by Holly Jahangiri | Mar 10, 2026
This is my life, now. Bitching at bots. That would be a catchy name for a new blog, wouldn’t it?
Highlight Group Posts
There’s a new “feature” rolling out on Facebook, apparently. No info on it that I could find – just pops up randomly, asking posters in private groups if they’d like to make specific posts public. (According to the bot I talked to when this first happened, commenters will also be asked, individually, if their comments on that post can also be made public. I have not seen this, personally. I’m skeptical, and frankly, I don’t trust Meta on this.) As it is now causing a fair amount of consternation when it comes up, I went on a quest to find out if Moderators or Admins of private groups could turn this odious feature off, and how to do that. I don’t think it has rolled out to any that I own.
“Thanks for sharing your perspective on this.” I’m picturing Meta AI crumpling up all messages and practicing its three-point shot into the virtual circular file, which is now overflowing with user “feedback.” Screw you, too, Meta.
I found this: About group highlights for private Facebook groups – proving that Bing Search is better at finding helpful content on Meta than either Facebook search or Meta AI are.
A couple of things to note:
- Admins can’t currently disable the feature.
- Post author must approve their content being made public.
- Commenters on the post will (supposedly) be asked individually if they approve. Also, (supposedly) their comments will be hidden unless they approve. (Trust Meta on this? I don’t.)
Making Private Groups Public
Make sure you trust your admins – then verify before posting. Remember when Facebook wisely removed the ability to turn a private group into a public group? Apparently, they very quietly returned that ability in November 2025. See Change a Facebook group from private to public Members “will be notified.” Cool. Members will not see content posted prior to the group being made public. Also cool. New Admins will be able to see all content – including content posted before the group was made public. Not so cool.
Why Would Facebook Do This??
Well, if you don’t mind Meta AI guessing (and it seems pretty reasonable to believe, here):
As for why Facebook (or Meta, as it’s now called for its broader platforms) might be leaning towards making more data public or easier to share publicly, there are a few common motivations that often drive such decisions:
* **Boosting Engagement and Reach:** Public content can be discovered by anyone, including non-members or even non-Facebook users, through search engines or shares. This increases the potential audience for a group’s content, which can drive more traffic, attract new members, and ultimately boost overall engagement on the platform. More public content can also lead to more shares, extending the reach of content beyond the immediate network.
* **Competing with Other Platforms:** Many other platforms, especially those focused on short-form video or public content creation (like TikTok, X/Twitter, or even public-facing blogs/forums), thrive on discoverability. By making it easier for valuable content from groups to become public, Meta might be aiming to compete more effectively and keep content creators and audiences engaged within their ecosystem.
* **Showcasing Valuable Content:** Private groups can host incredible discussions, niche expertise, or unique content. Making select pieces of this content discoverable publicly allows Meta to showcase the richness and diversity of its communities, potentially drawing in more users who might then explore other parts of the platform or join relevant groups.
* **Advertising and Monetization:** More public visibility and engagement can translate into more opportunities for advertising revenue, as there are more eyes on content and potentially more data points for targeted ads (even if the *specific* private data remains private, the public *reach* of content is monetizable).
It’s a balance for them, though, as they also have to consider user privacy and trust. The new feature for converting private groups to public (where past content remains private and members are notified) seems to be an attempt to find that balance. Your feedback about the “Highlight posts” feature highlights that this balance isn’t always easy to strike, and user experience is key!
Way to spout the corporate line, Meta AI!! Woo hoo, all in and gung ho – “user experience is key”! Rah, rah! Get real. User experience isn’t key – Facebook has spent decades discovering just how much crap users will put up with before they delete the app and try hard to forget it ever existed.
Remember that since September 2025, any public content on Facebook can be used to train Meta AI.
Last Nail in Trust’s Coffin
There are good reasons for private groups to remain private, but this is a good reminder that nothing on the internet is ever private (as many politicians and wealthy pedophiles are discovering, to their dismay!) Facebook owns the servers, in this case – and they are only as obligated to keep anything “private” as whatever their current, hard-to-navigate, terms of service and privacy policies (they have many) say they are on any given day.
