Hello.
My facebook feed in recent days has seen a few of my family members sharing hate-baiting posts about race, BLM etc and revealing their underlying prejudices, and other family members giving up on facebook altogether, leaving me feeling somewhat lonely.
I happened to find that I still have a link to the SDMB in my ipad’s bookmarks so I thought I’d see if it’s still here and active. And then I thought I’d test the waters with a post.
How is everyone doing?
Welcome back. Still here. If the Dope times out on you, it isn’t you. I think the hamsters are working from home, and really playing solitaire.
I gave up on Facebook a few years ago. I thought about coming back, but with Zuck’s lies are fine policy I think I’ll stay away.
Hey, good to see you! You got here just in time—we were just about to move.
Thanks for the heads up Thudlow Boink Good to see you too! 
Thanks Voyager. There have been many points over the years where I’ve been close to leaving FB, but I think the biggest thing that keeps me from actually doing it is the fact that as an amateur photographer I post my photos into local groups there and they get a fair amount of attention. It sounds lame but the attention motivates me to keep taking the photos. Without Facebook they’d have no audience.
Welcome back, Lobsang.
I think I’m still on Facebook because I only have a few friends and relatives connected, they’re all pretty mellow, and some of them are posting baby pictures.
I log in once a year on my birthday to make myself feel popular.
Welcome back, and yeah they should have banned all political and commercial ads in the beginning … that’s all most feeds are anymore… the college kids it was created for barley go on it anymore…as one girl told me “its just all the old geezers arguing politics”
I remember you. Came back to apologize, I see. Of course, it’ll mean nothing unless you brought pie.
Not the same thing, but I gave up on Nextdoor last week because a couple of new posters started posting conspiracy theory stuff and lots of others joined in agreeing, and they all bullied anyone who posted in opposition, and the policy on Nextdoor is that unless misinformation is about Covid 19 or elections, they don’t care. Plus I got tired of being a source of marketing income for some company about which I know nothing.
I’m still on Facebook with maybe a dozen “friends” that I keep in contact with, plus a couple of relatives that I don’t follow any more because of their politics and lifestyle. Recently I removed as much as possible of my personal information (I couldn’t find a way to remove my birth date, if anyone knows how I’d be grateful; in the meantime, I made it completely private).
Never did Facebook. But I hear alot of folks are jumping ship.
I wasn’t here when you were last here. Nice to meet you Lobsang.
Yeah, about the pie…
You should be able to at least EDIT your birthday. I have the correct date, but the incorrect year. You can put in whatever you want.
*perk"
Pie?
I flushed FB years ago. Too many hateful, vindictive people. Stay with the Straight Dope. Everyone is just crazy here.
~VOW
I only use Facebook for Messenger, for chatting with my family.
Yep. I changed the day, but left the year.
FB, like anything else, is something that you get out of it what you put into it. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with it as long as you are OK with your information and activities being harvested for gain by people and companies you don’t know about.
I go maybe once a month to scan what “friends” are doing but never post, and that is being generous. I have tried to lock-down my info as much as possible, but it seems with each “security update” they automatically install, it resets some things to their default, which is favorable to FB but not necessarily for my privacy. If it starts to become a chore I will be out. For now it’s OK as a way to stay connected to people I am too lazy to call, and on the more practical terms, it does provide a window on what kind of people you are connected to.
If you want intelligent discussion on a wide range of topics, fuggettabout FB and hang out here.
I see hardly any political stuff on Facebook, because I’m mostly into it for the nostalgia groups which (FTMP) don’t tolerate political or religious posts. I love it when ancient pictures of my old hometown get put up.
Welcome back, Lobsang! You’ve definitely been missed.
If you want to keep your FB friend(s) but not see their posts, you can always “unfollow” them. I have done that with several friends.
I also put in a fake birth date just for security reasons.
There is a browser extension, FB Purity, that will filter your FB. Mine is set to block everything except private messages, since I know people who don’t have email.
If they do not have email, how do they have Facebook/Messenger? Beyond that, how do they have internet but not email?
Hey, Lobsang, you and me are on the same page. My Facebook dwellers are driving me batty, and because I’m friends with several folks here and saw Tuba’s announcement, figured I’d head back over and see what’s shaking. It’s been yeeeeeeeeears since I’ve been on the boards. Glad to still see lots of familiar faces.
Waves to everyone!
~faithfool