I’m assuming it’s something along the same lines as facebook. I received an invitation email today through the lodges email address and was just wondering if anyone has heard of this?
Looks like something ripe for a lawsuit from Mark Zuckerberg! :) Still, check it out and let us know how it is.
There are lots of online sites for Masonry, this is probably just another one that someone has tried to tie into Facebook. Might be cool, might not. If you try it out, let us know.
Other Masonic forums are scratching their heads about facelodge as well. Nobody seems to be able to vouch for it. Doesn’t mean it isn’t legit…..but we just don’t know.
I found this on the Grand Lodge of Maine’s Homepage:
“In mid-March, 2011, a number of Maine Masons received invitations to join a ‘discussion website’ at facelodge.com. Prior to this time, there were no announcements about this site nor did the invitation give any hint as to the creators of the site or their Masonic affiliation, if any. The site is designed, perhaps illegally, to look like Facebook™. The website’s registration is ‘hidden’ through a private domain registration at GoDaddy.com. Because of the clandestine status of this site, I would presently discourage any Maine Mason from getting involved. Despite my very active online presence, I have not personally received an invitation nor would I accept it without knowing who was behind it.”
I found this on the Grand Lodge of Maine’s Homepage:
<snip for brevity>
And put there by a Charter Member and PM of The DeMolay Lodge of Boston - of all the darn things!
:cheese:
I’ve since received an invitation which made direct reference to that page but once again fails to identify the owners or explain all the ‘secrecy’.
Now I note that their homepage has been changed slightly but there’s still that reference to “regular”. By whose standards? Maine differs from Massachusetts and we both differ from any other jurisdiction so this is dicey at best.
And just because something alludes to “fraternal network” is no reason in the world to assume that it’s in any way connected to the GFN to which many have belonged for years. I don’t believe they’d behave in such a puerile way or do anything which would function in competition with their own long-established site.
I’ve yet to encounter anyone who has actually signed up for this thing. Other forums, like this one, have just been going back and forth with nothing definitive. Curious that the creators there wouldn’t, if legitimate, have popped up SOMEWHERE to identify themselves - or to have identified themselves to me in an e-mail. It’s not as if I’m a completely unknown online identity after all…. <hanging head humbly>
Great to hear from you again, Brother!
Fraternally,
Ed
(in his ‘other’ life, Webmaster for http://www.masonicinfo.com - Anti-Masonry: Points of View)
I was invited to Facelodge the last week by a Bro. I found on the site a lot of Brothers of my Lodge and Grand Lodge, including some Grand Lodge´s Officers. I must say, I am impressed with the site, has potencial to be a great resource for the craft.
Regarding to who is behind, I can only tell that is one Bro. or several (I´m not sure), and the site appears to grow thanks to the support (not economic, is free) of the members. It started mid march 2011. That´s all I can tell you openly.
I was invited to Facelodge the last week by a Bro. that had been invited by other Bro. I found on the site a lot of Brothers of my Lodge and Grand Lodge, including some Grand Lodge´s Officers.
Invited “the last week”, eh? Interesting.
Really? From Washington State? What lodge is that, perchance? And which Grand Lodge officers would that be? I know some and would like to ask about their knowledge of things. Heck, I’ve been a member of the Walter F. Meier Lodge of Research for two or three decades now so I’m a part of that jurisdiction! I’m sure they won’t mind responding to one of their own members….
I wonder though why your hesitation to identify either them or yourself though. Is this more of the ‘shuck and jive’ dance going on? Step right out from behind the curtain so we can see you….
I must say, I am impressed with the site, has potencial to be a great resource for the craft.
Unlike the pedestrian efforts of, say, the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts and this website. I see….
I would note that your spelling errors and grammar have a strange similarity to those of the e-mail sent to me in response to the page at http://www.mainemason.org/scams.asp (Updated this morning!)
PS: Those who know me, know quite well that when I go on an online hunting/fishing expedition, I never come back empty-handed. Methinks I’m flushing out something here….)
Regarding to who is behind, I can only tell that is one Bro. or several (I´m not sure), and the site appears to grow thanks to the support (not economic, is free) of the members. It started mid march 2011. That´s all I can tell you openly.
You might want to tell them that their little dance could be for naught if word gets out that this is some kind of scam. You’d think that anyone starting an online endeavor that’s not supported by their Grand Lodge (as this one is) would be far more forthcoming about who they are (and who they aren’t).
Don’t be afraid, my hidden-identity Brother: you have nothing to fear but being branded as a scammer….
I want to thank everyone on this thread for their questions, answers, and dialogue.
At the same time, and with all due respect to everyone on this thread, this Forum is here solely to help prospective Masons by answering their questions and getting them in touch with a Lodge near them.
To that end I have always thought that this thread was a bit off topic for us. And as it is now getting a little testy I’m going to close the thread and the topic.
Everyone from DeMolay Chapters and Masonic Lodges to our Appendant Bodys now use Facebook and other online means to stay in contact and plan events, so whether this FaceLodge is real, imaginary, sponsored, or not, it doesn’t really matter to anyone who wants to become a Mason.
Even this Forum is now a National online “meeting” place for Masons who want to help—and though it is sponsored by Grand Lodges (no longer just Massachusetts), we are not a Lodge.
If this “facelodge” is indeed an online meeting place for Master Masons, it could not be a Lodge in any real sense for a prosective Mason, as it could never confer a degree.
For the benefit of those prospective members reading this, there is no way one can become a Mason online. The Degrees by their very nature are in the physical world, and are conveyed using all the senses.
Hope that helps. This thread is now closed. I would appreciate any other discussion on this topic be kept offline.
