Evil Facebook

[betamax]

The other week a mate of mine convinced me to start up a facebook account.....

For a while I found it amusing (although form the word go I always said the "social networking" term had sinister 1984-ish undertones).

After a bit of digging about I found a more worrying side to it:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/jan/14/facebook
http://stevenmansour.com/writings//2007/jul/23/2342/2504_steps_to_closing_your_facebook_account

For a user of free/open software I find this a bit too much.

I've now "deactivated" my account.......

RANT over :)

[argie]

I deactivated my account too a while ago. It was way too weird, this Facebook thing. And your index page has just way too much information. X hugged Y, X kicked Y, all sorts of crap. And one more thing, when you get a message, they do this:
"You have received a message, please login here to read it."
Since they send the password to this address if I forget, I hardly think it's unsafe for them to send me the damn messages. What is this weird read-your-voicemail ********?

[Circus-Killer]

well, i cant say i have a problem with facebook.
the first article the OP pointed out goes on about how facebook disconnects people, stops them from going to the pub or whatever. i am an avid user of facebook, and i still go out partying with my friends every weekend. the only thing facebook does is connect me with friends from way back in the day. now i have a feeling that the author of the article either:
a) had no friends in high school
b) is still in high school

i am not trying to be insulting or anything, but anyone over the age of 25 can grasp the coolness of facebook. i've re-connected with so many high school friends, and even elementary school friends. and other friends that i met randomly, and have now lost contact with.

really, facebook is great for catching up with those people you haven't seen in 10 years (especially since a lot of people have immigrated). its also great for planning events among your friends. so many times i will get an event invitation to a friends party, or just a local club party. all in all, its up to you what you do with facebook.

it can be a very social tool that allows you to expand your social life in many ways, or you could end up killing your social life, if you just sit on facebook all weekend.

as for security, well its the same no matter what you doing on the internet. be smart. dont give out your details. go through your account's privacy settings.

well, thats just my opinion on facebook. the only thing that gets to me is the flood of useless apps on there. but hell, you not forced to install them, so it doesnt bother me that much.

[bufsabre666]

honestly myspace is better than facebook

atleast with myspace you have to know a little html

facebook is a glorified dating site, the only time i go on mine is if i get a message

facebook really isnot that good

[allforcarrie]

I have a myspace to stay on contact with people from high school and people i have met while in the military. Some people take it was to serriously.

[betamax]

Umm...

In some ways I'd have liked to have kept using facebook, it was useful for tracking down old friends.

There is an almost peer-pressure thing going on, where certain friends are insistent in using it, personally I prefer the pub, but as we all get older, settle down, move away etc, it gets more difficult to do.

Some valid points here about been sensible with what information you post etc.

Might have a look at myspace when I get a moment.

What we all need is an alternative "open-source" (i.e not owned, controlled buy evil mega corp) to facebook....ahh well I can but dream.

Anyhow back to work.....

[Incense]

What we all need is an alternative "open-source" (i.e not owned, controlled buy evil mega corp) to facebook....ahh well I can but dream.

Anyhow back to work.....

Isn't that what mugshot (http://mugshot.org/main) was trying to be? It's made by the Red Hat guys if that counts for anything. I don't use it though. I have myspace and facebook, but I only access them from my treo. The mobile versons of the sites really are not all that bad. (Not counting the evil maga corp and all)

[betamax]

May give Mugshot a try.
The real challenge will be getting my facebookish friends to move over.

Bad enough trying to get them to try Ubuntu instead of upgrading their XP machines to vista....

[Polygon]

honestly myspace is better than facebook

atleast with myspace you have to know a little html

facebook is a glorified dating site, the only time i go on mine is if i get a message

facebook really isnot that good

You obviously never visited someones myspace page who DIDNT know html very well.

i did not enjoy opening someones myspace page to find like 500 youtube videos, bazillion little flash applets, random pictures, music playing hte the background.....not fun.

[macogw]

honestly myspace is better than facebook

atleast with myspace you have to know a little html

facebook is a glorified dating site, the only time i go on mine is if i get a message

facebook really isnot that good

Or you make really horrible design decisions and plug them into an HTML generator MySpace-skin-maker thingamabob and everyone's eyes bleed when they see it.

[macogw]

Isn't that what mugshot (http://mugshot.org/main) was trying to be? It's made by the Red Hat guys if that counts for anything. I don't use it though. I have myspace and facebook, but I only access them from my treo. The mobile versons of the sites really are not all that bad. (Not counting the evil maga corp and all)

I tried MugShot and it seems it's just lifestreaming, not social networking. It just aggregates all your stuff from your Facebook, your Amazon.com, your YouTube account....all that and shows it on one page. It seems stupid.

[betamax]

Umm maybe the better option is to quit using social-networking and just go to the pub...

[bufsabre666]

Umm maybe the better option is to quit using social-networking and just go to the pub...

+1 its okay for keeping in touch with friends, but so is the phone and we've had that for 100 years now

some people let this rule their life and end up keeping in touch with friends less

i say the bar is alot better

[Whiffle]

Just so you know, deactivating your account doesn't remove your info from their servers, it just hides it per say. You have to email them to get it deleted i think.