Are all Facebook groups....

Good luck finding that.

Bahahah.  One day when I get there...

Wonder why.  Expat/retirement is supposed to be fun eh?

colinoscapee wrote:

Good luck finding that.

Finding a Facebook site that doesnt have the things mentioned will be virtually impossible.

Careful. Some groups are run by downright arrogant and obnoxious admins and moderators.

At least read the description of the group. If you join, see how the admins and mods behave then decide how much to contribute to group (if at all). There is often more than one group, so you'll have a choice.

I recently had an unpleasant experience with a group called 'humerus fracture support' group. I joined the group for support with my injury. Since the beginning, some of my questions were not posted citing dubious reasons. Latest question was not posted by admin Beth citing it was 'not kind' and 'not productive'.

The founder of the group 'Sam Finlayson' first started a wordpress site using the name 'stephanie Murray', then apparently started the Facebook group with her real name.
When I asked her if Stephanie murray was her, she said she started the wordpress site under a psydonym. But if you visit https://steph214f.wordpress.com/
You will see she has two pictures of what looks like hospital tags from a 'stephanie murray'.

Now I've joined another support group. That is much better. a former advanced physiotherapist runs it. Not some illiterate admins or moderator giving wrong info then at the same time warning others of the dangers of wrong info.

I have been chatting with someone there who said they too experienced similar issues at humerus fracture support group, so they left.

On highnsight, what I should have done was joined both groups then focused on the fracture support group (which is run by the advanced physiotherapist)

Perhaps Instagram is a better platform. 

Here in the States I belong to a few Facebook groups I really enjoy.  One is all about the food scene here in Portland.  No negative reviews.  No selling.  Just folks showing off nice meals they made or the places they went and had interesting or beautiful food.  They might share a link or recipe and that is about it.

Another one is just wildlife/outdoor photos.  Short blurbs about what we are seeing, context, perhaps some coordinates for others to enjoy themselves and that's about it.

One is all fishing in the Pacific Northwest.

Another is AKC dog training.

I use Instagram for travel or funky photos.

With Vietnam being so beautiful and rich in culture it seems like a natural. It would be good to see how folks are having fun or expressing themselves.

Hanoi Nature's not too bad, although there do seem to be a few more ads for homestays and things. still, not too bad

Jimpdxusa wrote:

.....Ones that share photos of cool adventures, hikes, ..... Sharing interesting or artistic photography, cultural or street art, fun experiences at events (not marketing them mind you), positive interactions with locals? Tales of fun day trips or interesting cultural experiences?  Life that is the good stuff where you stop and live in the moment?
....

Look at youtube channels. Vung tau rider (not sure if he does videos anymore, but some of his previous ones may be still relevant. especially good for u.s. retirees looking to retire in Vietnam), rusty compass (crazy aussie visting places like Hue, Vietnam, breaking in to sweat trecking temples in Cambodia, admiring the Vietnamese countryside), Ninja teacher etc...

Of course nothing like visiting and discovering yourself. When a place gets recommended it becomes tainted with the Tripadvisor effect. You go there look around and see it's full of people like you out to repeat the same 'wonderful' experience someone had before.

There are both private and public groups on Facebook. I imagine the private groups are more strictly moderated and focused on specific activities, ex. Bits and Bikes Vietnam.

I'm not a member of any FB groups but I browse through the public expats in Vung Tau groups regularly and occasionally see some of the things you mention. Maybe look for groups for specific locations,  ex. Expats in Danang.

Another factor is that Vietnam is not really a very fun country. Sitting on stools or tiny plastic chairs drinking 20-cent glasses of unpasteurized beer on the sidewalk seems to be just about the apex of enjoyment here.

Bahahah.  Great I will fit right in.  But you underestimate the tomfoolery I can have on a barstool and 20c beers.

johnross23 wrote:

Another factor is that Vietnam is not really a very fun country. Sitting on stools drinking 20-cent glasses of unpasteurized beer seems to be just about the apex of enjoyment here.

Jimpdxusa wrote:

Hello,

Question for ya.  Are there any Facebook groups that are for just talk?  For fun, joy, happiness and love?

I see tons of them hawking chit.  Food items, apartments, yoga, ESL, jobs, crafts, marketing for business, restaurants and whatever else you can make a buck on.  Or info about Covid, visas, blah blah blah.

Are there any about joy, fun, love?  Pages where any of the above are not allowed?  Ones that share photos of cool adventures, hikes, beaches, families & kids having fun?  Sharing interesting or artistic photography, cultural or street art, fun experiences at events (not marketing them mind you), positive interactions with locals? Tales of fun day trips or interesting cultural experiences?  Life that is the good stuff where you stop and live in the moment?

