How can I figure out if I should approve a person to my writing group?

@lovebuglena (52224)
Staten Island, New York
April 22, 2018 2:27pm CST
I started a writing group on Facebook a few years ago for people to share their work - be it poetry or other types of writing - and talk about their books, if they had published any. At first I would approve everyone that wanted to join because I was focused on the member count number. I thought that the more members a group has the more likely people will want to join and so I wanted that number to keep going up. It seemed like there were many members that were never active in the group. And there were those that only promoted their books and did nothing else, or spammed the page with unrelated stuff. So, I decided not to approve everyone because I'd rather have less members, of whom most are active, than more members, the majority of which are not. And I didn't want those that would do nothing but promote their books or spam the page. I went through the member list and removed people from the group that were only spamming or promoting their books. And I might have removed some that were never active. I might have ended up with less members in the group but that is okay. What I do now is this. Prior to approval, I look at each person's list of groups to see if they are part of any other FB writing groups. And I check out their profiles to see if there is anything on their wall related to writing. If it seems like these people are actually writers I approve them. If not, I decline. Sometimes, though they may not be part of any other FB writing groups based on the list, and their profiles may not indicate they are writers, when they actually are. So recently, I thought I'd ask those that want to join the group a question, which is "Why do you want to join this group?". That answer should be able to help me determine whether people should be approved or not. Since setting up this question, I already had a few people that wanted to join the group provide an answer with their join request. One pending member answered with "Yes, please." How the heck does that answer the question? Of course, he was not approved, especially since neither his profile nor his group list indicated he was a writer of any sorts. Another pending member answered with "I want to join with my fellow creative writers to make an outlet of my creative stories." I haven't approved this person yet. But based on this answer, even though it's clear he is not a native English speaker, it seems like he may actually be a writer. So, I will check out his profile and group list before making my final decision. What other things can I do to figure out if people that want to join my group are writers and if they should be approved?
2 people like this
3 responses
@spiderdust (14756)
• San Jose, California
23 Apr 18
It sounds like that one person wasn't even a reader, as he didn't answer your question at all! I think you're doing everything you can to make sure that person is a good fit for the group. Maybe have a spot in the approval process page where they can mention a friend who is already in the group (or some kind of a reference)?
@lovebuglena (52224)
• Staten Island, New York
23 Apr 18
If their friend is in the group it would probably tell me...
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (382690)
• Rockingham, Australia
23 Apr 18
I think that is a very good question that you are asking of potential members. Maybe 'what would you like to see on this site to make it more suited to your tastes'. You don't have to adopt any of their ideas but it might give you more clues about them.
@lovebuglena (52224)
• Staten Island, New York
23 Apr 18
The purpose of asking a question is to figure out if the person that wants to join is indeed a writer. So, I am not sure how your suggested question would help me figure that out. However, it could be a good question to ask those already in the group...
1 person likes this
@amadeo (111937)
• United States
22 Apr 18
do you have sort of question and answer periods with the writer.Any suggestion?
@lovebuglena (52224)
• Staten Island, New York
23 Apr 18
I have not done that. I just want some way to figure out if those that want to join are actually writers. I thought by asking some questions to those that ask to join would help with that. But I did have one member who didn't answer the question at all. His approval is still pending. I guess that question feature is not a must to answer.
1 person likes this