Dagney and others - There were a few overeager folks - definitely not associated with AAWA - who took it upon themselves to use the Facebook auto referral feature and link literally hundreds of new members to our FB group site without our knowledge. That site was supposed to be a private, protected FB page, but we realized that over 1300 folks were suddenly members, many whom we did not know at all. Our elation quickly turned to panic. We knew that something was terribly wrong, but we faced the dilemma as to how to determine who wanted to be on the group from those who had been added and linked there without their knowledge. Obviously, the site was no longer "private." We decided to make it an open group and let those who wanted to stay to remain, those who wanted to leave to opt out. For now, my suggestion is that if you are getting any messages from the AAWA site via Facebook and you did not join our page on your own, please immediately opt out. I can assure you that none of your personal information has been retained. We won't be offended and understand your displeasure with the situation. I have personally contacted the primary person responsible (not a member or associate of AAWA) asked that person to cease and desist from linking anyone without their knowledge or permission. We are confident that this was not done maliciously, but rather due to over eagerness to try to show support for our group. There may be others besides this one person who were also over-enthusiastic about our group and were just trying to help, but at this stage we have not identified any one taking action at that same level. I apologize on behalf of the AAWA advisory group (many are sound asleep at this hour) and am personally sorry that we didn't act in a more assertive manner sooner. But what is done is done and now we must move on. The good news is that the Facebook page is, in fact, now open to ANYONE WHO WANTS TO JOIN THE DISCUSSION... JV | 
