10 days into the new year and things are moving right along.  I have actually been working really hard on this blog, behind the scenes, so I took a few days away from posting.  We have a new civilian crew member with us, I took on an assistant, and have been getting her up to speed on things that need to be done, seen, sent, checked, cleaned and disposed of since her arrival on January 3rd.  I have added a listing for Winnie de Contestas, we call her Winn, to the Ship and Crew page, so you can read up on her if you so desire.  She will mostly be dealing with our soon-coming monthly contest, giveaways and PR.

I bought a table top photo studio that I am going to have to learn how to use, since I intend to occasionally post recipes here, too.  I thought that I would take a single photo of a finished plate and post it here, under Food C.R.A.P., then found out how hard it is to shoot food.  Especially with my cell phone camera.  In a dark kitchen.  On a granite like countertop.  So, I went all out, spent forty WHOLE DOLLARS and bought a little light box/light set/tripod deal-y to work on that.  Joy.  One more thing to do.

I have also been working on our Social Media pages.  I have picked up some new Twitter and FB followers – HI THERE! - and wanted to make sure that stuff was all up to snuff before I get sucked into learning to be a food photographer.  I added some pins to Pinterest, but just don’t live there very much.  It would be wayyyyyy to dangerous for an OCD like me.  Working on the Social Media stuff is where the topic for this post came from.  I need some advice from the wise and wonderful internet about a little…. situation.

Maybe it’s because I work from home, maybe it’s because I speak my mind TOO often to worry about many social media etiquette policies but there is something Facebook related, other than those damn Sponsored Posts, that has been nagging at me and I’m not sure how to handle it.

My real life persona has a Facebook page just like I do as Captain Myway.  My real life page has friends and relatives, church folk, past co-workers, high school acquaintances and one ex that are all approved friends.  Most of them I know, in person, and some I have never met, but are friends of friends.  A few are very old friends that I have little in common with now, I like to keep up with.  All the high school folks have been hidden from my feed – sorry, but it’s true.  I didn’t like you then and you have not gotten better with age.

My issue, though, is this.  A few times recently, I have been added to a Group.  Not invited to like a Page, or accept a Friend request, but I have been placed into a Group.  That other people see.  That, maybe, I didn’t want to be a part of.  Most of the time I just remove myself, with no apology, and forget about it.  But a couple of these Groups are more sensitive in nature.  Now, I can’t disclose what they are, but both of them are HUGE downers to read.  Very depressing, very angst ridden, emotionally draining, and honestly, not really something that I want to be a part of – anymore.

Now, the Groups are both quite small.  It’s very noticeable who is there and who isn’t.  I wasn’t consulted before being added and I don’t like that you can’t invite people to join.  The admin just does it and it’s up to you to stay or leave.  I really, REALLY want to leave.  But, I don’t.

Why?  Why don’t I just leave?

I have hidden the posts from my news feed and turned off the notifications – although the little “new post” number keeps ticking up and up in the left hand bar where all the pages are listed – and I really don’t want anything to do with these two pages any more.  But… I am afraid that I am going to seriously hurt the folks that are involved in each situation.  They will see me leave.  They see when I do, OR DON’T, view the new posts.  They will know that I do not want this misery for my own any more.

Is that ok?

Or, do I just suck it up, make it a point to go to those pages once a week, clear that “new post” number from my side bar, show up in the “Seen By” information and try to forget about the tragedy that is listed, line by line, on those pages, sometimes by children.

Maybe my bigger problem is not a Facebook issue.  It’s that, at some point, these folks wanted a public place to publish their misery and want or need others along for the ride.  What started out as pages with good intentions has dissolved into a digital location for the death of any kind of social media happiness.

When it comes to social media, who is responsible for what?  Is it ok that they just assumed that I would want in on this tear-stained timeline?  It is ok for me to not want to be there?  Should I leave?  Stay?  Email the people (in one instance it’s someone who I have never even met in person but this individual is very FRAGILE) and explain why I want out?  WHAT DO I DO?  I feel like they are dragging me down too, and while they are not close enough to me in real life to feel it’s necessary for me to go though these things with them, I also don’t want to be seen as a selfish, heartless witch, that is so self-involved that I couldn’t tolerate seeing those climbing numbers notifying me of more gut wrenching drama being posted in cyberspace.

So, interwebs, what is the right thing to do?  Get me out of this, help me make a decision so that I can just deal with it and let it go.  Because one more post from that child talking to a dead parent on a Facebook wall is just going to be about the worst thing in the world.

Except cleaning up dog barf from my brand new carpet.  But that’s another post entirely.  And I just remembered that I now have an assistant…