Hello!

When I accepted the role of administrator of the Residents of Brisbane California Facebook group 14+ years ago in 2010, the group had less than 200 members.

The Residents group has since grown to become the largest and most interactive organization of any kind in Brisbane not only because it's fun but because it allows for

• Interaction between Brisbane community members and sharing of local photos/videos

• Promotion of Brisbane businesses

• Interaction between Brisbane artists and residents and promotion of events

• Unofficial interaction between Brisbane city government representatives/staff and residents

• Unofficial interaction between Brisbane city commission/committee members and residents

• Opportunities for the Brisbane Police Department and Brisbane Fire Department to learn of potential local issues

• Emergency community communication and sharing of information about power outages/exploding transformers, torrential rainfall, flooding, mudslides, earthquakes, fires, fallen trees, and more

• Discussion of potential effects of local government proposals

• Community alerts about suspicious behavior seen in town

• Tracking of lost pets and help returning them home

• Warnings about potentially dangerous wild animals

• Sharing of resources between Brisbane neighbors

• Posting of articles about Brisbane's history

• Notices of homes/items for sale and homes/rooms for rent in Brisbane

• And much more...

However, due to our group's continuing growth and popularity, Facebook's algorithms have encouraged more and more Facebook users to fling add requests our way to join this group for whatever the reason, whether they want to peddle their goods or services here, criminally case our neighborhood online, stalk group members to whom they do not have direct Facebook access, or otherwise.

There have been more than 15,000 add requests for membership in this group from all over the world - now around 1,000 add requests per year - and the number per year continues to increase.

As of December 31, there were 1,026 add requests total for 2024 of which 171 were confirmed and became group members. And with the advent of generative artificial intelligence, it's becoming easier and easier for criminals to mass produce fake Facebook profiles by using bots.

Those thousands of add requests include a large number of requests from fake and/or hacked profiles, many of which were stolen from their true owners in the process of human trafficking.

You can learn more about these growing problems at the following links:

Meta Opens Floodgates For AI-Generated Accounts On Facebook, Instagram

Fake Profiles Trying to Join Private FB Groups

How to Deal with Trolling - Bots and Fake Accounts

Facebook Community Group Scams Are on the Rise

Neighborhood Facebook Groups - Fraudulent Ads

That being said, our group's membership continues to grow slowly and steadily as eligible potential members learn about it locally mainly by word of mouth.

Several months ago, however, I got an add request from a guy living in Burlingame who sent me expletive-loaded messages first via Facebook and LinkedIn and then by other means in an attempt to threaten me when he learned he wasn't eligible for group membership.

And in December 2024, a group member who was reported to me for objectionable posts began attempting to make threatening posts against me and another Residents of Brisbane California group member before being removed from the group.

I reported both of these individuals to the Brisbane Police Department and provided the responding BPD officers with all the relevant information about them, and their online threats stopped very quickly.

Yes, that kind of stuff happens. But with responsibilities come risks, and that's part of life.

I have managed this group as a volunteer for the last 14+ years, and to help defray the costs associated with maintaining the Residents of Brisbane California Facebook group as the community resource it has become for our city, I have set up this GoFundMe site where anyone who wishes to contribute is welcome to do so keeping in mind that while this group now plays a central role in Brisbane, I am not a government employee and do not represent any governmental organizations.

The fundraising goal of $65,432 is arbitrary (a sequence of numerical descending order, as any fellow math nerds in the group will recognize) since I have absolutely no idea what amount anyone will consider contributing.

No one is required to contribute and contributors will be treated no differently from anyone else, but if you appreciate the community resource this group has become then you're welcome to chip in.

It's time for me to admit how complicated this ongoing project/experiment really is, so thank you all for your cooperation and consideration.

Prem Lall