RE: Sports Chat Group Member Discrimination Accusation

[maward29]

Jurisdiction

New York

I have currently become a moderator of a Facebook sports chat group and one of the issues the group is currently facing is a member who has, on more than one occasion pushed the envelope with the rules of the group that are located in a pinned post on the groups Facebook page. They have been dealing with this member for awhile and have tried to get him to understand how his statements are essentially breaking the rules but he continues to at times have comments that go against the format of the group. It has started to come to a head now upon the request by this member to become a group moderator when a post went out searching for others who would be interested in becoming one. When he was reminded of the current issues with his posts and not really wanting to proceed in that direction with him right now, he began to continually private message and essentially threaten the group that it will be ruined by not being fair to him. And now the one piece of information none of us could have ever known about this member because it is a "Chat" forum was just revealed to us by him and it is that he is autistic. And he is claiming he is being discriminated against by the group moderators because he is autistic. So I am looking for advice on how to proceed with this. We have been talking about removing him from the group because we have not been able to effectively communicate what he needs to do to be in compliance with the rules of the group, and now after revealing this about himself we are kind of at a loss on how to proceed.

 

[army judge]

We have been talking about removing him from the group because we have not been able to effectively communicate what he needs to do to be in compliance with the rules of the group, and now after revealing this about himself we are kind of at a loss on how to proceed.

I rarely visit FakeBook.

I have friends who like it.

One told me a story about a person similar to the one you describe.

He belonged to a group of about 75 people.

Rather than arguing with the Buzzkill, the entire group simply created another FakeBook Gaggle and secured it so as to EXCLUDE Buzzkill.

That was about two years ago, and they've enjoyed their relative peace and calm absent Buzzkill.

You might attempt a similar move (pun intended) with your crude dude.

 

[zddoodah]

Your post doesn't really raise any legal issues. This is a private group. If you don't want this guy in the group, kick him out. That he is autistic isn't relevant. Or "army judge's" suggestion is probably a good one too.

 

[Highwayman]

Grow up. You're talking about Facebook of all things, this is hardly a legal issue. It's childishness.

If this person is breaking your "rules" then throw him out of your group. Or better yet, learn to chat with people in person instead of Facebook.

 

[maward29]

Grow up. You're talking about Facebook of all things, this is hardly a legal issue. It's childishness.

If this person is breaking your "rules" then throw him out of your group. Or better yet, learn to chat with people in person instead of Facebook.

 

[maward29]

So just saying there isn't a legal issue here would have sufficed. I thought I would receive professional advice here. I guess this is one forum I will be exiting and not recommending to others.

 

[maward29]

Your post doesn't really raise any legal issues. This is a private group. If you don't want this guy in the group, kick him out. That he is autistic isn't relevant. Or "army judge's" suggestion is probably a good one too.

Thank you.

 

[maward29]

I rarely visit FakeBook.

I have friends who like it.

One told me a story about a person similar to the one you describe.

He belonged to a group of about 75 people.

Rather than arguing with the Buzzkill, the entire group simply created another FakeBook Gaggle and secured it so as to EXCLUDE Buzzkill.

That was about two years ago, and they've enjoyed their relative peace and calm absent Buzzkill.

You might attempt a similar move (pun intended) with your crude dude.

.

Thank you.

 

[ElleMD]

Ban him from the group and block him if you don't wish to receive his private messages. Problem solved.

 

[Michael Wechsler]

Anyone can claim anything. Whether it actually is taken seriously (or should be) is another question. Many will huff and puff and all that steam generated will go nowhere.

Facebook has a terms of service and policies governing user conduct. If you ban a member and have some reasonable opinion and decision for doing so, what do you expect Facebook to do? How about the user? Does anyone really have incentive of investing significant time and money delving into deep investigation if, doing a quick reasonable review, that none of the acceptable use policies governing user conduct were broken? My guess is probably not. Facebook and most other community sites have little incentive to waste valuable resources to investigate what would appear to be a dead end or what some administrators may deem users having a typical disagreement and believing that such is a monumental issue (but not to the company.)

Now if the user who feels offended cares to push the matter forward, there isn't anything you can do anyway since you're subject to whatever Facebook decides. Sure you can always accept the user into your circle of trust but you may wonder whether it's worth the risk. It's your call. The legal issue, if there is one, is reviewing the Facebook legal terms and acceptable use policies and deciding whether you do or do not have an issue. Good luck.