20 February (Part 1) - You’re banned!
I thought Bonkers was slowly dying out but yesterday I had six different
politicians contact me (phone, email, WhatsApp, X DM) and a lady who goes by
the name of Amy Anon several times (via the Contact form). I assumed her messages
were from a fake email address (because it includes the word anonymous) but maybe I was
wrong. I sent a test message early this morning and it has not bounced back yet.
Amy seems to know a lot more about Facebook than I do - which would not be
difficult. She has been digging into the Bexley and Sidcup News and Views Group
which I had never heard of until this week. (See yesterday’s blog.)
This is what Amy said…
Are Labour supporters running the asylum?
Most of the [Bexley and Sidcup] posts are by or approved by Gen Brown or Lou F. Is Gen Brown a bot?
Well they have little public information on their profiles. What they do have is a profile
pic from 28/2/24. Strangely enough that’s the same date they were made Admin of the group.
A quick Google image search on the photo doesn’t pull anything up however the fact they have three friends might.
Who else? Lou Filey. Well again a bit strange. Doesn’t show any friends however they have a small digital foot print.
Three videos of Will Young supporting Labour. Then a profile picture and header pulled from
Google (Google reverse image search).
I thought Labour was all about transparency? Apparently the group is all down to someone called Caroline. Well there’s
an Admin called Caroline Gilbey. That profile looks more “real” but has only been
Admin since 5th May 2024. Non story maybe but fun playing catfish.
I confess to being biased. My experience of Facebook Admins is not good. Under a different Administrator
I had my posts deleted from the SE2 Group for being a lone voice in support of
a local taxi company that was getting an unfair slagging. Former Councillor
Danny Hackett told me - albeit some years ago - that the Bexleyheath Group was
in effect run by Labour and if you take note of the names of local Labour
Committee Members you will see them on Facebook quite often. Danny was himself a
Labour Councillor Administering the Bexleyheath Group at the time so presumably
knew what he was talking about.
I daren’t tell you who Administered a long abandoned Group called Bexley is
Bonkers. Clue: It wasn’t me.
Being a Facebook Administrator seems to bring out the worst in people. I was
banished from an electric car group of which I was a founder member for saying
Octopus Energy was not perfect. The Admin was making a fortune from their
referral scheme and saw me as a threat to his income. I was banned from a local history group that was using photos I
had taken in the 1950s; which didn’t bother me at all. However one was claimed
by the Administrator to be his own work. Someone commented on a detail of the photo
which was not very clear and I went back to the original negative and posted a
high resolution extract. I didn’t say the photo was mine but that would be
obvious to anyone who thought about it. Result - instant ban.
Power corrupts etc…