Treatment Free Beekeepers Facebook Group Guidelines

These are the rules for posting in the Treatment Free Beekeepers Facebook Group. Group members are expected to read them, and agree to abide by them while participating in group discussions. 

Jump to the Group Guidelines or list of Frequently Moderated Topics

Group Rules

1. "Be Nice"
2. Discuss and promote Treatment-Free Beekeeping in positive terms and in a winsome manner.
3. Posts that recommend, encourage, mention, or promote treating will be deleted and the poster removed from the group.
4. Discussions that touch on the topics of treating will generally only be tolerated if it is framed in such a way as it is clear the treatment is not being promoted.
5. Always only be completely civil, kind, and courteous. Language is strictly G rated as generally defined by the MPAA.  If it’s not the kind of language you’d hear in The Lion King, don’t use it.
6. Trust that if any administrator has to perform any moderation that they are doing the right thing. You may question decisions made, but only in private messages.
7. If you have an issue with moderation, please contact the administrator Michael Cox through Facebook first. He will investigate the issue and form a decision.  You may appeal the decision and present your case, but ultimately the decision lies with him.  The buck stops there.  He sets the tone for the group.  That is his responsibility. 
8. We also ask that you report questionable posts and behaviors by tagging us in comments. This can be done by typing out our name and allowing Facebook to send us the notification.  If you report to Facebook, we will not be able to ban the user from the group to prevent future posting.  This is especially important with spam and pornography.
9. Do not attempt to redefine what is, and is not considered a treatment. Any such post will be deleted and the poster booted.
10. We occasionally have people attempt to incite arguments in this group by posting provocative statements. This is known as “trolling” and is an attempt to get a reaction from people. The general rule on the internet in this case is “Don’t Feed The Trolls”. If you react you give them what they want. Instead, ignore them and let their posts sink into obscurity, or report them to us so we can consider booting or banning them.  Tagging one of the moderators is the best plan for dealing with a problem, NOT replying to the troll.
11. There is also a form of trolling we call "Library Trolling".  The idea is that someone would enter a library and then yell at the librarian for not reading the books to them.  Do not expect any member of the group to write you a dissertation on their methods simply because you ask.  We all have jobs and lives, we do not have time to explain everything to the nth detail on Facebook.  The Group has a YouTube page with more than a hundred videos, as well as many years of back posts and topics you can peruse at your leisure.  This website is also under development as a easily accessible resource. When you have done your own research, then come and ask specific questions about specific topics.  Do not get upset because someone will not take hours to “tell me how to be treatment-free.”
12. No advertising or self-promotion. If you think you have a proposition that will be valuable to the members of this group you must first seek prior permission from Michael Cox. Posting without permission will result in your post being closed.  In general advertising and promotion will be approved it it is compatible with the objectives of the group.
13. We have a lot of spammers trying to join the group. As moderators we try to check each account and decide if they are legitimate or not. Sometimes we get this wrong for one reason or another. If you want to join and have not been accepted please message one of the moderators and explain the situation. Typical reasons we might reject an account include if they are under one year old (most spam accounts are new to Facebook), if they are clearly not representing an individual, or the account appears misleading in some way (eg joined facebook three days ago but have 1200 friends). If we get it wrong for you please message Michael Cox.
14. We are focused on scientific concepts in this group.  That means things that have empirical backing, are supported or refuted by rigorous scientific study and evidence. However, there has been much research done on treatment methods and very little done on treatment-free beekeeping.  So don’t demand published research to try to prove your point.  Accept the experience of an experienced beekeeper as valuable and assume they are telling you the truth.
15. Please stay on the topic of bees and beekeeping. There are plenty of other places to discuss religion, politics, GMO, chemtrails, vaccinations, Bayer and Monsanto, etc… and these threads can quickly become contentious resulting in hot tempers and hurt feelings.   They will at a minimum have comments closed, or the post shall be deleted.
16. You may not “block” an administrator.  If you do, you will be booted without warning.
17. As the group has gotten bigger, more and more posts have appeared in languages other than English.  However, since all the moderators speak only English at this time, we need to be able to do our job.  There are plenty of online translators available.  Please translate your post into English.
18. We do not welcome posts that comment on discussions in other groups. Too often these turn towards unpleasantness and ridicule. They reflect poorly on us as a group, and open us up to hostility. In general, they also tend to fall foul of our “Be Nice” rule.
19. Moderators and admins are all volunteers who give freely of their time to make this group run. Abusive behaviour towards any of the moderation team is grounds for immediate removal from the group. If you need to discuss moderation contact Michael Cox  privately via messenger.
20. There are a couple type of posts that are generally deleted on site, they include but are not limited to:

• “Naked links.”  Links that someone posts without comment to a third party site or page.  If you want to post a link, tell us what it is, why we might want to read/watch it.
• Memes: They’re cute and funny and whatnot, but remember the purpose of the group, to promote treatment-free beekeeping.

1. Home
 ›
2. Facebook Group Admin
 ›
3. Group Rules