Are they all geared to selling, how-to, complaints, or newbies like myself asking for silly Facebook pages?

IMHO...

Anytime you start a Facebook group geared toward Expats in Vietnam, you will immediately need to decide how to deal with countless local citizens who have access to the internet AND see you as either a promising customer or a potential mark.

So you have to keep tight control regarding new members as well as closely policing the behavior of members who suddenly decide they must violate the rules of the group because their off-topic post is vital for you to see (in their minds).

Almost all the groups I use here fail to do that, so I only engage in them when I have a specific request.

If you're willing to be a seriously committed admin you could certainly start a group and probably have a nice group of people join soon after.

Good luck.

Jimpdxusa wrote:

Bahahah.  Great I will fit right in.  But you underestimate the tomfoolery I can have on a barstool and 20c beers.

johnross23 wrote:

Another factor is that Vietnam is not really a very fun country. Sitting on stools drinking 20-cent glasses of unpasteurized beer seems to be just about the apex of enjoyment here.

That sounds a more enterprising use of your time.

At least you will be relaxed and refreshed.

Hopefully, you will be in good company.

I've seen some folks on the Internet who will swear by only engaging with particular requests but then also need the urge to comment how a particular thread 'sucks'. Imagine if you do that in a bar, when you are face to face with people.

OceanBeach you are exactly right. 

You set it up as private but searchable that gives a little ditty about what the group is all about.   It doesn't show who is in the group or what is being discussed.  People ask to join or are invited.

You set it up with qualifying questions folks need to answer and you can accept or decline them.  One such question is have you read the rules and will abide by them?  If people don't play well in the sandbox just bounce them.  As it grows you have multiple moderators to keep the kids in line or give timeouts in the corner as needed.

Post it up on a few forums like this and it will slowly grow and pick up steam. 

One of the food groups I am in, I joined when there were 20 +\- and now has 3000.  We will do bar take overs (with establishment ok) or meet at a festival and to eat/drink.  We have rented campsites and had a weekend of who can make the best campfire food.  Do potlucks, tailgaters and so on.  We have run contests where there is a set food item or food theme and see who can make it prettiest or standout someway and post up the photo.

A group can be for any subject, hobby, location or whatever.  For sale, for help, how to or just being rude gets the boot no questions asked.  Bub bye.

When I get there I will set up something.  Hopefully one of y'all do too. 

OceanBeach92107 wrote:

Jimpdxusa wrote:

Hello,

Question for ya.  Are there any Facebook groups that are for just talk?  For fun, joy, happiness and love?

I see tons of them hawking chit.  Food items, apartments, yoga, ESL, jobs, crafts, marketing for business, restaurants and whatever else you can make a buck on.  Or info about Covid, visas, blah blah blah.

Are there any about joy, fun, love?  Pages where any of the above are not allowed?  Ones that share photos of cool adventures, hikes, beaches, families & kids having fun?  Sharing interesting or artistic photography, cultural or street art, fun experiences at events (not marketing them mind you), positive interactions with locals? Tales of fun day trips or interesting cultural experiences?  Life that is the good stuff where you stop and live in the moment?

Are they all geared to selling, how-to, complaints, or newbies like myself asking for silly Facebook pages?

IMHO...

Anytime you start a Facebook group geared toward Expats in Vietnam, you will immediately need to decide how to deal with countless local citizens who have access to the internet AND see you as either a promising customer or a potential mark.

So you have to keep tight control regarding new members as well as closely policing the behavior of members who suddenly decide they must violate the rules of the group because their off-topic post is vital for you to see (in their minds).

Almost all the groups I use here fail to do that, so I only engage in them when I have a specific request.

If you're willing to be a seriously committed admin you could certainly start a group and probably have a nice group of people join soon after.

Good luck.

As OB said, the locals will join and break the rules. They will  use numerous profiles to join and get their friends to also post their crap for them.  They do this buy flogging their businesses off in replies to other posts.I was the admin for two expat pages and I can tell you it's a never ending job getting rid of locals breaking the rules.

colinoscapee wrote:

As OB said, the locals will join and break the rules. They will  use numerous profiles to join and get their friends to also post their crap for them.  They do this buy flogging their businesses off in replies to other posts.I was the admin for two expat pages and I can tell you it's a never ending job getting rid of locals breaking the rules.

Same problems this site is starting to have again.
Rick

Some sites have groups. They are just not official groups.