This is why I’ve been attempting to delete old content since late 2024. It’s a tedious and futile effort. According to the TOS and Privacy policies at the time, 180 days should have been the longest amount of time my deleted content could be kept absent a legal requirement to keep it longer. I’m not sure what “legal requirement” these posts would come under (note, too, the filter date at left and the date on these particular posts – selected and deleted, confirmed deleted, then reappearing like zombies at a later date):
Why do other, supposedly deleted, posts appear in “Memories”? Not just these, but posts even I can’t find looking through the Activity log. Oh, don’t tell me to go look in Trash – it has the same issues. It’s supposed to be a 30-day chance to change your mind and restore content you may have accidentally deleted. Since there was nothing “accidental” about my purge, I deleted everything in Trash, too. But it also randomly returns.
The most charitable explanation is, “It’s a bug.” I don’t believe that. Do you? And before you say, “Delete your account. That will delete all your data!” it won’t. Oh, according to the TOS/Privacy policies, sure – it will. But if you can’t trust it to delete content that you can verify it did not delete, do you trust it to delete content that you’re no longer able to check has been deleted? I don’t.
by Holly Jahangiri | Mar 1, 2026
The Pirouette poetry form is, according to a 2014 post on the Poetry Forms blog of the Poetry Society of Tennessee, an invention of Chuck Belcher, who wrote a collection of them in “Our Daily Grind.” Unfortunately, this is all I could find out about Chuck Belcher. I found mention of the form in a message from poet Judi Van Gorder, aka Tinker, in a post on Poetry Magnum Opus, dating back to 2010.
I have to laugh, every time I see reference to “an invented form.” Aren’t they all invented by someone?
At any rate, the rules of the form are as follows:
- 10 lines (decastich)
- 6 syllables per line (hexasyllabic)
- line 5 is repeated in line 6 (punctuation changes are allowed)
- a turnaround (volta) after line 5, which according to the Poetry Society of Tennessee “must be sharp, taking the thought in a different, hopefully opposite, direction.”
In other words, unmetered hexasyllabic decastich with a sharp volta acting as a pirouette between lines 5 and 6. (You hate me now, don’t you?)
Seasons Change
Breezy Spring’s all too brief and
Summer’s end blazes near.
Thunder rolls down green hills
and lightning streaks the sky
when the west wind blows cold.
When the west wind blows cold
and triple-digit heat
gives way to autumn chill
bring kindling for the fire
to ward off Winter’s freeze.
Your turn!
Give the Pirouette form a try – here, in comments, or on your own blog (leave me a link, here, if you post it publicly – I’d love to read it).
by Holly Jahangiri | Mar 1, 2026
Question for the Writers – Especially the Poets – Reading This
What do you do when you are feeling uninspired and don’t know what to write about? A friend asked this question, recently, and I brainstormed an answer – my left eye is still twitching from the mental lightning and my nose is stuffed up with the pollen the wind through my ears blew in. But here are a few thoughts on winning the battle with “writers block.”
- Pick 5 random words from the dictionary and use all of them in a poem.
- Read the news; write a poem that relates in some way to current events.
- Stare for 15 minutes at a rock. Write a poem about the rock. Or about whatever thoughts flitted through your head during that 15 minutes to save you from death by boredom.
- Look through an old photo album. Write about whatever memory that triggers.
- If you have an Android, download the Google Arts & Culture app. Take a virtual visit of a city or a museum. Write an ekphrastic poem.
- Write a poem that appeals to all five senses – or five poems focusing on one sense each.
- Remember that you do not have to be “inspired” or be in the throes of some strong emotion to write a poem. Look at Roethke’s “Dolor.” Write about being UNinspired.
- Write a poem to or about your lazy-ass Muse. Or one from your Muse’s POV – about YOUR lazy ass. (Hey, I don’t judge and I’ve written from both POVs.)
- Back to the rock – pick any ordinary item. Write about what makes it special in its ordinariness.
