ugh - FB "friends" who really aren't?

[mzteris]

OK - so finally started doing the FB thing.... got pulled in through a "high school" link - small school/small town, so promptly "friend" just about all of them.

First is was the whole "I'm PRAYING for you" in nearly every single post, or some other reference to "god, lord, jesus christ. Then the "global warming" jokes when the volcano erupted in Iceland (of course there were a few of those of DU, too).

Now there's that stupid "joke" about "praying to god" about how your favorite actors and musician died and reminding god that Obama is your 'favorite president'.

I spent 10 minutes looking how to hide posts or something - in that time, I was suprised and ill at the "I like this". I wish to f' they had a "dislike" button. So I'm going to wait on the original and see who all "recs" it and add them to MY list. bleh..

Funny how some people seem nice and all but the dark underbelly changes your opinion of everything. It's not just "politics" - it's WHY they 'hate him', you know?

I shouldn't be surprised at how much some people have changed since highschool (it's - er - been a while...) after all, I was politically conservative Republican state-righter (it's a Southern thang...) and essentially racist in highschool - and look at me now. . . thank the great spaghetti monster for that!

[iris27]

1. That, in a nutshell, is why I left FB.

I'm an introvert anyway, so having everyone from my boss to my grandma to kids I knew in 2nd grade all 'connected' to me in one place was weirding me out. But most of these people are also sexist, racist, crazy-ass right-wing freaks. Somehow in person all their nonsense reaches the surface only infrequently...but they feel free to let it all hang out online.

[gatorboy]

6. I'm the same way.

Extremely introverted. Have been my entire life. So suddenly having all these people connected to my private life is a little unsettling. Especially the high school crowd whom I never hung out with to bgin with, now suddenly want to be buddy-buddy... No thanks!

[Locrian]

2. same here

I have not "un-friended" anyone but have dozens on "hide".


>>thank the great spaghetti monster for that!
Hehe. I have I have spaghetti monster listed as my religion. Have not gotten any comments on it yet....


The worst part for me is all the "tagging". If I wanted a pic of me that someone else took 20 yrs ago to show up in my profile or whatever it's called I'd put it there. I freaking hate that taggin crap. Is there a way to turn that off?

[PassingFair]

3. Can't pass up the opportunity to post THIS:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7MuwPlOiNQ


:rofl:

[mzteris]

8. I absolutely LOVE it!

Thanks for posting that.

:toast:

[tango-tee]

17. Perfect. Absolutely perfect.

Thanks for posting this!

[LeftyFingerPop]

4. It is terrible when someone prays for you.

I mean, who do they think they are?

:sarcasm:

[PassingFair]

11. I'd rather have them talk to me or DO something for me.

I have actually had people take "credit"
for good things that have worked out for
me because THEY "prayed" for it to happen.

:eyes:

I'd rather they save the spells and incantations
for those who believe in them.

[Arugula Latte]

14. For some of them, it's a competition to see how many times they can

jam the words "prayer," "god," "blessing" and "Jesus Christ" into their posts.

If you're not religious, it's just plain creepy.

[KG]

5. i de-friended all the RW weirdos. no big deal, got a small group of cool 'friends'

[mzteris]

10. too bad there's not a "semi-friend" FB. . .

maybe one just for acquaintances?

I'd definitely get behind a "FUNDIES only" FB so maybe they'd just all go away. Sometimes I think I support the whole secession thing. Can we send all fundies (of every "religion") to another planet?

[Burma Jones]

7. Why, I just hid two FB "friends" who had posted that stupid thing this Morning

Morons.......and Losers........

[mzteris]

9. you're not from

KY, are you?

lol...

[Burma Jones]

15. Spent a lot of time near Paducah..........

but the hidden people are all folks I knew from High School in Rockville, MD. People with a wee small sense of race based entitlement.

[driver8]

12. I hide the friends who post right wing bullshit...

and I've hidden a few who post a lot of "God/prayer" stuff, too.

[rcrush]

13. I wish Facebook had an Unrec feature.

Would make Facebook fun!

[MilesColtrane]

16. I disabled my Facebook account months ago.

I wanted to erase it, but Facebook is apparently like the Hotel California. (You can checkout any time you like, but you can never leave.)

Internet social networking is a great concept, if the user can control all aspects of the experience.
If not? Well, then things start to get creepy.

I stopped using the site after some intrusive changes were made last December. Those policies have since been modified after an outcry by users. But, the philosophy of Facebook's founder makes it clear that he will continue to try to deny users control over their own information.

Zuckerberg Says Privacy Is No Longer a Social Norm

This has been borne out by the most recent move by the owners of Facebook.

Today, Facebook removed its users' ability to control who can see their own interests and personal information. Certain parts of users' profiles, "including your current city, hometown, education and work, and likes and interests" will now be transformed into "connections," meaning that they will be shared publicly. If you don't want these parts of your profile to be made public, your only option is to delete them.