Jimpdxusa wrote:

Post it up on a few forums like this and it will slowly grow and pick up steam.

It is against the rules of this forum to promote Facebook links here.

You don't have to post the link.

OceanBeach92107 wrote:

Jimpdxusa wrote:

Post it up on a few forums like this and it will slowly grow and pick up steam.

It is against the rules of this forum to promote Facebook links here.

Jimpdxusa wrote:

Hello,

Question for ya.  Are there any Facebook groups that are for just talk?  For fun, joy, happiness and love?

I see tons of them hawking chit.  Food items, apartments, yoga, ESL, jobs, crafts, marketing for business, restaurants and whatever else you can make a buck on.  Or info about Covid, visas, blah blah blah.

Are they all geared to selling, how-to, complaints, or newbies like myself asking for silly Facebook pages?

Actually, there are quite a good number of them. 

I'm a member of 2 Vietnamese language music groups (public), one Vietnamese language local history group (private), 4 multi language author groups (private), one multi language music group (public), and one local history group (private, American).  The largest group has 39K members; the smallest one has 800.  The oldest group was created 15 years ago; the newest one was 6 years ago. 

In all the years since I became a member, none of them has ever been invaded by any unwanted posts except once.  It was a post last year with a link to a magazine article written to purposely insult a group member of an author group.  The post was removed with a clear explanation from the moderator.  Other than that, every group, even the 3 Vietnamese groups, is clean of adverts, spam, soliciting, etc.

Could it be because the group members are there for only one purpose: to share their passion about books, music, or local history, so spammers feel there's not much there for them to wreck havoc?

Perfect!  How does one join such group?  In cursory FB searches I have not come across them.  But this is exactly what I am talking about.  Good to know some are out there.  Gives me hope.

Ciambella wrote:

Jimpdxusa wrote:

Hello,

Question for ya.  Are there any Facebook groups that are for just talk?  For fun, joy, happiness and love?

I see tons of them hawking chit.  Food items, apartments, yoga, ESL, jobs, crafts, marketing for business, restaurants and whatever else you can make a buck on.  Or info about Covid, visas, blah blah blah.

Are they all geared to selling, how-to, complaints, or newbies like myself asking for silly Facebook pages?

Actually, there are quite a good number of them. 

I'm a member of 2 Vietnamese language music groups (public), one Vietnamese language local history group (private), 4 multi language author groups (private), one multi language music group (public), and one local history group (private, American).  The largest group has 39K members; the smallest one has 800.  The oldest group was created 15 years ago; the newest one was 6 years ago. 

In all the years since I became a member, none of them has ever been invaded by any unwanted posts except once.  It was a post last year with a link to a magazine article written to purposely insult a group member of one of the 4 English author groups.  The post was removed with a clear explanation from the moderator.  Other than that, every group, even the 3 Vietnamese groups, is clean of adverts, spam, soliciting, etc.

Could it be because the group members are there for only one purpose: to share their passion about books, music, or local history, so spammers feel there's not much there for them to wreck havoc?

Jimpdxusa wrote:

Perfect!  How does one join such group?  In cursory FB searches I have not come across them.  But this is exactly what I am talking about.  Good to know some are out there.  Gives me hope.

For author groups, you search for the author whose books you cannot live without.  Two of the 4 authors in the groups I belong died a long time ago but the group members know the plots, the quotes, the dialogues, the vocabulary used in the books, etc. by heart.  They're the devoted readers who read all of the authors' work over and over and over and over again, then they shared that passion with their spouses and children.

For the 2 Vietnamese musician groups, both musicians (Phạm Duy, the father of Vietnamese music, and Trịnh Công Sơn, the voice of peace) also died quite a few years back.  They're also pre-'75 musicians.  You search for their names, make sure to add the word "group" at the end.

The Vietnamese local history group is called Saigon Xưa (Old Saigon) whose true members are old timers who know literally every corner of the city before '75, and the younger members who were born after '75 asking questions about the city they never had a chance to know.

Facebook became open to the public on 26 September 2006. Facebook groups became available to the public in October 2010. Unless, one was attending Harvard or Yale, Stanford, Columbia (after March 2004) or other ivy league and Boston area schools thereafter, or other u.s. or Canadian university, or a u.k. University soon after 01 October 2005, it is unlikely they were part of a facebook group that began 15 years ago.

sanooku wrote:

Facebook became open to the public on 26 September 2006. Facebook groups became available to the public in October 2010. Unless, one was attending Harvard or Yale, Stanford, Columbia (after March 2004) or other ivy league and Boston area schools thereafter, or other u.s. or Canadian university, or a u.k. University soon after 01 October 2005, it is unlikely they were part of a facebook group that began 15 years ago.

