It started as a laugh between friends, a celebration of bin night to fight the lockdown blues, and within three weeks Bin Isolation Outing had attracted one million members from around the world.
Danielle Askew started the Facebook group in March last year as she and her friends in Queensland's Hervey Bay dared each other to brighten up a rare trip out the front door with dress-ups.
This week, Ms Askew's efforts were celebrated with a Community Project of the Year award by Fraser Coast Regional Council — but not before she made the decision to archive the group.
Managing it had taken over her life.
Ms Askew said Bin Isolation Outing struck a chord with people longing for connection during the coronavirus lockdown.
"There were members from every country you could think of, it was absolutely amazing."
But the explosion in membership took her by surprise.
"It skyrocketed. The numbers. It was ticking over by the second," Ms Askew said.
"I had beautiful friends who jumped on to help me moderate."
'Eye-opener to human nature'
More than 20 friends pitched in to help her process 25,000 pending posts a day at the group's height.
Ms Askew said she spent 60 hours a week "just trying to get people to behave nicely" in the group.
"For nine months I spent all of my spare time on it and some nights only got a few hours of sleep," she said.
She described the experience moderating posts from around the world as "an eye-opener to human nature".
"Ninety per cent of people were beautiful, kind, uplifting," Ms Askew said.
"We really found it emotionally draining to have these people being mean.
"We just eventually decided it had run its course and archived it so people can still look at the posts and all the memories."
Ms Askew said she made the call to protect her own mental health.
"As a kindergarten teacher I advocate kindness. My first thing I teach is to use kind hands, kind words every day, say something nice to someone," she said.
Ms Askew said the group's joyful moments kept her going for nine months.
"The fact that I made people smile, and that's my whole goal in life."
Starting a group? Be prepared for hard work
Senior lecturer and social media expert at Central Queensland University, Ritesh Chugh, has experienced the challenges of moderating social media as a group administrator.
He said group creators needed to prepare for the time and the mental impact involved in running an online community and "be wary of spammers, trolls, and rude people".
Dr Chugh recommended admins develop clearly-defined community guidelines and moderation policies that focus on "the three Cs — content, conduct, and culture".
"Some 'buy, sell, and swap' groups even go to the extent of asking people to say 'please' and 'thank you'," he said.
Dr Chugh said it was important to clarify the language and tone expected of group members and remind them regularly, not just upon joining.
He also said admins needed to be prepared to be tough on bad behaviour and be aware of the tools available to keep it under control.
"There are a lot of functions many Facebook users may not be aware of," Dr Chugh said.
As well as creating a safe place for group members, he recommended creating a roster to share the workload evenly among moderators.
"It's very difficult," Dr Chugh said, "and all of this is pro bono work".
"Even when you're thinking of appointing moderators don't just appoint family and friends to come and help you. Find people who have the right skills to assist you."
