Recent political turmoil has erupted onto a local Facebook page, Flower Mound Cares (FMC), resurrecting the name-calling and bickering that has become a regular part of the website over the last few years.

The ongoing mayoral race has become the latest hot topic for this group, which has over 10,000 Flower Mound parents and residents. Pro Tem Mayor Itamar Gelbman, who has been under investigation for breaking the town’s Ethics Ordinance, has become one of the frequent targets of civilians as well as town officials on the site.

Flower Mound mayor Tom Hayden has been a key figure in some of the public controversies on Facebook. He has publicly questioned the recent behavior of Gelbman in office. The mayor said he doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with people having opposing viewpoints.

However, when he posted his private conversations between a Dallas Observer reporter and himself, some members of the Facebook group responded negatively.

Mayor Hayden said that when he first started politics in Flower Mound, the posts bothered him, but now he’s used to it.

“The thing that I’ve noticed that happens is whenever somebody disagrees on an issue, their arguments aren’t strong enough to support their issue,” Mayor Hayden said. “It quickly evaporates into personal attacks.”

Hayden said when people post comments online about him that are not true, it’s damaging to him personally and professionally.

“There’s been things that people have said about me that have negatively impacted my job and I’ve reacted in a way that I probably shouldn’t have and it’s been out of frustration,” Hayden said.

 

FMC administrator Eric Jellison says the group was started to discuss local politics, but over the years has expanded to include all things Flower Mound. Often, the site includes helpful handymen recommendations, lost pet notices and restaurant reviews.

The FMC rules prohibit pr
ofanity, trolling, bullying or personal attacks,however, Jellison says he deletes very little.

“Political posts always get a lot of latitude,” Jellison said. “I don’t allow someone to just post something about a private citizen.”

He says deciding what constitutes a personal attack is difficult.

“It’s subjective,” Jellison said. “What one person would say is discussing their opinion, another person will say is bullying because you don’t agree with their opinion. I don’t think that’s bullying.”

The recent negativity on this page is not new. In fact, it has erupted in the local media several times in the last few years. In 2014, NBC 5 aired a story titled “Democrats Bothered by Flower Mound Mayor Hayden’s Facebook Post”.

In 2015, The Dallas Morning News published multiple stories about the council’s unrest.The most recent story ran April 22 in The Observer. “Backstabbing, Bullying and Betrayal: Just More Local Politics in Flower Mound” was written by Christian McPhate, UNT professor and investigative reporter. After his article was published, harsh comments followed. He was called a shock writer and was accused of twisting the truth and lying.

And it’s not just politics and media that bring out the negative comments. Minors are also targeted for cutting in line and hanging out in parks in groups. A recent thread even targeted middle school boys for being rowdy while playing football in a neighborhood park.

People have also begun to use the FMC page as a threat. A May 1 post involved kids fishing and adults approaching them threatening to post their pictures to FMC and expose them for “killing fish”. The comments erupted in outrage.

Claims were made that the account of the incident was true, others said it was false, and someone even insinuated that the man taking the kids’ picture may have had perverse intentions. The comments quickly spiraled into rabbit trails, some concerning the incident and some not.

A new group, called Flower Mound 2.0, prohibits posts involving underage children, local business bashing and name calling. Other topics that are off limits are self promotion and physical threats. One of the FM 2.0 administrators, Brit Stock, says he has no patience for the posts involving minors.

“There’s no picking on a kid,” Stock said. “That’s just totally wrong and stuff like that should be deleted immediately.”

Jellison however, says monitoring these po
sts is not so cut and dry. He says he complies with requests to delete posts on FMC if someone identifies the individual as their child, but it can be hard to determine the age of the person in the picture.

“If I can’t tell from a picture if someone is a minor or not, I will always sway toward it is and delete it,” Jellison said. “But having said that, if it’s something that looks like it might should be explored, I might would leave it up.”

Stock says these types of posts shame children, and the adults who participate need to act their age.

“I can’t imagine being in the wrong place at the wrong time and have somebody take a snapshot and then post it,” Stock said. “That’s just ridiculous. We will not put up with that.”

Stock has his own theory of where the negativity comes from.

“What happens on Facebook is the people that were bullied as a kid can now turn around and bully others because they’re pretty tough behind a computer screen,” he said.

Stock says FM 2.0 aims to be as fair as possible in monitoring discussions.

“We’ve also tried to build community by having get togethers inviting anyone at all to come out and meet their neighbors,” he said. “Because in the end, you know, we’re all neighbors.”

Jellison also shared similar views on the nature of negative posts and the action that should be taken to combat them.

“I warn them, I’ll temporarily suspend them, or if they do it too often, I’ll remove them forever.,” Jellison said.

Some of the users on FMC have reflected their frustration with the negativity. In a response to a political attack post, resident Carrie Breckenridge voiced her concern.

The mayor says the lack of social interaction that comes with so much time on the internet is disheartening.

“For people like yourself, younger people, rather than personally engaging with people it now seems like we’re becoming the generation that we engage people through the Internet.”

,”

Mayor Hayden said. “And it’s becoming disappointing because I think we’re losing touch with other people.”

Stock agrees that more personal contact would be good.

“What I would like to see happen is that people come together, and sit down and talk and get to know each other and then get to understand the issues and get to understand how things work,” he said. “Be part of the solution, not someone simply standing up saying ‘This is wrong, this is wrong, this is wrong.”