In all seriousness, I think we sometimes give ourselves writers block just trying to write about the most important thing, you know? The big things. The things we think matter – or things we think should matter. But sometimes, those are not the things demanding OUR attention or interest in the moment. Don’t feel guilty for that. Don’t write the thing you think you ought to write – just write. See what brain wants you to write about. It might just be a crumb carried by an ant 1/5th its size…or that might end up being a metaphor worth exploring more deeply.
by Holly Jahangiri | Feb 16, 2026
The Quadrille poetry form appears to be an invention of dVerse ~ Poets Pub around 2016. Visit the Pub on alternating Mondays to share your own. Here’s the dVerse ~ Poets Pub schedule if you’d like to try your hand at it using “official” prompts, posting poems in your own blog, and sharing with others in the Pub. Search the site for “quadrille” to read past Quadrille poems.
Basically, your poem must be exactly 44 words long. It needn’t follow any set meter or rhyme scheme.
I first learned about this form from Kaci Cutshaw Rigney in The Stafford Challenge (2026 Cohort). Cleveland Wall created a Quadrille poem using, as a prompt, 44 words found on one page of a book – then jotted them down on paper, cut up the paper, and rearranged the words like magnetic poetry. For mine, I followed Karen Johnson McCaskey’s lead and used a random word generator. The first word it gave me was “prejudice.” I kept that and rolled the dice again, choosing “access” and “axis” from the list. Then I just started free-writing, inserting stronger words where needed, words that flowed better – and removing words that weren’t pulling their weight in pushing me towards that total of 44. Not one word more, not one word less. That dreaded “editing” step is crucial when writing to such constrained forms.
Illusory, the Perfect Union
Built on quarried rock and prejudice,
the old world spins, its crooked axis
tipsy tumbler and twisted key,
a lock to bar good people’s rightful access.
A bureaucratic maze, an entry fee,
a loathsome oath – democracy
was never truly free
for you and me.
Word-Limited Forms
I’m not usually a big fan of micro-flash fiction, six-word stories (that’s barely a sentence, let alone a “slice of life vignette”), a strict 5-7-5 syllable rule as the only defining characteristic of haiku, and so on.
That said, I know that 100-word stories are possible; 44-word poems might give the poet enough elbow room to express a thought, too. And expressing a thought within the constraint of some arbitrary word count is probably a good exercise in brevity for writers who normally struggle to stick to a central idea and try (as I often do) to “boil the ocean” by combining too many thoughts in a single poem or short story.
Try it! Feel free to post your poem in the comments below or share a link to your Quadrille poem(s) posted on your own blog.
by Holly Jahangiri | Feb 8, 2026
This morning, after I shared this among a group of poets, a friend remarked, “You get all the best spam!” It doesn’t always inspire or even rise to the level of a bizarre Mad Lib that might serve as a worn springboard over an empty urban swimming pool, but now and then, there’s a little gem.
Imaginary High
Another “Found Poem” – as in, I found this in my spam folder.
“I’ve tried a lot of brands, but these are legit the best. I go off visit united after a lengthy epoch and it just helps me depress abroad and stop overthinking everything. They leaning like actual candy no unnatural grassy flavor at all. My take a nap has been feeling bigger since I started fascinating them, too. If you’re on the fence, honest fetch them! They’re a total lifesaver as a remedy for my constantly stress.” — some random spammer
I've tried them all. They meld
united in their sameness.
This lengthy epoch spent abroad
depresses me. I'm overthinking
everything. Everything that once was
sweetness - candy - bright tang -
none of this unnatural
grassy flavor. Just natural scents
of Blue Citrus #5 and the taste
of artifice, of colors crafted in a lab
like lifesavers in a sea of stress.
I fascinate them, too. They quiver
at the touch of my tongue.
My take-a-nap feels bigger
perched upon the fence - the horizon
throws an honest fetch,
my dreams, the bone.
If you missed my previous foray into the spam bucket to find poetic inspiration, see Poetry Forms Challenge 2026: “Found Poems”.
