Dude, if my Game of Thrones status updates help a company greenlight more medieval TV shows and movies, I’ll be a company shill any time! If my incessant mumbling about World of Warcraft gets me gaming ads instead of Viagra ads, all the better!
It’s sort of funny that when I was younger I looked forward to the day when technology would allow ads targeted at me. I think I envisioned a D&D channel on cable, not internet ads. Now that we have them, I use AdBlock.
I’m 25, and an avid user of most new technology. Certainly not an “old”.
However, I absolutely cannot stand Facebook and Twitter. They are a gigantic sucking void of useless, pathetic, self-centered time-wasting.
Facebook’s self-righteous “oh, we’re not trying to make money, we’re trying to change the world” spiel, as they become a $100 billion company and monetize the shit out of every piece of personal information they can get their tentacles on, grates on me as well.
By the way, i do not want to log in with my Facebook account with every fuckin’ website, including message boards! I just tried posting to a message board, and it won’t let you post unless you log in using your facebook account.
I guess if you have two fb accounts like some folks out here have mentioned, this isnt a big deal. But for those of us with one, it’s bye-bye anonimity
SFP, Still trying to clean up my posts while on my ipad.
For those of you having trouble reading my posts, one thing to help… for some reason, when i type words with a “u” in them, like “your”, it almost ALWAYS comes out “yoir”. I am starting to wonder if my keyboard is not zeroed in properly.
Is there a way to readjust the keyboard to make sure that every letter that is hit returns the proper letter? My keyboard seems to be in need of a good calibration.
That’s not a bug, it’s a feature. One reason for forcing a Facebook login on message board posts is to help keep the conversation more civil. When someone is forced to post under their own name, they’re less likely to fall into the “Internet dickwad” zone.
To use Facebook well and to understand all the criticisms of Facebook , you have to know about its founder’s ideas about privacy. He has a notion that everyone should be as open as possible and share all details of your life with everyone.
That is his basic philosophy. That is why the privacy options are the way they are on Facebook.
Don’t worry little brother, there are more websites.
I think it’s a little more nefarious than that - it seems that he not only wants everyone to share all the details of their lives with his internet site, but he also wants to profit from them.
I know someone named Zz who can’t use her legal name.
Japanese Facebook also refuses to accept my name in Katakana (you’re allowed to have your normal name and a name written in Japanese script for Japanese FB users), though it accepts most of my friends’.
Maybe. But it also stifles honesty, especially when there are things you might want to criticize. Most people would ne less likely to do that if their real name and face are attached to the message.
Or, take criticism out of it. What about just postimg your opinion? For instance, a newspaper during the election had a section where you could add comments and give your POV about any issue being discussed. Many people would rather not post at all instead of being identified by their post for the whole community to see. These folks arent running for anything…, and they may have something of value to add to the discussion. But they dont want to debate or defend their comment by any friends or family members who happened to see their posting. So the dont post at sll.
Its almost (but not exactly) like public speaking. Some people just arent comfortable with that format. Especially if they fear being ridiculed for what the said on a message board, and especially if that posting becomes a part of the person’s public persona… So in the case of the HR idiot googling your name to see what they can find out about you, what if they stumble on a political comment you made, and their political views dont line up with yours. You lose the job for no reason related to your abilities.
I know it is up to each person to manage their on-line image, but this kind of thing promotes group-think, because nobody wants to stick their neck out just to get it chopped off. People jump on the bandwagon and the pile-on. Something much easier to take when younare posting anonymously.
I’ve posted before about the fact I’m not on Facebook, but what I have noticed lately is that instead of acting like I’m some kind of weirdo when I tell them, people are far more likely to say “Fair enough” or “Good on you” when I explain I’m not on it and have no interest in being on it.
I know way, WAY too many people who’ve run into problems (marital, personal or social) because of Facebook and I just don’t need any additional drama in my life (or to hear about anyone else’s if it’s not part of my job or they’re a close friend).
I know, it’s not the technology’s fault etc. I just don’t think it’s for me, and although people say you can lock the profile down with extra crazy privacy settings, I point out if my profile’s that locked down, why bother having one?
