Fascinated by the hilarious appeal of these photos, Bored Panda reached out to Michael Jenkin, one of the admins of Stupid and Weird Signs, to learn more about the group.
Michael shared that he originally joined the page as a regular member. “There were already 100,000 members, but the admin was reluctant to add moderators,” he explained. “It was like the Wild West with bad and inappropriate posts. Eventually, Facebook shut it down after several warnings. I liked the concept and the friends I’d made in the group, so I decided to start it back up.”
At first, some members mistakenly assumed Michael was the original admin and sent him angry messages, asking why they had been removed. “Of course, the group itself was deactivated,” he clarified. “Feeling that the original group was taken down due to a lack of supervision, I immediately looked for people from the old group to help as admins.”
“On day one, people volunteered, and I added admins without knowing them,” Michael said. “By day two, members were messaging me and quitting because one of the admins went on a ridiculous power trip. By day three, I was already banning and blocking that admin. I don’t understand why some people think being a Facebook admin is a position of power. Anyone can create a group—admins are not special.”
Learning from that experience, Michael reached out to friends and family to help manage the group. “I also use a lot of Facebook tools to keep the group within Facebook’s guidelines,” he shared. “There has to be a balance between letting people have fun and not going overboard or offending others. Unfortunately, admins have to rely on their personal sensitivities and judgment to maintain that balance.”
“We’re not always right, and we do make mistakes,” Michael admitted.
