Why Facebook Group Comments are Sometimes Turned Off

In order to cover all of the things we are trying to keep up with right now, if an admin answers a post, the response answers the question and provides the information to back up the answer, then the comments are turned off.

We have received a few messages asking why the comments are turned off on some Facebook Group posts and want to help everyone better understand why we have to make this change. We love to see you all so engaged and sharing information. We are also honored that you trust Florida Cares enough to share some of your deepest concerns seeking advice. It is incredible how much we’ve grown over the past few years, so much that some days we have more work than you can imagine. 

Aside from the numerous help tickets from families, phone calls, Jpay messages and physical mail from incarcerated people seeking help, we also receive hundreds of posts in the group per week, dozens each day. As a grassroots organization, we are spread thin.  Still we consider the integrity of the group and the information relayed in it extremely serious. 

With all that's going on between the visitation rule change, the heat conditions,  the upcoming elections and preparing for the 2023 Legislative Session it's impossible to stay on top of all the new comments to ensure that mistaken information is not provided.

Florida Cares is perhaps best known for being the place you can go to for a clear and accurate answer to your question.  

In order to cover all of the things we are trying to keep up with right now, if an admin answers a post, the response answers the question and provides the information to back up the answer, then the comments are turned off. Being able to do that frees us up to focus on other issues that incarcerated people are seeking help from us on.  We all have full time jobs outside of Florida Cares and do our very best to maximize our time helping people in prison and their families navigate this daunting system.  

Please understand this and don’t feel left out. There are still plenty of posts that are social or advocacy related like visitation pictures and tweets where the comments are left on and open for conversation.  

One way you can help us maximize our efforts is before you submit a post in the group, try using the search tool to check for existing posts pertaining to the facility or topic you’re wondering about. You can type in just a word or two and many times you will find there is already an active post addressing your topic. Try simple phrases such as “mail” “confinement” or the name of the facility. Once you’ve tried searching, if you don’t find what you’re looking for, or if the information seems like it might be outdated, please submit your post. 

Last thing, don’t forget to check out the “pinned” or “featured” posts at the top of the group. These are posts that we pin to the top of the group because they are a priority topic and we want to be sure you all see them.