The pain of Facebook

[skip.knox]

I've bailed out of one FB group. Am on the verge of bailing out of others, mainly due to the level of discourse there. I have to give credit where it is due, however. FB has shown me there is in fact such a thing as a stupid question.

I know most of the questions are sincere, but it is really, really, no seriously really difficult not to be snide. So very snide it would cause whiplash. Yeesh.

 

[FifthView]

I quit FB years ago. Mostly, I realized I spent way, way, way too much time on FB. It was soul-killing. So I quit.

 

[skip.knox]

But it's also an important platform for reaching an audience. I don't spend all that much time on it, so that aspect doesn't bother me. But there's miles of difference between discourse there and discourse here!

 

[Ned Marcus]

I've bailed out of one FB group.

Was it a craft or book marketing group?

I'm a member of several of the latter. They sometimes have stupid questions, but more good ones, luckily. Or perhaps I have high tolerance after having asked many stupid things myself.

 

[Ned Marcus]

Or a readers' group? Some of threads I've seen of those have increased my scrolling speed enormously.

 

[skip.knox]

The one that pushed me over the edge was a marketing one, but there are writer and reader ones. I stretched out a few months ago to sample those communities. Nothing I've seen has been as valuable as the three forums I hang out in, this one foremost.

At the same time, I've made a few connections in those groups, and each connection is worth a thousand head slaps. Plus, a couple of them have a pretty good round of promos, snippets, etc. so I hang in there.

 

[Ned Marcus]

I think this one, The Indie Author Mindset, is good. But I can't guarantee 0% stupid questions

 

[Prince of Spires]

FB has shown me there is in fact such a thing as a stupid question

I can't help but be very curious now....

I'm often surprised by how difficult people find it to type something in to Google.

 

[Insolent Lad]

I've never stayed long in any writing-oriented group there. I get along much better in the surfer and folk music ones.

 

[Devor]

I mentioned that there was one I used to like in another thread. I went and found it:

10 Minute Novelists Group

It's based on a book I didn't read. But I found it pretty solid. I'm not in it anymore. I skipped out of all my groups because they clogged my newsfeed on the PC, but I'm rethinking it now that I'm using a smartphone.

 

[skip.knox]

I think this one, The Indie Author Mindset, is good. But I can't guarantee 0% stupid questions

Joined today. We'll see, he said skeptically, adverbially.

 

[skip.knox]

I can't help but be very curious now....

I'm often surprised by how difficult people find it to type something in to Google.

Well, that's one of my pet peeves. People will ask things like "I'm just starting out and I want to know how to set up a newsletter. Any ideas?" or, and neither I nor Dave Barry am making this up, "How do I write fantasy?"
Once or twice, I can shudder and shrug, but it's a steady flow.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

I check out Epic Fantasy Fanatics a couple times a week, it’s headed up by Sean Hinn and some other authors, and I stumbled onto it when they started their Readers Choice Awards... it’s mostly just a shoot the shit about books group with memes and other goofy stuff, and they keep most book promo out or it would devolve into an ad platform. And Eve won their contest, so they must be good, heh heh. Groups for writing and marketing? I’ve never really seen anything that useful in one.

 

[Svrtnsse]

I would recommend SciFi Roundtable as a great place to check out. There are regularly good discussions, and it's small enough to have a sense of community that I don't see in the same way in larger groups. The moderators are also pretty good at keeping people in line.

 

[ThinkerX]

For me, Facebook is a place to read the news (haven't had television reception years and don't miss it) and keep tabs on the younger relatives, a few of whom dang near live on Facebook and related sites. As of late, I've added a couple friends from faraway lands, which makes for different perspectives.
I also get adds for multiple new books each day, some worth checking out, which makes me think that may be a good advertising venue.

 

[skip.knox]

WRT family, yes absolutely. I have a big family on my wife's side and FB is their primary means of communication, along with texting. Groups, otoh, are closer to following Sturgeon's Law.

 

[ThinkerX]

WRT family, yes absolutely. I have a big family on my wife's side and FB is their primary means of communication, along with texting. Groups, otoh, are closer to following Sturgeon's Law.

I belong to several Facebook Groups: a couple of national/international general ones, one dedicated to religious/atheist debate, a specialty group or two, and a couple aimed at 'local events' for want of a better term. None specifically dedicated to writing. Most forbid certain categories of topics (usually politics) A couple of them can get 'racy' or acrimonious, but not too terrible, by and large.

 

[Ned Marcus]

"How do I write fantasy?"

Classic

 

[A. E. Lowan]

I'm a member of a handful of FB groups, mostly dedicated to writing, mostly carefully curated to minimize drama, which I appreciate. There are writers of all ages and skill levels, much like we have here on Scribes. I've always believed that there is no such thing as a stupid question, but there is such a thing as willful ignorance. Those people are too stupid to live, in my opinion. Fortunately, I don't run across too many of them.

 

[skip.knox]

I don't run across too many either, but it's sure a challenge not to run over them.