Anyone can sign you up as a supporter, of ANYTHING!

Quick question.

How is it that you can be put in a Facebook group without ever consenting? This has happened to me twice now, and what I don’t like about it is that it appears to the world that I joined groups I never joined.

Curious, I googled the question and saw that there is a group called — strike that — it’s being called a “topic”:

Topic: I don’t want to be added to groups without giving permission

I figure Facebook probably thinks it’s just fine to allow anyone to add anyone to whatever damned group they want, but the whole thing smacks of dishonesty at the most petty and childish level.

So I have a simple question.

Is Facebook being run by adults?

Because if it isn’t, then two can play at this childish game. Don’t expect me to unjoin the groups I never joined. I didn’t join them, and therefore I shouldn’t have to unjoin them.  I am no more responsible for someone joining me to a group than I am for a comment with which I disagree. I believe in free speech, and people are just as free to make false claims about me as I am to ignore the false claims. I think it’s interesting, though, and I think it reveals a lack of integrity in Facebook itself.

So if people want to keep adding me as a member to groups I never joined, go right ahead. What I did not join, I did not join. Just because Facebook says I am a member does not mean I am, because if that is the criteria for membership in something, that thing is bogus, and it is inherently wrong to have to unjoin it. Not only is unjoining it not worth the time spent clicking, but I am beginning to suspect that it’s precisely what they want you to do. Think about it. Sign up your favorite RTL conservative friend as a supporter of Planned Parenthood, or your favorite abortion rights liberal friend as a supporter of Operation Rescue. Lots of fun, and a great way to spam people into spilling the contents of the same supposedly personal crap they would otherwise be hesitant to share with God-knows-whose software in one of those “See who views your profile” or “So-and-so has just answered a question about Eric” and “Eric has new answers to unlock” and other damned spam nonsense.

So don’t judge me by the groups I belong to which I didn’t join, OK? And don’t expect me to unjoin them! I refuse to be a participant in such juvenile fraud.

Hey, at least I am not alone in feeling annoyed. Here are a few comments from others I thought might be worth sharing before they are made to disappear:

I was surprised when I was added to a group by a friend. I can’t find an option in settings that determines who can add you to groups. I really dislike the notion that some spammer or a friend of a friend can add me to whatever group they administrate. Goodness, I don’t even like it that friends can add me to groups if I don’t want to be added. What if some college friend made an inappropriate group, added me to it and my employer or a parent of a child I babysit for saw it before I removed myself!

Please give me an option to protect my account.

Right. Facebook protect your account? They’re laughing all the way to the taxpayer-bailed-out bank!

I could not agree more… I was very distressed to find out yesterday that i had been added to a group without my knowledge or consent….. and I work with children, and I am too concerned with the idea of someone just being able to add me without me knowing. I would like to see an option where you had to confirm or reject membership in a group. Some of us are not interested in many of the groups and we have to be picky due to our jobs or our families and we should be able to determine what groups we are in, not someone else.

Is that an appeal to reason? Or fairness? What, you think Facebook cares or something?

FB sucks, I dont want to be added to #$%^ing groups unless I approve, are they hiding in the sand and not attending to our concerns?

It sucks all the way to the taxpayer-bailed-out-bank! So don’t be jealous.

I was very surprised to discover I was in several groups, and only did so when I started getting dozens of emails from the groups! I am perfectly happy to be invited to join groups then I can disregard those which have no relevance to me, or my business area, but I do not wish to be simply added to groups without my consent.

What you want has nothing to do with it, bub! Facebook is free, and if you don’t like it you can bail!

I agree too… We need to be given the option to decide for OURSELVES if we wish to become part of a group or not…… I feel that by them allowing people to just add us, it cheapens the experience on facebook.

“Cheapens” the experience? Huh? Was it supposed to be rich?

so what now guys? what do we do?

You can quit whining, or quit Facebook.

