Permanently banned from a hiking meetup group over one trail photo

I got kicked out of a local hiking group on Facebook after posting a picture of a faded trail marker I found near Mount Elbert. The admin said it violated their rule about sharing 'unsafe navigation tips' because I mentioned the marker was hard to see. I've been on 40 hikes with these people over two years, never had a warning. I even offered to take the post down and apologize, but they ignored me. What's the line between helpful info and breaking a group rule for you all? Has anyone else been booted for something that felt this small?

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1 Comment

river_scott20d ago

So the real issue here is did they ever actually explain what part of that crossed the line? Because saying a marker is faded is just a fact, not advice to ignore it. I've seen groups get weird about liability stuff, but banning someone with your history over one picture seems less about the photo and more about something else. Did you ever push back and ask for the exact rule or how it applied? That's the part that would bug me, if they gave you zero chance to understand or fix it. Seems like the kind of thing where a mod with a grudge or a bad day makes the call and then doubles down.