The "Facebook Group NAWCC Friends and Members" is causing the association's reputation to be tarnished.

[inbeat]

The group is constantly getting spam which today involved pornography but at other times has "only" been advertising with no link to horology as well as financial schemes and Religious posts.
There does not seem to be any check on who joins the group or what their relationship to horology is. People are abandoning the group and post their disgust frequently.
Is there any way for the NAWCC to help in this matter? The administrator is a very nice young man but he is overmatched. There needs to be some controls instituted.
NAWCC #74793

 

[Kevin W.]

Its like that on many fb groups, i moderate 3 of them and see it frequiently. The NAWCC fb group could use another two mods and check profiles more closer too.

 

[Tom McIntyre]

The NAWCC has no formal relationship to any groups except the official group.

In the past it has been the practice to enforce our copyright on the name, but the social media has overwhelmed our ability to do that and some prominent members have resisted efforts to enforce moderation activity. Many people think these sites take care of themselves, but they do not.

I hope the organization can come up with a plan to handle this.

 

[Dick C]

If they do not attempt to enforce the copyright and in the future there is one that they do want to stop using the name, what will the courts say?

By not enforcing it, are they contributing to the negative feelings that some might have?

I did a search for the registered copyrights; however, could only find old, and I mean old, entries for the bulletins. I do not know anything about copyright law. Did expect to see something tied to NAWCC other than bulletins. So at the bottom of this page there are two references to copyrights. What are these copyrights they reference or is it just to scare people off?

 

[Tom McIntyre]

I am not a lawyer, but my understanding is:

A copyright is not a legal document, it is an assertion made by an entity claiming to be the copyright holder.

If the copyrighted business name has been in Commercial use for a period of time and another entity, uses the copyright, the original holder will prevail in a lawsuit.

In most instances the intruding entity will cease and desist when notified of the violation, but the name must have been "widely" used to establish ownership.

If the name is only used locally, there is no national protection but businesses may be required to honor one another's business name in that locality.

 

[inbeat]

Its like that on many fb groups, i moderate 3 of them and see it frequiently. The NAWCC fb group could use another two mods and check profiles more closer too.

Kevin,
I do not believe that any information has to be presented in order to join. I belong to numerous groups on Facebook and it is distressing to see the things that are on a Page with the NAWCC name at the top..In order to join most groups you have to answer a question or two and have an interest in the subject. The spam that is coming up on this page is not put on by anyone who has an interest in Horology.

 

[leeinv66]

I belong to several FB groups. Their subjects of interest are varied and include caravaning, camping and bush walking , motorcycles and car restoration and clock repair and collecting. I had to submit a request to join all of them and then wait to be approved by the moderators of those pages. If someone has a FB page and have it set to let anyone join, then they are just being lazy. Also, if a FB page uses the NAWCC logo without permission, someone from our organization can report that to Facebook. It doesn't have to be some kind of legal action.

 

[Dick C]

I belong to several FB groups. Their subjects of interest are varied and include caravaning, camping and bush walking , motorcycles and car restoration and clock repair and collecting. I had to submit a request to join all of them and then wait to be approved by the moderators of those pages. If someone has a FB page and have it set to let anyone join, then they are just being lazy. Also, if a FB page uses the NAWCC logo without permission, someone from our organization can report that to Facebook. It doesn't have to be some kind of legal action.

I assume that your groups are Private. The site in discussion is a Public group and some members of the group have asked it to go to Private.

 

[Tom McIntyre]

Perhaps the participants in this discussion could list the Facebook/NAWCC related groups they know of. It could be useful to offer them the ability to moderate the material.

A Facebook Group is not that different from a forum here. We have the same control mechanisms available and use them currently for NAWCC Committees.

 

[leeinv66]

The site in discussion is a Public group and some members of the group have asked it to go to Private.

Yes Dick, the groups I belong to are set as private. The only reason for selecting the public option when setting up a FB pages is so the owner does not have to vet those who join. That's why I see it as a lazy option. But, that is something that needs to be taken up with the owner of the page.