I don't post false information. Here's the proof:

Group created on 1 October 2006

Although, to be precise, the group was created 14 years, 6 months, and 9 days ago, so it's not actually 15 years yet.  You can fault me on that technicality.

OceanBeach92107 wrote:

It is against the rules of this forum to promote Facebook links here.

I see you are back to your old habit of citing rules that may or may not exist.  Can you direct us to precisely where you think this rule is written?

Perhaps you meant this section from the VIETNAM FORUM CODE OF CONDUCT thread: 

expat.com wrote:

ADVERTISING:

The forum is not aimed at helping you to promote your company and products. If your thread is of a commercial nature, please use the dedicated sections: we invite you to register in theVietnam Business directory or to have a look at our Advertising page.

The forum cant be used to promote external groups or organizations. Should you want to organize gatherings/activities with the other members, kindly get in touch with us: we would be pleased to help you.

If so, I think your interpretation still needs confirmation from either Julian or one of his top level moderators.  Personally, I don't feel that posting a link is the same as promoting a group or organizing a gathering.  I don't feel that Facebook groups, which exist only in the virtual realm, are the same as in-person organizations.

I find it ironic to find myself defending Facebook, an entity that I detest for its effect on the US body politic.   

Ciambella wrote:

sanooku wrote:

Facebook became open to the public on 26 September 2006. Facebook groups became available to the public in October 2010. Unless, one was attending Harvard or Yale, Stanford, Columbia (after March 2004) or other ivy league and Boston area schools thereafter, or other u.s. or Canadian university, or a u.k. University soon after 01 October 2005, it is unlikely they were part of a facebook group that began 15 years ago.

I don't post false information. Here's the proof:

Group created on 1 October 2006

Although, to be precise, the group was created 14 years, 6 months, and 9 days ago, so it's not actually 15 years yet.  You can fault me on that technicality.

If a difference of nearly 6 months is a mere technicality, the Queen of U.K could claim that her husband lived for a century - not 99 years, 9 months and 30 days.

To be honest, when I first read your post, the first bit of detail that was a red flag was the '15 years ago'. My first thought was 'were facebook groups around 15 years ago'.  I knew that facebook itself began at Harvard over 15 years ago. My research then led me to become aware that someone did join a facebook group as far back as Summer 2005, however she joined 'nearly immediately after Facebook launched to all colleges'

Going by her experience there may well be groups that are older than 15 years. However, from your post I got the impression that you were part of the group on creation. Thats how come I was saying anyone part of these groups would have had to be part of the colleges or universities (because facebook groups to the public were available much later as 2010). Anyhow, the group you mentioned was created nearly 15 years ago. Not 15 years ago.

sanooku wrote:

However, from your post I got the impression that you were part of the group on creation.

Well, your impression was wrong. I didn't say I was part of the group 15 years ago. I said, "The oldest group was created 15 years ago; the newest one was 6 years ago."

sanooku wrote:

If a difference of nearly 6 months is a mere technicality, the Queen of U.K could claim that her husband lived for a century - not 99 years, 9 months and 30 days.

Anyhow, the group you mentioned was created nearly 15 years ago. Not 15 years ago.

I knew you would say that.  You just had to find something to poke at, to make a hole out of, then to dig and dig and dig.  You would go on even after everyone in the audience has left, even after no one replied to your post anymore.  It's the same thing you've been doing on this forum for years now, and you couldn't stop yourself under any circumstance.  That's why I gave you the opening by saying,  "Although, to be precise, the group was created 14 years, 6 months, and 9 days ago, so it's not actually 15 years yet.  You can fault me on that technicality."  I knew you would jump on it.

Say thank you, sanooku.  The floor is yours, so have at it.  I'm leaving for a 10-day trip today; I'm taking a well-deserved break from the forum.  Have fun.

Jeebus folks this might be better settled with pistols at 10 paces.

People, I just want to say, can't we all get along? Rodney King, May 1, 1992

Oh and it's this kind of stuff that would get you bounced from a FB group.  😂

Group hug?

Jimpdxusa wrote:

Jeebus folks this might be better settled with pistols at 10 paces.

Get used to it but remember that they are all water pistols.

Super Soakers.

THIGV wrote:

Jimpdxusa wrote:

Jeebus folks this might be better settled with pistols at 10 paces.

Get used to it but remember that they are all water pistols.