"Fun" with Facebook Holmes groups

 Since I returned to Facebook in 2015 I have become a member of a number of Sherlock Holmes groups. The trouble is that there are so many of them and it often takes a little while to work out which you want to be a member of.

So many groups

They vary enormously in their focus. Some revolve around one or more actors to have portrayed Holmes. A large minority of these appear to have very little in them. By this I mean that a great many eventually run out of original compliments and information for the actor(s) concerned and then just level out with daily postings of screen grabs of the actor(s) in their Holmes adaptations (accompanied by many, and varied, emoticons). When a group reaches this stage I tend to leave as there's nothing much remaining to be seen.

Others lack this focus and attempt to cover everything. Depending on the interests of their membership it can be very hard to find things that interest you within them amongst all the stuff that doesn't.

Separating the wheat from the chaff can be hard

My experience so far is that the best groups are of intermediate size (anything up to 2000 members) and with a focus that is neither too broad nor too specific.

Behave yourselves

The other aspect of course is the administration of groups. Some admins are relatively hands-off (except in serious cases) and others are excessive in their control. An ideal admin is neither hands off nor controlling. They must, like a good group, sit somewhere in the middle ground.

I am lucky now to have found about half a dozen groups that are keeping me entertained.



My principal recommendations are:

Nothing but Holmes https://www.facebook.com/groups/1379897192271018/

Sherlock's Home https://www.facebook.com/groups/221BBakerSt/

The Sherlock Street Irregulars https://www.facebook.com/groups/sherlockstreet/

Of course, my own is okay but it's still new and finding its feet. https://www.facebook.com/groups/doyleockian/

Written by Alistair Duncan Buy my books here

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