# An old friend of mine just came out on Facebook!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-old-friend-of-mine-just-came-out-on-facebook/405911>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [May 29, 2007, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-old-friend-of-mine-just-came-out-on-facebook/405911 "2007-05-29T14:14:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![cowgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@cowgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cowgirl)\
**Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-old-friend-of-mine-just-came-out-on-facebook/405911/1 "2007-05-29T14:14:18Z")

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He joined at midnight last night, and entered his hometown, relationship status, and “interested in.”

For “interested in” he put “Men.”

That single word nearly knocked me out of my chair. I had absolutely no idea, although (as usual in these cases, it seems), it all makes sense in hindsight. (I’ve known him for 15 years and he’s only had a couple of serious girlfriends … and he works in an industry populated about 98% by straight men; the remaining 2% are usually wives of some of the straight men.) I feel a great vicarious relief for him - but, more than that, I am hugely impressed by this use of Facebook!

It would have been quite useful when I was separating from my husband, so I didn’t have to have the “I’m separating from my husband” conversation with every bloody person I met.

I sent him a “Wow, congratulations!” message and am waiting for the response. I’m thrilled! I can’t wait to take him out, there are some folks he needs to meet …

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**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\
**Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-old-friend-of-mine-just-came-out-on-facebook/405911/2 "2007-05-29T15:20:25Z")

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Uhm, is “men” the default value? One of the most common errors we get in my line of work is when someone doesn’t change the default value for a “key” field - key fields are those that change how other fields or functions behave. People just get into robot mode, fill in the biggest fields and forget to review _everything_.

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**Author:** ![cowgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@cowgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cowgirl)\
**Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-old-friend-of-mine-just-came-out-on-facebook/405911/3 "2007-05-29T15:24:49Z")

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[QUOTE=Nava]  
Uhm, is “men” the default value? One of the most common errors we get in my line of work is when someone doesn’t change the default value for a “key” field - key fields are those that change how other fields or functions behave. People just get into robot mode, fill in the biggest fields and forget to review _everything_.  
[/QUOTE]  
Nope, you have to select it. The default option is blank.

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**Author:** ![Webner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/0ea827/32.png) [@Webner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Webner)\
**Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-old-friend-of-mine-just-came-out-on-facebook/405911/4 "2007-05-29T15:35:01Z")

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I’m happy for your friend, but don’t discount the possibility that this is some sort of prank. Going to college, I thought my roommate I recently friended on facebook was gay, but later learned his friends changed it to that as a joke.