Probably just awful design – that’s what FB does best.
I’ll be damned. There was a message in there from a guy who used to work for me in the Navy back in about 1980.
It’s also a way to make you pay money to send messages.
I hate that it asked me for money when I tried to message someone I wasn’t yet friends with. I was sending a message to indicate who I was and why I’d sent a friend request, because I know how much it sucks to get requests from people you aren’t sure you know. But I wasn’t going to pay $1 for “priority” or whatever.
It’s like making people pay to “promote” their posts so more of their followers see them. It’s bullshit.
Huh. Had no idea that was there. Found a message from last spring from someone here at SDMB. I guess she thought I was ignoring her…
I found out a few days ago only to see someone wanting to help promote my book last October. Thanks a lot Facebook!
When I first discovered it, I also discover a message from someone I didn’t know asking for a review copy of one of my books–nearly two years previous.
It wasn’t that until a couple weeks ago, though.
I have a group on FB for buying and selling stuff, and since most of the people in the group aren’t FB friends, our messages have always gone to the “Other” folder. So we all quickly learned a year ago (when the group started) about this Other folder and to make sure to check it. Of course there’s no way to check it on the iOS app I don’t think (or maybe I just don’t know)
One way we figured out how to avoid the box is if I send someone a message and they send me one too - like if I go to buy something and I contact the seller, and she contacts me too - then the convo gets moved over to the regular box. But we have to suss that out on the public wall beforehand.
Of course this does nothing for people who are trying to contact people that don’t know they’re trying to be contacted.
Anyway the money bit just came up recently, like a couple weeks ago. Before that it was free to send to a stranger, just the stranger was probably never going to see it.
I think it’s sort of clever of FB to tack on this charge. They have to make money somehow. People didn’t even know it existed a few weeks ago now they’re outraged that it costs money. FB can’t be all free forever, guys. Glad they charge us a small amount for something insignificant (and give us an option to bypass) instead of charging us just to be there at all.
Well, damn.
Turns out I had won two tickets to Trinity Square for a show that has closed in December. I never knew because it was in that folder and I never got a notification that I had a message there.
Kind of a silly way for Facebook to do thing. “We’re going to accept a message for you but not tell you it’s there.”
Oh well …
I was kind of vaugely aware of it, but mostly I thought it was spam for bands my husband used to produce. (I’d checked it last summer and that is all I saw.) Just now I checked and found someone had responded to an ad I had put up for child care in 2007! (Back when there were free classifieds!)Which is odd, because I responded to three other people and did find a child care provider through there… three went to my inbox and one to my “other” folder.
Well??
That’s how I found it. I was trying to contact longtime poster villa, who’s been AWOL for a while.
Huh. I did not know that. I’d been slightly hurt at not being invited to a wedding and a party last year - and I was, but the invites are in the “other” folder. 
Thanks for this! I knew about the folder, but had assumed it only contained spam until you (the OP) commented that half of it wasn’t spam. So I went and checked it, and it turns out I’ve been snubbing my boyfriend’s uncle for three months! Which wouldn’t be so bad except that I like his uncle.
Interesting. 2 actual personal messages , the rest was about 50/50 spam and legit but unimportant announcement-type messages.
But there’s not much point to replying to personal messages from 2 years ago.
I always feel like Facebook is keeping things from me.
Apparently nobody likes me, there’s nothing in any of those ‘extra’ folders.
I had no idea there was an “other” box. WTH? There were messages from a cousin that had trouble finding me on facebook. I thought she was just inept.
I found some spam and some invites to poetry readings, and also an invitation to my nephew’s first birthday party, which I found out about from my mom and attended (he’s 3 now).
I may just sign up for Facebook, now that I know it can come between me and poetry readings.