Funtown Splashtown Mistaken Identity Results in Social Media Nightmare

In what has been a surprisingly tumultuous start to the week on social media, Funtown Splashtown in Saco, Maine endured their own online nightmare after a case of mistaken identity.

Apparently there is a Splashtown in San Antonio, Texas that is not affiliated with our beloved Funtown in Saco. The story was originally covered by KENS 5 and was then picked up by Ellen DeGeneres who mentioned the Texas location on her show.

There had been reports of two teenage employees making fun of an autistic boy at the San Antonio Splashtown. Unfortunately for our Funtown, there was some online confusion.

The mob mentality took over, and people assuming she was referencing the Maine location took to Facebook and began blasting the popular water park. Thankfully the owner of Funtown Splashtown in Saco and his employees acted quickly to correct the error made by their patrons.

They contacted all the local media outlets to let them know of the error and then replied personally and individually to every single negative comment on their social media sites.

At first people on line didn't want to believe that there was an error, but eventually they were able to turn the tide and prove that the unaffiliated Maine location was not the water park referenced on Ellen.

I applaud the park and it's owner Ed Hodgdon for taking quick action and behaving in a respectful, calm and appropriate manner to set the record straight.

I think this is another great example of the power of social media and the equal power of a mob mentality let loose online. Unfortunately, we hide behind our perceived anonymity reading only the headlines first while ignoring the content or context. 

Quick to place blame and spout off cruel or thoughtless comments without bothering to check our facts, we forget that our words can hurt.

Hopefully this is a trend that may go away soon, but for now my daughter and I are relieved that one of our favorite summer destinations is safe from the firestorm of the "internet militia."