The Bellmore Parents Facebook group — a popular online forum for local families — is back online after its administrator regained access to his account earlier this month, ending a weeks-long disruption that had left the roughly 12,000-member community offline.
David Tyskowski, who has overseen the group for about seven years, said he received an email from Meta Platforms on Feb. 9 notifying him that restrictions on his account had been lifted.
“I logged in and everything popped back up,” Tyskowski said. “It was relief — we’d spent weeks trying everything we could to get it restored.”
Because Tyskowski was the sole administrator, the Bellmore Parents page had been automatically paused while his account was disabled. After regaining access, he manually unpaused the group and posted an update to members explaining what happened.
The account suspension had also affected a nostalgia Facebook group Tyskowski co-administers, “I Grew Up in Arlington,” which shares memories and photos from residents who grew up in Arlington, Virginia.
Eric Dobson, a co-administrator of that group, said it too is back online and members quickly returned.
“We’re very happy — we’re back up and running,” Dobson said in a phone interview. “People posted, ‘This is the only reason I’m on Facebook.’ So people were pretty excited.”
Dobson said activity resumed almost immediately, with members once again sharing stories and historical photos.
“It’s exciting to be back,” he said. “People are already telling their stories again about growing up here.”
Tyskowski said he believes the breakthrough came after a member of the Arlington group who works at Meta or Facebook submitted an internal support ticket. Several days later, he received notice that his account restrictions had been removed.
“The restrictions on your Meta account have been removed so you can use Meta Quest again,” the email to Tyskowski stated. “We’re sorry you weren’t able to use your account for a while. Sometimes we need to take action to help keep our community safe.”
To reduce the risk of another outage, Tyskowski said he is adding additional administrators to the Bellmore Parents group so its availability will not depend on one account.
Dobson said administrators of the Arlington group discussed potential changes but ultimately decided not to alter the type of content members share.
“The problem wasn’t anything we could have predicted,” Dobson said. “Our group is about telling stories of growing up here, so there are going to be childhood photos. Why should we censor ourselves because of an AI mistake?”
The Bellmore Parents group’s return reinstates what members describe as a key local resource where residents share recommendations, local updates and support during emergencies.
Tyskowski said recent incidents, including local fires, underscored how the page helps residents circulate information and fundraising efforts.
“That’s where the group comes in handy,” he said. “It’s nice to have it back so people can spread the word and help each other.”
The group went offline in January after Tyskowski’s Meta account was disabled, which he said followed what he believes was an automated moderation error tied to posts in the Arlington group featuring decades-old youth sports photos.
At the time, he said repeated appeals through Meta’s support channels produced little response, highlighting what he and others see as the challenges of appealing automated moderation decisions.
Both administrators said they are focused on moving forward.