The example Facebook uses in its announcement is a page for "Cooking." Previously, you could list "cooking" as an activity you liked on your profile, but your name would not be added to any formal "Cooking" page. (Under the old system, you could become a "fan" of cooking if you wanted). But now, the new Cooking page will publicly display all of the millions of people who list cooking as an activity.
Cooking is not very controversial or privacy-sensitive, and thus makes for a good example from Facebook's perspective. Who would want to conceal their interest in cooking? Of course, the new program will also create public lists for controversial issues, such as an interest in abortion rights, gay marriage, marijuana, tea parties and so on.

Full column here:

http://gobblerr.blogspot.com/2010/04/facebook-reduces-its-privacy-policy.html

[la_chupa]

18. I didn't like the cross contamination

I do not want my family, friends, and coworkers mixing. It isn't that I'm trying to hide anything really, but I like my privacy enough that I don't want the whole world to mesh together. You pick your friends but you can't pick your family or coworkers. There are people in my life who I really need to get along with. I know where they stand politically and religiously (maybe) and they know where I stand if perhaps not how strongly I stand there. I think we get along much better not knowing everything about each other.

For example, one of my best work friends is very involved in a real freakishly fundie church. We don't talk about it. She knows I do not go to church, but has no idea that I see it as completely a anti-intellectual belief in wild superstitions. Best if we don't go there.

I do not need to know my nephew's favorite sexual positions since I still think of him as a 5-year-old boy even though he graduated from college two years ago.

Basically I got a little creeped out by the number of friends of friends who wanted to friend me. I barely tolerate my brother-in-law so why in the hell would his sister want to friend me.

[nickinSTL]

19. you can block the posts from individual people from showing

I have all but one person from HS blocked from my wall - all the rest either I had little contact with even in HS, or they're rw fundies, or both.

I've also changed my default status update settings to only allow people in select groups to see them - people I know in person now, people from college (who are NOT rw idiots - somehow they all turned out ok), and family.

Means I don't have to unfriend people from HS, but I also don't have to listen to their crap every day.

on edit: Also should mention that I've found FB great for getting back in touch with friends from college, and one in particular I'd missed having contact with - we now have lengthy chats occasionally and are probably better friends than we were back in college - so FB has some great points.

One of our local friends also uses it to contact me quickly, as I tend to respond almost immediately (due to having email notification and a notification set up on Trillian for emails)

[tabbycat31]

20. "like" this page-- Jesus is not your personal hitman

created in response to the praying for Obama's death page

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=115746938450402&ref=mf

[last_texas_dem]

23. That's great!

I think I will have to join that one. (Although I have to say I preferred that "become a fan" terminology to the "like" terminology; why is FB always going and changing things for the worse?)

[velvet]

21. with FB "friends" like these ...

On Media Watch this week there was the story of two high school teachers in Queensland whose private FB photos turned up on the front page of the local paper. How did they become public? Two of their FB "friends" were journalists and saw an opportunity for a story. The paper ran with the story for FIVE days.

The teachers are suing the paper for defamation and the Queensland Education Department will NOT be sacking them, as they hadn't breached the department's Code of Conduct.

Full story here : http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s2876989.htm

Or you'd prefer video see Episode 11 here: http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/video/download.htm

[last_texas_dem]

22. Yeah, I know what you mean

Have a few right-wing crazies on my "Friend" list who get mouthy from time to time.

One of them I haven't had a meaningful relationship with since Junior High, and wouldn't think that much of deleting if I ever just get fed up with her.

One is one of my best friends from high school, and our friendship was partly based upon getting pissed at each other about politics; he wrote the George W. Bush endorsement to my Al Gore endorsement when we were on the newspaper staff together.

The other is my 19 y/o stepcousin/uncle (long story. haha) who thinks he's this hardcore southern Baptist Republican but his knowledge of politics seems about a mile wide and an inch deep; he certainly feels the need to mouth off about it at every opportunity, though... He's currently the only one on my "friend" list who has joined that disgusting "favorite president" group.

I've never been particularly outgoing and only invited the dozen or so people from high school I cared about being connected with when I joined FB, but I haven't turned down anyone from high school that has sent me a request. (There are a handful I'd have no qualms declining, but, luckily, they haven't sent me one.) I'm not *that* far removed from high school (almost nine years), and am not really that surprised to see that most of them turned out to be Repugs and Christianists. After all, that's who they were in high school, so it hasn't really been a matter of changing that much!

[MissMillie]

24. I alerted on the "my favorite president is Obama"

(you know, the one you posted of...)

And I'm still trying to figure out how nearly everyone I went to high school with ended up being either a raging republican or a fanatical fundamentalist, or both.

[BurtWorm]

25. Within minutes of my going live on FB, an obscure classmate pounced on me.

I went to look at her profile and saw "Christian" and "Republican" prominently on display in her self-description.

I went dark on FB a minute later and haven't looked back.

[Lorien]

26. Glad I went to several very liberal private and alternative schools

the one public school I attended was pretty liberal too. Most of my 400+ FB friends are liberal and agnostic. The only fundies I know are a couple of former coworkers, and they aren't too bad.