Facebook: Stop The Thread - I Want To Get Off!!!

[TheaterDiva1]

Some of my FB friends are in an online comedy contest where you so to a site and click on their profile.  Some posted it as an event, others sent a mass message to all their friends.

I got these messages from several people.  In one case, someone replied back - and when you reply to mass message, it goes to everyone (like hitting "Reply All" to an e-mail).  Then more people started replying - and I get every single one.  I'm sick of it!  When people complained, the OP said she can't delete the thread and people should just stop replying (the replies no longer pertain to the original message anyway), but any attempt to stop it just makes it worse.  I tried deleting the message from my inbox - it reappears with a new reply.  I could block the main offenders so I don't hear from them, but that won't stop new people from chiming in.  I could block everyone who got the original message, but there're 100+ of them, I'm not FB friends with all of them and most people I would want to hear from under normal circumstances.  I don't know what else to do!  HELP!!! 

[Surianne]

If they've asked nicely that everyone stop replying to the thread, and it hasn't worked, I don't think there's much you can do on that end.  So I'd set up a filter in your email to send anything with that message subject straight to trash.

So, say the thread was called "Awesome message thread that won't die", in the facebook email it will probably say in the header, "John Smith send you a Facebook message" and in the body, "Re: Awesome message thread that won't die."  

So if your email provider (something like gmail, or a mail client like Outlook would do it) lets you filter mail, you can set up a filter to automatically trash anything that has "Re: Awesome message thread" in the message body.  

[whylime13]

oh man there's nothing worse then getting caught in a 'reply all' hysteria.  I hate that the facebook message standard is reply all instead of reply (the plain reply option is there but you have to look for it).  I have a friend who sends mass messages to everyone he knows all the time and the replies are always a waste of inbox space for me. 

Sorry OP, haven't figured out a way to stop it other then asking to not be included in the future.  Hugs and maybe some  .

[kandikrisp]

This is going to sound mean, but there is absolutely nothing you can do but ignore it or report it. My suggestion is to disable message notifications to your e-mail/phone if you haven't done that already, because it could get rough.

My friends and I have 3 of these set up (one with 20 people, one with eight, and one with thirteen.) and the one with 20, we call the Thread of No Return. It was started when I got bored and group-messaged a bunch of my friends to play Truth or Dare and everyone decided to start talking instead. At that time, there was a 1000 post limit on each thread.

We made it up to 35 threads before the "thread branch feature" became interlocked with the old thread, so making new ones didn't seem important anymore.

To give you a time frame, I started it in the summer before my sophomore year, and I graduated almost a year ago.

Also for the record, my ex is in one of those threads, and he has me blocked. He can still see and recieve every message I send, but neither my name or avatar pop up. It's one of the weird ways around the block feature.

((hugs)) There really is nothing you can do, and I'm sorry you got stuck in one of these.

(Though, these *are* considered "abuse of Facebook's Features" because they ask that you not use messages as the chat application. You *could* report if you feel like making some people very, very angry, because if Facebook responds, it completely disables their ability to use the messaging feature for a while...)

[ginlyn32]

Adjust your privacy/email settings so that you no longer recieve email updates.

Is this going to your personal email or is it filling up your FB PM inbox? I think you can adjust settings for either, but you will need to go to the privacy settings page.

ginlyn

[ebelie]

I've been caught in a reply all mess before.  500 emails later the thing died out of its own accord.  It started with an official email sent to the wrong (gigantic) email list, twenty 'reply to alls' letting the original sender know they sent it to the wrong list, fifty more replies letting the first twenty responders know they'd sent their emails to everyone by mistake and it just took off from there.  Crazy.

[Raintree]

I would like Facebook to allow you to delete yourself out of a thread. I am not a techie but I would imagine there would be a way for them to set it up.

My friends frequently use Facebook messages to say, "Hey, would anyone like to go out and do X sometime next week?"  This is a great way to get some activity going and have a group conversation about it...suggestions, times, etc.  But if I can't make it to the activity, I then still get ALL the messages about it!! I do want to be included on these, but I also want the option of deleting the thread altogether (I tried deleting the thread, but I still get all subsequent replies).

Similarly, I would like the option of bringing NEW people into the thread. Too often, some group outing gets planned, but they forget to include Susan (for example). Susan subsequently gets invited but cannot see all the details being planned on the thread. Someone then has the cumbersome chore of updating Susan on all recent changes (it's on Friday now, not Thursday, and we're meeting at the cinema, not at the bowling alley, and everyone's bringing a dish, not eating at the restaurant.....)