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How to Get Kicked Out of a FB Group for a Medium Post

The diversity of “rules” in different Facebook groups is confusing!

“How dare you promote your website on my group!”

That is an edited version of a message I received recently after posting one of my Medium articles on a Facebook group, after which I was removed from that group.

Facebook Groups

Following the advice in an article by Dr Mehmet Yildiz, I joined about 20 Facebook (FB) groups that discuss topics I write about.

These range in size from under 1000 to close to about 200,000 members. I use these groups to (1) get ideas and inspiration on topics to write about, and (2) to share my own ideas and articles. I usually make a comment when I share my articles, or even without including an article link.

The Diverse and Shifting Rules of FB Groups

Upon joining each group, I answered questions and read the rules that they had adopted. Over time, however, I learned that the somewhat simple rules that I had seen were actually a lot more complicated.

I kept track of these in OneNote, but it seems like I am regularly violating rules I did not realize were rules, and updating my notes. Being actually kicked out of a group, however, is rare.

Here are the variations in FB group rules I have come across:

(1) Public Group or Private Group — This is not a big deal, except if you want to share something posted in the group which cannot be done with a private group. In a couple of my Medium articles, I have included a link to a FB group discussion related to the article topic. This can be done with public groups only. However, some discussions disappear, and links stop working because the person who started it has the power to delete it.

(2) Links or No Links — This is a bigger issue for those wanting to share their Medium articles. Groups that do not allow links will not allow you to link to your article. They will deny or delete your post and remove you from the group if you repeatedly violate this rule.

(3) Forwarding Links or No Forwarding of Links—I have my page on FB, on which I post all my articles. I like to forward those articles to groups that allow links because that also drives a bit of traffic to my page. Some groups that allow links do not allow forwarded links.

The only way to know if they will or will not allow forwarded links is to experiment and see what happens. Your forward might be allowed, or it might be denied with a note explaining why, or you might never know if it went through or not.

(4) Forwarding Memes or No Forwarding of Memes — Memes are pictures or other images with a quote. I often create memes related to my Medium articles, usually with my website name in small characters in the corner. I post these on my page and will forward them to FB groups.

Some will allow this, others will not. And their rules on memes seem to be completely independent of their rules on the sharing of links. So some groups will allow me to forward a meme, but not a link to an article, while others will allow me to forward a Link, but not a meme. Go figure!

(5) Links as Posts or Links in Comments — Many groups that do not allow links in a post will allow links in comments made to a post. Others, however, will neither allow links in posts nor in comments. And, of course, there are those who will allow links in posts or comments — those are the groups that I prefer.

(6) Admin Approvals — Most groups are set up to have an Administrator review and approve all submitted posts (but not comments). Sometimes I get a message that my post was approved or denied. If denied, sometimes I am told why (which is good), and sometimes I do not know why (which is not good).

Worse, however, is never getting a response. I assume this means denied, but I really do not know.

(7) Multiple Admins — Larger groups often have several Administrators to handle their heavy traffic. Administrators seem to vary in how strict and lenient they are with the group’s rules. I often look to see what others who have posted in a group have been able to do, then make a note of that.

In some groups, half of what I have shared was posted, and about half was not — with no Administrator comments either way. I assume the difference is because of different Administrators.

Live and Learn

People are not very good at following rules — even if they are the ones who created the rules. I guess that is just human nature. And FB groups are run by people, operating as best they can with the human nature they have.

I started with about 20 groups, joined a few more, and have left about half because of their too-strict or confusing policies. A couple of groups seem to have disappeared, and I was maybe kicked out of two groups, at the most, like the one I mentioned above.

At one time, there were three relatively large groups (50k+) that would post everything I sent, no matter how I sent or posted it. Two of those seem to have changed their rules recently, so I am down to one large public group where I do not need to be careful about how I post things. There is also one smaller private group (~12k) that posts things no matter how I send them.

I need to be more careful with other groups that I continue to take part in. So far, that has worked — most of the time.

I was actually very surprised when I got the message at the top of this article a couple of days ago. They kicked me out of that one group after posting an article link in the comments to a post. I thought the article was very relevant to the post, and it was a group where I had often posted such links in the past. Oh well.

I often get comments from people who like my articles, which is gratifying and a major reason I will continue to take part on FB. Sometimes get kind of burned out by FB, but overall, I think it is a worthwhile venue to share my Medium work.

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