KITCHENER -- A Facebook group in Guelph has paused its operations due to some negative comments.
The volunteer administrators for Caremongering Guelph said it's taking too much time to make sure everyone is behaving.
The page was started to by two friends and has more than 5,000 members.
"Just wanted to create something where people can check in, not feel alone," moderator Monica Pease said.
The community's needs changed as the pandemic evolved.
"The first week of the pandemic, we're worried about toilet paper, masks, sanitizing," moderator Crista Renner said. "Toward the next couple of weeks, we're worried about where we're living, we're worried about the fundamental shelter."
The moderators said they paused the page because they were feeling "burnt out."
Amy Kipp, a PhD student at the University of Guelph, has been studying the rising trend of care mongering and said it can be hard to do good.
"Many of the organizers spoke to me, saying that it was really stressful and there were times then they wanted to quit but they also saw the potential of care mongering," she said.
The administrators of the Guelph page said the vetting process became rigorous and time-consuming.
"Initially, I would say that I was spending four to five hours a day in the first part of the pandemic," Renner said.
They said there were also instances of personal attacks between members.
"The difficulty is witnessing those conversations in a thread and managing the people that are behaving badly, frankly," Pease said.
The group has put out a call for BIPOC and people with different life experiences to help them moderate the group and those difficult conversations in hopes the care can continue.
