled them into a set so they are more widely available. He then sent me these links for articles, publications and catalogs he has uploaded to the Internet Archive. I would very likely never have made his acquaintance had it not been for our being able to "meet" via Facebook. Take a look at these. If you enjoy seeing what WAS, this should keep you busy for a while!

Dear Kim,

Do you know my online-collection of Rose-Books and -Periodicals plus my collection of Rose-Catalogues?

2,264 books and periodicals:

http://roses.shoutwiki.com/wiki/Literatur

and

2,700 Rose-Catalogues

http://roses.shoutwiki.com/wiki/Rosenkataloge

They are all online, everybody can read them, search inside (in most of them) and if you like to have them on your own computer, download them with one click.

I uploaded more than 800 books etc to Archive.org and if I find some more time, I will add another 500 - 1000 catalogues. If I find a digitalized rose-book, I immediately upload it to Archive.org and my collection is growing.

Did our friend Girija show you the collection of all articles Viru and Girija have written?

https://archive.org/details/all-articles-of-girija-and-viru-viraraghavan

That was a job of several weeks to bring all these articles into PDFs, combine them to a book and secure it in Archive.org.

Girija and Viru were so happy and grateful - but I think every rose-breeder should read it!

Have a nice Sunday!

Rudolf

I'm a web engineer, so I always have a Facebook account to test my codes. I haven't used it a lot until recently when I needed to search for more information about gardening. Because there are a lot of active users on Facebook, it could feel overwhelming at first. However, there are settings that you need to change/turn off so Facebook won't notify you of every little thing. It’s all right NOT to accept friend requests on Facebook :)

I treat Facebook as one of the tools to search for information. It's not academic so use it as one source of info and compare it with other sources. Especially with gardening, there are so many things that can influence the outcome. For example, if I put an average-health rose on the left side of my house, I would say it has poor health and doesn't repeat much. On the other hand, if I put the same rose on the right side of my house, I would say it has great health and blooms all the time. There are reasons why roses don't grow well on the left side of my house (not enough sun or just afternoon sun, bad drainage...)

When I see different opinions, I often just say from my experience and environment, here is what I see and let others make their own opinions because their experiences and environments are different.

I agree with Diane. Most teens don’t care about Facebook nowadays. Facebook users are older. Recently, I just showed my mom how to use Facebook so she can post photos of the orchids from her garden to share them with her friends :) Helen

It was a couple of years ago I read about a teenage girl who killed herself after being bullied online. I may have been wrong that it was on Facebook. Might have been Myspace or some other forum. It's not uncommon that kids are bullied online and apparently most of it happens to people of middle school age.

Here's something from the meganmeierfoundation.org

CYBERBULLYING

" Individuals who have experienced cyberbullying at some point in their lifetimes have more than doubled from 18% (in 2007) to 37% (in 2019) (Patchin & Hinduia, 2019)

Over 60% of students who experience cyberbullying reported that it immensely impacted their ability to learn and feel safe while at school (Hinduja, 2018)

59% of U.S. teens have been bullied or harassed online, and over 90% believe it's a major problem for people their age (Pew Research Center, 2018)

I don't deny there's a vast potential for good on the internet but I think internet communication can be a powerful source of pain when people use it to hurt others. It's powerful because it's so public, and sometimes anonymous, and people , especially young people of middle school age, can be very cliqueish and unkind to " the other" outside their group. ""

Not that all this has a lot to do with reporting someone for misinformation.

I used Facebook for a while a few years back. One day I noticed how it seems to make many people unhappy and the lack of privacy it represents. I closed my account and never looked back, I am happier for it. I still struggle to make others understand I do not want my picture or my child’s posted on anyones facebook, but that’s another matter. Stay out of Facebook and save yourself further headaches.

KIM SAID:

"I need to report here that there have been positive connections made via Facebook."

Honestly, I think you get out of most things what you put into them. I've met many great people through FB . . . and those who were "negative," well . . . easily-blocked.

I use Facebook alot. There are some wonderful rose groups and I am overwhelmed with pictures of beautiful gardens from all over the world.

I agree, that there is a huge lack of privacy and lots of junk but I have met some amazing people that I have built some wonderful relationships with.

I have learned that most of the time I do well to zip my lip and not engage with the posts that irritate me.

Paul Zimmerman has a wonderfully informative site on Facebook

Kristine LeGault said:

"I have learned that most of the time I do well to zip my lip and not engage with the posts that irritate me."

