Weeks after Facebook suspended a longstanding group where Arlingtonians shared memories of growing up in the county, the group has been restored.
“I Grew Up in Arlington, VA” was back online as of yesterday (Monday) morning, co-moderators Eric Dobson and David Tyskowski told ARLnow.
Moderators are crying foul over the removal of a popular, longstanding Facebook group where Arlingtonians have shared memories of growing up in the county.
“I Grew Up in Arlington,” a 15-year-old group with about 25,000 members, went dark last week after Facebook took it down and disabled some users’ accounts. The company reportedly accused them of violating standards against solicitation of children — claims that moderators strenuously deny.
ARLnow and sister site ALXnow were unable to post to Facebook most of the day today.
The issue cropped up Wednesday morning without warning or explanation. When we tried to post a link to one of our articles on the network, either directly or through our social media management system, it produced an error message (below).
On the recent anniversary of an online referendum on the fate of one of Arlington’s largest “buy nothing” groups, some 400 people gathered in a Rock Spring back yard.
Wandering among tables set with everything from gardening items to designer purses, members of Buy Nothing Arlington (Northwest), VA perused and picked out finds from dozens of people last month. It was like a big yard sale, organizers said — except, in keeping with the Facebook group’s identity of giving and receiving at no cost, everything was free.
Thursday morning, Marsea Nelson woke up to a foreboding text from a friend.
He told her “he didn’t have ‘My Buy Nothing Facebook group got too political’ on his 2023 Bingo card,” she tells ARLnow.
Gary Shulman has only lived in Arlington for about three months but has created a popular Facebook group all about the warm and wonderful feelings the county evokes.
Shulman, a retired early education specialist and published poet, was already using his outreach and advocacy skills to connect with Arlington residents in the Facebook group, Arlington Neighbors Helping Each Other Through COVID-19 after he moved to Rosslyn in April.
When the Taliban took over his native Afghanistan in August, Mir knew that he and his family needed to get out.
He was confident they would be a target because he was a contractor assisting the United Kingdom, United States, and NATO with communications and information technology.
For hours yesterday, Facebook-owned services, including the Instagram, WhatsApp, and original blue Facebook app, were knocked off the internet.
It was a throwback to the growing pains of Facebook, Twitter and other social networking services more than 10 years ago, when major technical snafus like this were more common.
Arlington residents say they are being plagued by mysterious bug bites featuring unusual red splotches that are itchier than those left by typical summer suckers.
A Facebook group, “Arlington Neighbors Helping Each Other Through COVID-19,” has helped community members with similar bites find each other, share information and try to get to the bottom of the mystery. There’s been similar chatter on local email listservs.
(Updated at 8:20 p.m.) The chairman of the Arlington GOP has been booted from the “Arlington Neighbors Helping Each Other Through COVID-19” Facebook group for threatening to expose those who file complaints about local businesses.
In a post on Sunday, one of the group’s moderators said that Andrew Loposser posted screenshots showing the names and contact information of people who filed complaints about COVID-related violations in Virginia. He also threatened to reveal information others who complain.
When it was founded, the Arlington Neighbors Helping Each Other Through COVID-19 Facebook group was an uplifting place where local residents could ask for help, share information, and connect with one another.
Now, as with just about any online forum of a certain size, the events of 2020 have darkened the skies over the formerly sunny space.
Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Dan Sullivan (R-AK) are not the only ones to have mistakenly posted photos of the late Elijah Cummings while trying to honor John Lewis, who died on Friday.
Local state Sen. Barbara Favola (D) posted a photo on Facebook over the weekend that she said was Lewis, the civil rights leader and Georgia congressman, at her house four years ago.
