Should Buzzfeed Run Facebook Groups??
I would like to start this post out with a disclaimer. This is a rant post. This is about the experiences that my friends and I have experienced. When you look at it as a whole, you can tell there’s something wrong. I am a firm believer that Buzzfeed isn't open-minded or diverse enough to run a Facebook group.
I’ve been a member of the Facebook group Room of Requirement for a while now. It’s a group run by Buzzfeed, who has appointed admins who apparently don’t understand the essence of Harry Potter.
If you’ve been following along with the blog, you know that I had been working on knitting up The Ron Weasley Blanket. It’s a pattern based off reference photos from the movie, and the actual blanket that’s on display (in London, I believe). 80 7”x7” squares. Over 90% of them with unique colors, and color patterns. That’s a lot of work, and I completed it about 2 months ago. When I started the pattern, I started it with the intention that it would be a Christmas present for one of my best friends. Upon completion, I attempted to post it to Room of Requirement. For some reason, my post was never approved. I kind of brushed it off, thinking that maybe it was just overlooked due to the high volume of members in that particular community.
Christmas morning came, the gift of the blanket was given, tears were shed (she was my biggest supporter in making it, never knowing it was for her). Everyone was happy. Today, she attempted to post it to Room of Requirement, not knowing I had already tried prior, and her post was also denied approval without any sort of mention as to why. She messaged the admin, whose profile picture proclaims Gryffindor (but probably the rudest Gryffindor I’ve ever seen), and let me just go ahead and transcribe from the screenshots I received.
ADMIN:: It was denied because it is a mismatch pattern. That doesn’t make it Weasley. If it had had the Weasley house on it. The twins logo or something like that we would considerate Weasley blanket. But even my family has been making blankets like that for almost 200 years. They are just mismatch
ADMIN:: The one in the movies is knitted straight across
ADMIN:: Yours is patches
That is literally what is in the screenshot. Word for word. Now, first off, the grammar and punctuation are a little bit less of what I would expect, whatever. It is what it is. Secondly, is this person ACTUALLY a fan of Harry Potter? From the posts I’ve seen approved in that group, I’m going to have to go ahead and assume that they’re just on some sort of a “bandwagon” and don’t really understand quite what the Potterhead Universe is about. Also, I don’t really care what you think your family has been doing for 200 years, because I’m pretty positive that the idea of patchwork didn’t start with Molly Weasley. Thirdly, do a Google search of the blanket. I am seeing plenty of photos of the blanket used in the video that does not look “knitted” straight across. It’s all patchwork. I’ll go ahead and link a couple for you, and you can compare it to my finished piece, pictured above.
Here.
Here.
About 10 times a day, you can find a new post made by someone who is complaining about what House they were sorted into. Today, I saw quite a few posts about “raising wands” for the beloved Carrie Fisher (May the Force be with Her.) One post for those wanting to pay their respects is usually good enough. Or how about the countless posts about “Oh I just re-watched this movie and it totally didn’t match up with the book” or “did you notice this really obvious thing that happened!?” But the blatant disregard of something with a little more to it, something that I poured my soul into, that required so much work, and was 100% Harry Potter related was denied. I’m not going to say that it matches the original blanket 100%, but it’s a damn good replica that could easily be identifiable as a Weasley item.
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, given the fact that this IS, of course, a group run by Buzzfeed. If it’s not clickbait, it’s not worthy of that company. Which is why I made the title of this post what it is, in a mocking fashion. I just wish they would actually take a good hard look at who they’re making admins. Frankly, I’ve seen more warmth from Fenrir Greyback than this person.
I have since joined 2 other groups, with more respectable admins who can appreciate hard work. They seem to also appreciate ALL Harry Potter related items, even the ones without Official Merch tags.
