If you are one of our faithful Facebook friends, you may have noticed that the San Leandro Talk account has disappeared off the face of the earth – or at least off Facebook.

For years, people who objected to the views I express there, have complained to Facebook about the name of the account.  Facebook requires real names of people to have a usual “friends” account, and requires that organizations, companies or even artists who perform under a pseudonym, set up a “page” or a “group” instead of a regular account.  When I first set up SLT’s FB account there were some significant advantages at having a regular account instead of a FB page, so I decided to go that route knowing that eventually it was going to shut down.  Frankly, I was surprised it took so many years – but Facebook seems to be cracking down on this.  They can make more money off “pages” by charging their owners to promote their posts.

In any case, I set up a San Leandro Talk Facebook page years ago for exactly this eventuality, and if you miss us, you can  “like” it and follow it.  There will be a couple of differences in how it operates than the old Facebook page, however:

1- Only administrators posting under a page’s name (San Leandro Talk in this instance) can post directly to a page’s timeline.  Post by others show up in the left margin under “Posts to Page”.  To make it easier for SLT community members to reach other community members, I’ll be setting up any regular user who asks as an administrator. That means that posts to the page that appear as “San Leandro Talk” are not necessarily written by me.  Administrators will try to remember to post their name/initials in their posts. Any post that says ML will be from me, Marga Lacabe.

2-While the old SLT’s FB account had very minimal rules, the ones for the new page will be more stringent.  Basically, I will not tolerate trolls or xenophobic or racist comments. I also will not tolerate post or comment spam or personal attacks.  Action against abusers will be taken after consultation with other administrators.

I am a big believer in the concept of “borrón y cuenta nueva” (wiping the slate clean).  I tend to not seek change, so I see forced change as opportunity.  Let’s all work together to make the new San Leandro Talk facebook page a useful space.