Goodbye, Facebook

[xenon]

Tangent: https://www.engadget.com/2020-02-27-internet-forums-dying-off.html

We're a rare breed here - and waaaaaay better for discussion than the mainstream social media platforms.

I don't have FB on my phone - but I still check it from time to time on my PC. I started "unfollowing" people aggressively (they don't know you've unfollowed them - and you're still friends. You just don't see posts from them in your news feed).

If I see someone post multiple times - and I can't remember the last post they made that I would want to commit to long-term memory. They go into unfollow.

My FB is all baby pictures and birthday wishes now. Which is exactly how I like it. I visit about once a week.

[Doctor Phibes]

@Loki said in Goodbye, Facebook:

I am well aware of a situation where Facebook was incredibly useful for targeting older women.

I thought that was just me, a/k/a Caspar Milftoast

[jodi]

@Mik yes, I do understand that, what I meant was - due to the nature of online social networks, and how some tend to behave on them - when enough folks show up in a place, there will be differences of opinion, and I imagine eventually they will have to put some sort of rules/censorship in place that not everyone will be happy with. (And those in charge of deleting/censoring will make judgment calls that feel like a mistake, as in the original story).

[Catseye3]

As luck would have it, I am right now reading Mark Manson's blog on curing distraction. He says many useful things, but this is to the point of this thread: "Apply the Law of “Fuck Yes” or No to your social media connections – Go through all of your friends/follows lists, ask yourself two questions: “Is being connected with this person adding value to my life?” and “Does this person/group help me grow (i.e., overcoming fears and anxieties) or make me weak (i.e., amplifying fears and anxieties?)” If the answers aren’t emphatic FUCK YES’s then you need to unfriend or unfollow them. If you get hung up on someone or something and wonder if they’re worth keeping, the fact that you have to stop and wonder if they’re worth following is a sign that they’re not worth following. Get fucking ruthless. This is your attentional health we’re talking about here."

For the whole post: https://markmanson.net/attention-diet

[jodi]

@xenon yes, I unfollowed a few, but then started snoozing them for 30 days, because they are still people I care about, family, old friends from places we no longer live, even some forum friends I’ve never met IRL, Seriously the best posts are when people share pictures of what they are up to in their daily lives. The occasional funny meme is ok, but mostly I want to know about them.

[Doctor Phibes]

One thing I've noticed on Facebook is how many of my schoolfriends have identical twins who must have been separated at birth, since their childhood appears to have consisted solely of playing in WW2 bomb craters, riding bikes through muddy swamps, climbing on enormous climbing frames and generally having a freaking high-old time filled with poverty, but by 'eck they were 'appy.

All we ever did was drink hard cider behind the bus shelter and complain about how bored we were.

[Aqua Letifer]

@Doctor-Phibes said in Goodbye, Facebook:

All we ever did was drink hard cider behind the bus shelter and complain about how bored we were.

Link to video

[Mik]

@jodi said in Goodbye, Facebook:

@xenon yes, I unfollowed a few, but then started snoozing them for 30 days, because they are still people I care about, family, old friends from places we no longer live, even some forum friends I’ve never met IRL, Seriously the best posts are when people share pictures of what they are up to in their daily lives. The occasional funny meme is ok, but mostly I want to know about them.

That's what I want it for. The political stuff I generally stay away from unless I find an article interesting. But even then I take no position on it, sjust share and they can make of it what they will

[Doctor Phibes]

@Aqua-Letifer said in Goodbye, Facebook:

@Doctor-Phibes said in Goodbye, Facebook:

All we ever did was drink hard cider behind the bus shelter and complain about how bored we were.

Link to video

Funnily enough, I saw them play King George's Hall in Blackburn, Lancashire (the place with 4000 holes) in 1978.

[Aqua Letifer]

Awesome. Paul Weller's the shit.

[Doctor Phibes]

I seem to remember he sang out of tune in Blackburn, and threatened somebody who spat on him.

Or that might have been Stiff Little Fingers. It's all a bit of a blur.

[Aqua Letifer]

@Doctor-Phibes said in Goodbye, Facebook:

I seem to remember he sang out of tune in Blackburn, and threatened somebody who spat on him.

Or that might have been Stiff Little Fingers. It's all a bit of a blur.

That could really go either way, yeah. (Would SLF play in Blackburn, though? Were people generally cool with them playing anywhere outside of Northern Ireland? I can see the government not being too cool with their subject matter.)

[Doctor Phibes]

No, I definitely saw SLF play. They put on a great show.

They weren't actually particularly controversial, considering what some of the bands were like - they got a lot of airplay on John Peel - the BBC's solitary punk DJ at the time

[Rainman]

Phibes, it occurs to me that there is no place on this planet, no group you could join, where you wouldn't eventually get into trouble.
You're just that kind of guy, dangerously funny but angering to the uninitiated.

And you say you left England of your own free will. . .

[Doctor Phibes]

Speak softly, and carry a bloody good pair of running shoes.

[Jolly]

@Rainman said in Goodbye, Facebook:

Phibes, it occurs to me that there is no place on this planet, no group you could join, where you wouldn't eventually get into trouble.
You're just that kind of guy, dangerously funny but angering to the uninitiated.

And you say you left England of your own free will. . .

Walk into any bar populated by more than ten people and there's always at least one guy that looks like he needs to have his ass whupped...

[Klaus]

I closed my FB account years ago because of their censoring and privacy policies.

I've opened a test parler account. Only a very small part of the political spectrum is reflected there.

[Aqua Letifer]

@Klaus said in Goodbye, Facebook:

I've opened a test parler account. Only a very small part of the political spectrum is reflected there.

Maybe it'll grow? And how political is the platform? Is that all that's talked about?

[Klaus]

@Aqua-Letifer said in Goodbye, Facebook:

@Klaus said in Goodbye, Facebook:

I've opened a test parler account. Only a very small part of the political spectrum is reflected there.

Maybe it'll grow? And how political is the platform? Is that all that's talked about?

I randomly searched for the word "Germany" on Parler. It's not a very partisan word.

Look at how often words like "QAnon" or "Nazi" or "Trump" show up in the results.

I'm not saying it can't change or grow. But right now it seems to be populated mostly by hard core Trump fans and conspiracy theorists.

[Copper]

Parler requires your phone # to create an account, forget it