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I’ve been extolling the virtues of a Redfern building’s Facebook page so it was disappointing to hear about another Sydney block where the networking has become very antisocial.
Renters and owners had their problems (who doesn’t?) but somebody decided everyone should get to air their grievances online. That it wasn’t monitored by the Executive Committee is understandable – it needed to be independent. That it wasn’t moderated by anyone was unforgiveable.
The anonymity of the web reveals the worst aspects of some people’s characters so pretty soon the poison ran strong and deep.
What started as a disagreement between two groups with strongly held views became a nasty, vicious and highly personal online confrontation.
By the time the dispute got to mediation – the first step in the strata resolution process – the combatants were too far gone with mutual abuse and some were already making calls to defamation lawyers.
The community was torn apart, possibly irretrievably, and an issue that could have been resolved with a little give and take had escalated beyond redemption before anybody could intervene.
Free speech is great but if your building has a Facebook page, Rule One should be no personal abuse.
Have your say (moderated by me) on the Flat Chat Forum.
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