The founder of Verwood’s biggest Facebook group has announced it will close down in 10 days.
Verwoodians, established in 2012, has over 7,500 members and hundreds of posts every week relevant to residents of Verwood.
A post on the group on Thursday afternoon explains the reasons for the move: “Admins past and present have been subjected to such increasing amounts of abuse it is no longer safe for anyone to undertake trying to look after the group.
“For example, a while ago someone stalked an admin by taking pictures outside of their house and sent the pictures to them!”
The group will now be run without moderator approval, giving opportunities for people to set up new groups and let current members know about them.
The post continues: “We wish all Verwoodians the best and thank you all for your engagement over the years. But most of all, many thanks for all the admins who over the years have worked tirelessly to try and keep the group a safe and useful site.”
There are already numerous other groups on Facebook dedicated to Verwood, and we’ve compiled a list below.
The Real Verwoodians
The main alternative to Verwoodians, set up by former members.
Verwoodians 2020
A replacement for the Verwoodians site, set up after the announcement of Verwoodians closure.
Verwood Voices
A general group with news and information for Verwood residents
Verwood business directory
For promoting local business and services.
Verwood Traffic Alerts
For real-time user-contributed alerts about traffic problems and road closures, run by VerwoodToday.
Verwood Events
A place to post information on upcoming events in Verwood and surround areas.
Purr-woodians
For cat lovers in Verwood, with lost cat information too.
Ver-woofians
Information relating to dogs and dog owners in Verwood
Verwood Information Alerts
Set up to share urgent news about the coronavirus outbreak, but now also used to post breaking news and information.