Did you know there are upwards of 15 Facebook groups and pages dedicated to various issues in Sabal Springs? Some are used regularly and have large followings. Some have not been used in years and have very few members. They serve different purposes for different people. Some love them, some hate them. Some are private and some are public. Some allow only residents of Sabal Springs to join; some allow anyone with a connection to Sabal Springs to engage; and others allow anyone who happens to find the page to join.
Why is there so much drama about our Facebook pages? There are several reasons. First a little history. Several years ago, a group was created by the Arts and Crafts group. Unfortunately, it got pretty ugly and certain residents were threatened and experienced online abuse. There was even an attempt to drive a former board member out of the community or at least off the board. Eventually that page ceased to exist. In 2021, a new resident—in all transparency me—saw a need for a group for people to get information or to sell things so I started a page called Sabal Springs Homeowners. I was told by a former board member that I should change the name because some folks might think it was an official Sabal Springs HOA page. But that didn’t quell the detractors, one former board president even sat in my living room and used words like attorney and cease and desist.
I firmly believe in freedom of speech but the daily barrage of attacks became too much and I finally gave in and deleted the group. That’s when Susan Costa reached out to me about creating one herself. I told her to go for it but that she should probably speak to the board before she did so she could get direction from them and avoid the hiccups I encountered. This is when the Sabal Springs Scoop was born.
Now as anyone on the Scoop knows, this page is for positivity only and things directly related to Sabal Springs. At the same time notices from the office and information on happenings in Sabal Springs are regularly posted here. The Scoop welcomes individuals outside of Sabal Springs to join as long as they have a connection to someone in here. Last I knew, any outside events, photographs, etc. are not allowed. Over the course of time, myself and several others were banned from the Scoop.
We then took it upon ourselves to create a new page, which is how the Sabal Springs Gnomies was born. The Gnomies site only allows residents of Sabal Springs to join. This can be challenging to manage as each request has to be verified by the resident or online directory and each year, the administrators go through the list and directories and remove anyone who no longer lives here. This is why free discussions and conversations are allowed as only residents are members. However, the admins of the page will delete conversations and comments if they do get out of hand and will ban residents who are disrespectful or unable to behave like adults.
Sabal Springs Unfiltered is a new group that was recently formed by a newer resident. Almost anything goes here. Lots of hot topics can be discussed openly.
Other pages include Sabal Springs Pickleball Players, Sabal Springs Entertainment, Sabal Springs Tennis, The Lakehouse at Sabal Springs, Sabal Springs Golf & Raquet Club, Sabal Springs Nature Lovers, Sabal Springs Golf, Joker’s of Sabal Springs, Sabal Springs Real Estate, Sabal Springs, Sabal Springs Lifestyle and the Midwest Group at Sabal Springs.
All run by different people and groups. All types of groups for different interests. It can be a bit overwhelming. Also keep in mind, every one of these pages/groups are for entertainment purposes only. All official communication is supposed to come from Alliant and not a Facebook page.
There are no official Facebook pages for Sabal Springs homeowners, and it would be nice if one could be created. There is the ability to create a site for informational posts only. Comments and unauthorized posting could be blocked. Each committee or group could send regular updates to be posted by maybe one or two administrators only. On weekends, when the office is closed, if information needs to get out, it could still get out via the Facebook page. Right now, if anything urgent happens on a weekend, we don’t find out about it until the following week. The HOA board president used to be able to send emails and texts in emergency situations but that has gone away.
An official group page could be managed by one or two members of the Communications Committee if they had the technical capability to do so. For more information on how a Facebook page could be beneficial, here’s an article I found: https://www. cedarmanagementgroup. com/use-social-media-in- hoa-effectively/
It’s 2025 and time to get with the times!