When you think about it, that's not a bad life-lesson, overall. :-)

There ARE unkind people online who get off on publicly hurting or dominating other people. Kids are especially vulnerable but it happens to adults too. The harm is done before they can begin to get perspective and just ignore. Kids are known for believing that what they're experiencing now will always be that way. No perspective . And some vulnerable adults might temporarily or even habitually lack ability to ignore unkindness. Meanness is not their fault and they didn't ask for it.

My primary objection to Facebook is its "walled garden" tactic.

Oh, Paul, it's run by idiots.

(But, then, HOUZZ . . . )

I joined FB ~5 years ago only so I could participate in an AP Chemistry group there. For > 10 years before that, I was a member of an AP Chem forum administered by the College Board. One of the members created a FB group, but I resisted joining for over a year, b/c I wanted nothing to do with FB. I finally relented, and it's by far the best AP Chem group out there. The folks are wonderful, and it's a great combo of newbies and grizzled veterans (like me), and it's very active. I see no ads, I am FB friends with no one, I get no news from FB. The admins and mods are great, and are folks I've "known" forever from the old forum. All I'm saying is that while I hate FB overall, there are some FB groups there that are wonderful, and completely untouched by what we think about FB. Several rose acquaintances recommended a couple of rose FB groups recently, which I signed up for, and they're fine, but way too many photos for my personal taste. Sorry so long.

I'm only on FB in order to recieve posts put up by my cousins,relatives and friends (flesh-and-blood humans that I know ). It's been useful in that it has helped me get back in touch with people with whom I went to school, etc. And it helps me remember birthdays. But I post NO personal stuff AT ALL-no photos, etc; I just put up articles and photos that I see and like on-line-which is another useful thing about it; it's a way of "saving" said pictures. Though it certainly is useful I do not trust Internet.

You have to pick your battles. Someone posting something on FB about rose growing you disagree with isn't something I would choose to battle over. Just post your opinion and let it go. Just like pretty much everything on the internet.

I agree with @erasmus_gw, and truly online bullies are the worst. Like all bullies, they are narcissistic cowards, but the online ones don’t even have the guts to directly confront the people they attack. Of course, they behave this way because they are shallow, miserable and envious, and this is how they try to fill their empty lives. They're actually rather pathetic and are, I suppose, to be pitied. But while most adults can see through this behavior I’m not sure it would be possible for a kid or a very young person to do so.

And I think kidhorn2 is right, you do have to pick your battles. FB can be useful professionally, it's a good way to keep up with people you might otherwise completely lose contact with, and of course it's great for viewing cute pictures of pets and baby fruit bats and the like. But I do think it's a bad idea to post anything very personal on FB.

Cousins on Facebook. Long lost or previously unknown. A happy surprise sometimes.

I've found 23 and Me genetic company an unexpected way to connect with relatives I didn't know I had. I found out that I have a cousin about my age in CO. He was adopted, and thinks his father was my father's sister's son. This son died at a young age. He must have had a baby without being married. I am glad to make this cousin's acquaintance as he is so very interested in his relatives. He is a firefighter, or retired one. I named a rose seedling after his grandma and plan to send him one only it is not very vigorous or hardy and might not make it in CO so I am going to name another one after her. I found another cousin through 23 and Me who is very nice.

When I said I thought it was silly when someone on Facebook friended me I don't mean I think other people are silly if they like being friended on Facebook...I just had never posted a thing so was completely unknown to this person and it seemed just strange to me to be " friended" . I like , to some extent, to connect online but I am a little cautious as well.

While I love, love Houzz, facebook works for quick opinions or info. If I want to know who has tried some obscure organic thing for roses, often someone will on fb. If I want to know who in my area grows a certain DA rose, someone on fb. If I want to find certain amendments or soil or mulch in my area, fb usually.

If I want expert and thoughtful information = Houzz (or a couple people on fb.) If I want to basically poll and get lots of opinions or info. very local to me = fb

Facebook rose gardening is lots of new rose gardeners or rose gardeners looking to connect with others who share their passion. I don't think I would have gone back to fb, except that my state stayed pretty well lockdown for the whole 2 years...people did curbside pick up at nurseries. The Rose Societies were zoomed. Masked people, where I live, did not talk to strangers. I had just gotten into roses and finding anyone local to share that with was impossible without fb.

Brandon....For a brief while I needed to use fb for connecting with a group over medical research....wow, the amount of staunch "founts of wisdom!" The funny thing is there was so many of them and they usually differed from each other. Since the thing was so new, it all added to the mix of knowledge and experience. Wonder if fb attracts that kind of thing?