Facebook Brands Effin In County Limerick 'Offensive'

Posted on Friday, 02 December 2011 by admin

For most people adding the name of where they live on Facebook is relatively straightforward.

A problem, however, arises when the place where you live is branded as offensive by the social networking site.

One woman from Effin in County Limerick in the Irish Republic has so far been unable to add the village name to the 'home place' section of her Facebook profile.

Ann Marie Kennedy, who works in the department of nursing and midwifery at the University of Limerick, has now started an online campaign to to get Effin recognised.

"I was born and raised in Effin and my family come from here," she said.

For most people adding the name of where they live on Facebook is relatively straightforward. A problem, however, arises when the place where you live is branded as offensive by the social networking site. One woman from Effin in County Limerick in the Irish Republic has so far been unable to add the village name to the 'home place' section of her Facebook profile. Ann Marie Kennedy, who works in the department of nursing and midwifery at the University of Limerick, has now started an online campaign to to get Effin recognised.

"I was born and raised in Effin and my family come from here," she said. "I am also directing a play, 'Effin Cinderella' this Christmas. "I would like to be able to put Effin on my profile page and so would many other Effin people around the world to proudly say that they are from Effin, County Limerick, but it won't recognise that," she added. "It just won't let me add it. It just keeps giving suggestions such as Effingham, Illinois; Effingham, New Hampshire." The 47-year-old Effin native has now started an online campaign, although an attempt to set up a Facebook page called 'Please get my hometown Effin recognised' was also unsuccessful.

"It came up with an error message that it was 'offensive'," she said. She has created an Effin group page on the site which has 219 members and claimed the Effin GAA Facebook page had over 900. Ms Kennedy said she contacted Ray D'Arcy's 2FM radio show who got in touch with Facebook on her behalf. The social networking site responded saying she would still be able to 'check-in' when in Effin. 'Checking-in' means her Facebook friends will be alerted when she enters the village. Ms Kennedy said the Facebook press office have been contacted again on Friday and she is waiting to hear back. She now lives in Banogue but hopes to move back to Effin. She said: "I'm a proud Effin woman and I always will be an Effin woman." Although she recognised the pun "is funny", she said it "is not as funny as other people find it". "We are used to it, although the name originated from a saint," she said. The village of Effin has a population of around 1,000 and is about 40km south of Limerick city near Charleville. It has been suggested that the village's name origins lie in Cill or Teampaill Eiffin, meaning the Temple or Church of St Effin.

Source: BBC