I'm a member of a group on Facebook called Curiosities of Worcester which I sort of have a love/hate relationship with. It's a collection of photos of Worcester "personalities". I love it because we should celebrate individualism but hate it as well because some of the names are offensive as well as some of the comments (usually about body odour etc).
I thought it was pretty harmless although I could understand why some family members might be offended by it. But now it seems to have got out of control. One of the members of the group, James, was recently visited by the Police. Here's his statement
"Well, earlier today, while at work a police woman came in looking for me; she asked my manager if we could speak in private, where she pulled out a file filled with information on this very site. She proceeded to give me a verbal lambasting, and besides the fact I told her that all but two of my photos were completely with permission for this site, I was told I would have to take them down.I’m not the only person this lady of the law is after however, just one on the long list of those who have added to this politically incorrect yet extremely entertaining group. As much as it pains me to say this, it might be a good idea for those who have added pics on here to take them down, like I have had to do…"
A bit of an over-reaction. Why did the Police have to visit him at work? Surely a home visit would have been more appropriate?
Wednesday 27 February 2008
Curiosities of Worcester
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I know you put fingers to keyboard a long time ago, so apologies for a comment that's less than topical, but I've just come across the above entry while using the search term 'curiosities of worcester' expecting to find a product page for a book of the same name, for research purposes.
I founded the 'Curiosities of Worcester' Facebook group what seemed like years ago, with the very best of intentions, as a platform for social networkers to share details of any encounters they have of the people that were described within its pages.
I was interested by the legend that surrounded certain odd figures that everyone seemed to know, who had something of a back story.
I never expected the group to escalate to the extent that it did. When it peaked the number of members was in the thousands. Unfortunately a few individuals who were members of the group posted nasty, malicious comments about those described.
We had complaints from relatives of some of those involved and the group was canned by Facebook itself. The police were involved, but instead of going through the correct channels, they used public information offered to the group in the confidence that it was in the public domain rather than the midsts of the thought police, to contact a member of the group that was affiliated no more than he was a member of the group like yourself and like everyone else. Because this person shared his personal details over Facebook, he was subject to an interrogation, at his place of work no less. Had they have contacted me I would have listened to their complaint and immediately decided whether to dissolve the group.
I have since decided, after a good few months of deliberation, to take the Curiosities of Worcester name and create a slightly more restrained blog with a muse similar to that of its primitive Facebook incarnation. Although we're currently in the very early stages, I would appreciate the opinion of someone such as yourself who, by your own admission, had a 'love hate relationship' with my idea in the first place.
Thank you for your time.
http://curiousworcester.blogspot.com
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