This post is dedicated to all the obnoxious dipshits, past and future, who try to claim that they should be able to say or do or post whatever the hell they want in our Facebook group because it has the word “anarchy” in it. I’m not sure how you’ve survived this long, but your mom and I are proud of you.
-me
According to “the Goog”, anarchy has two definitions:
Don’t worry – this post isn’t going to be political.
The most annoying thing that happens in the Anarchy Scuba Facebook groups (in my opinion, at least) is when someone posts something inappropriate and/or totally off-topic that doesn’t appeal to 99% of the group. THEN this moron get angry when they are *asked* (not told) to take their post down. The response, more often than not, is, “oh, I thought this was an anarchy group,” or “this isn’t REAL anarchy!”
You’re right, douche-canoe. Spoiler alert. There’s no such thing as “anarchy” on Facebook. Facebook is “governed” by some pretty strict Community Standards. I’m not going to list them all here, feel free to look into them if you care about that sort of thing, but they are pretty basic. Don’t be racist/hateful towards a specific gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc. Don’t post overly offensive content/nudity. Don’t threaten to harm people or animals. You know. Stuff that decent human beings know they shouldn’t do.
Is that a violation of your country’s rights? Doesn’t matter. I’m in the US (for example) and have “freedom of speech”, but freedom of speech does not mean there are not consequences to what I say. When you join Facebook, you sign away your ability to say or do whatever you want, and agree to adhere to Facebook Community Standards. When those standards are violated, Facebook bans or removes individuals and sometimes entire groups. I’m not risking that shit over your need to express yourself in the lamest way possible.
So here’s the deal. “Anarchy Scuba” is not true anarchy. This isn’t the black web. Its a brand, not a political stance. We do have some rules. These rules are also basic. Don’t violate the aforementioned Facebook Community Standards. Keep posts scuba/ocean related. Don’t post vulgar content, even if it doesn’t violate community standards because I personally don’t want to read that shit and that’s the only real personal ask that I have on the page. Turns out, lots of other people feel that way, too. We aren’t against advertising as long as it doesn’t get to be spammy- we actually encourage advertising if a person/business has a unique opportunity or good deal that benefits the group.
Anarchy Scuba Spot is pretty much group-moderated. In the majority of the occurrences where someone posts something that shouldn’t be posted, a member speaks up in the comments and the original poster usually removes it. When they don’t, the rest of the group tends to show up like ants to a picnic and chime in. The need for this is actually really low and we have a pretty good vibe going.
The issue that I had with one of the large Facebook gear swap groups (you can read about it here) that led to me creating Anarchy Scuba Swap and eventually Anarchy Scuba Spot, was there were too many rules. Many of those rules are driven by financial opportunities/obligations for the groups’ admins and moderators and they’re not equally enforced across the board. All too often on Facebook, rules are used as a crutch to remove content that may not benefit the admin or moderator.
Well. That’s not me. I’m not a “dive pro”. I don’t work for a shop. Nobody owns me. I’m just a diver. But more about me later.
The point I want to drive home here is that Anarchy Scuba not a free-for-all. Contrary to what some believe, its not an uncensored group and it’s not just about talking smack, judging divers, or knocking gear or agency preferences. Anarchy Scuba is all about diving. Dive more. Dive safe. Dive well. Dive whatever gear you want. Dive local. Dive travel. Just dive. And as long as you don’t hurt yourself, your buddy, the environment, and DEFINITELY don’t hurt any of the sea life, everything is good. Go have fun.
My next “blogcast” is going to be a little bit about me – why I’m doing this, what my plans are with the blog… and then after that we are going to start “diving in” to….. well…. diving. Lol.
Thanks for reading/listening!
Tracy
#anarchyscuba #anarchyAF #divemore
Brilliant – Very well said