This trend of requiring a Facebook account to do other things (like comment on forums, enter competitions, or find out information about events) concerns me, though.
I’m chiming back here to give make sure the “olds” :rolleyes: are represented. See, right there I identified myself as an old by actually using the word “represented”, and not some “young” word use like “here to represent”.
I’m sure the first thing a cranky old man (COM) does when he is called out as a COM, is to deny that he is a COM, so here goes.
For those calling out “olds” whenever somewhere criticizes FB, let’s make sure you have the full story. Yes, I signed up on FB back years ago, when it wasn’t nearly as big a phenomenon it is now. Not saying I was the first on board, but it was many many years ago. Had an account, and was pretty active, I accepted friend requests like they were long lost brothers and sisters. Posted a lot, pictures, links, you name it I was a FB whore. Could not possibly IMAGINE a day when FB would not be a critical part of my life. I rarely went 2 hrs without checking it.
Somewhere around two years ago, I started to realize what an enormous time suck this thing had turned into. I mean, I knew it had, of course, I just really began to question what I got out of it in return. Yes, FB allowed me to reconnect with a few cousins I had lost touch with. Which meant I got to see their crazy political posts. Yay. Oh wait, my first high school love interest friended me, and that was cool, but that meant I got to see what a religious kook she had turned into. Yay. Actually it seems like most of my high school associates, former pothead slackers one and all, turned out to be religious kooks. What’s up with that?
Anyway, to cut to the chase. Facebook=timesuck. Time put into it not nearly worth the advantages received, therefore timesuck. For me, maybe not for you.
I kept my FB account open for over a year just in case. I did go through and delete every single “friend” who I wasn’t related to or genuinely could see myself picking up the phone and calling. My friends list went from 250ish to 12. Last week I let those 12 know that I was off facebook, and sent them my direct contact info.
I feel liberated. And, and by the way…
Get off of my yard!
Quite the opposite. A random pile of likes and dislikes goes much farther than you think, especially when combined with your zip code or even other trivial demographic information. Even simple clustering techniques can reveal a lot here. Each Like of course has a timestamp, so it is straightforward to analyze how Like behavior penetrates various kinds of populations to determine who the most influential of people are. Based on this portfolio’s offer redemption behavior, you can put a contact valuation on each user and then sell marketing access to merchant partners.
I don’t work for Facebook, but I have spent the last several years designing models to monetize personal data. The only relevant questions are whether a company has the infrastructure, the expertise, and a business strategy to bank data like these. When you collect EVERYTHING, you can learn damn near everything.
That doesn’t surprise me at all.
It shouldn’t surprise you. There’s a good reason why this industry is called “Big Data” nowadays. We can do quite a lot more than just find offers relevant to individuals who share preference info.
Passive voice is what the olds are using these days, huh?
Boo-hoo. If someone is too chickenshit to post their opinion on a message board because it’ll be connected to their real name, then I count that as a win from my side. It just makes the moderator’s job easier.
If you’re an old, then by definition you had to have signed up after Facebook became a phenomenon. The system wasn’t set up to allow in olds until college and high school kids made it a huge deal.
We’ll have to disagree. There are so many ways to game the system that I’m positive it’s too difficult to get any meaningful information out of the average Facebook user.
I don’t think “olds” necessarily refers to age. It also encompasses a hatred of stuff you don’t like because it’s different than what you’re used to.
Facebook isn’t for everyone, but hating it because it’s not for you isn’t rational.
Newsflash: There will always be something like FB from now on (unless our civilization collapses). A thousand years from now whatever humanity is like, we’ll be able to see public profiles of people and invite them to play Plants vs. Zombies.
When the Chik Fil A Corporation ends up winning the Corporation Wars of the mid 21st century you’ll be changing your tune.
And to think those dumbasses of the late 20th century thought it would be Taco Bell
Hate to break it to you, but to me and a lot of other people you have an avatar. It’s a woman I assume to be you, holding up a cat.