I have no idea, things are getting worse day by day!!!! And FB seems to be in a dictator mode, if we dont have or can voice our opinion, why do we need this place? And if we don’t need this place, what is FB doing afterall?

Dictators use force, right? Is anything mandatory or forceful about FB? Why not just agree that these things are meaningless and Facebook is a never-neverland wholly lacking in integrity and just move on?

i don’t know but something drastic should be done about this because it’s against our will and violates our privacy rights.

Again, something drastic can be done. YOU CAN QUIT! Or just ignore this crap and take it for what it’s worth, which isn’t much.

Forget about sending them an email:

is there a way to block that?

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Unfortunately, not that I have been able to find, and for what it’s worth I did send them an e-mail sayin how they need to make it optional…..

And if you think they’re working on it, you’re deluded.

Follow this link with steps to remove yourself from unwanted groups. http://artofeloquence.com/blog/fbgroups/ Although the group I was added to is marked “Public Group” and has no “leave group” button to click. I’m closing my FB account down for second time now.

No, I don’t think you should have to remove yourself from the group. You should not have to leave what you didn’t join. I see these “memberships” as an indictment of Facebook which are worth leaving in place.

The angry comments go on and on. And they really think there should be such a thing as Facebook fairness.

It is truly irritating to be added to a group without my consent. Also those chain messages are the last thing I need in my Inbox.

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I hope Facebook stops this.

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Some groups are very political and being subscribed without your consent is inexcusable. My friends are ultimately getting to decide what I support by being given the choice to add me and taking that option away from me.

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Just cause there are friends doesn’t mean we have the same viewpoints. I would like FB to give me back my right to choose. This is the worst change yet….and the others haven’t been spectacular so that isn’t a good thing!!

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Yes, this is very irritating,& I have literally over 400 emails in my inbox from people who have posted in all these groups that I’ve been added to without my permission! Yea,i can go to the group & delete myself from it, but why should I have to take time to do that, for each additional group???, when asking my permission to join a particular group would be so much easier & convenient!!!, FB, please, please, pleaseeeeeeeee change this! Soon!!!

Naturally, there are also concerned parents, who don’t like seeing their kids being signed up as members of groups they never joined.

Even if you do agree with a group, you don’t necessarily want to be added to multiple groups with the same cause. One of my friends added me to a group that I actually agree with, but the sheer number of posts on my wall from the time she added me to when I logged on was horrific. I shudder to think what the teenagers, who have competitions to see who can get the most “friends”, are going to do with this. It will be spam city. At the best, this feature is just plain rude, and at worse it can be used as a tool to annoy, bully and humiliate.

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Worse, the whole “added to groups” thing could cause serious ramifications for younger (but legal) users.

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My 13 yo has an account but rarely if ever uses it. I received a message moments ago from a friend informing me that my son and 3 of his peers were added to a group “Classmatesnamehere is Dumb.” My email almost simultaneously informed me that my son, who was sitting in the living room nowhere near the computer, was added to the group.

As soon as I realized I logged into my son’s account and had him “leave” the group but the damage is done. It appears as if he “joined” in a bullying situation.

FB, bringing you the opportunity to get in serious trouble at home and school even if you aren’t online!

While I understand the concern, no one should get in trouble (much less serious trouble) for doing what he did not do. I don’t care if the group is a NAMBLA support group, if you didn’t join it, you didn’t join it. Being put on a list as having joined something I didn’t join should concern me about as much as a letter saying I had been “selected” to receive $7.8 million from the widow of General Obacha.

It’s all part of life in the modern world of social media. Fairness and integrity have nothing to do with it.

And apparently, nothing to do with Facebook.

AFTERTHOUGHT: How come you can’t become a friend without consenting but you can be signed up to a group without consenting? I can’t speak for everyone, and I don’t write these rules, but I’d rather have an unwanted friend than be a member of a group I disagree with. There is a fundamental inconsistency here. And of course I am free to leave.