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Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

bradfrost.com

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Re: Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

#91

Post by Nition »

utexaspunk wrote: post #64
eduren wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am an avid redditor with a mostly dead facebook account, so I agree that the content is better, but it's different networks entirely. Reddit has still held on to its psuedo-anonymous roots, and thus hasn't lived up to the "social" part of the social network. The people still consumuning content on facebook are doing so because that's where their friends are. You know the people that feel a need to tag their friends…

I think the bigger issue is why FB hasn't been able to create the kind of conversations that reddit does- the lack of real threading and the lack of a true downvote (preferably anonymous) keep conversations on FB abysmally superficial. You can't engage in a debate with someone if the back-and-forth gets impossible to follow after the second reply, especially with more than two participants. Likewise, FB and users hav…

Reddit's system has its issues too. Early comments always get more votes and have more sway than later ones, and the "reality bubble" effect is worse because the general consenses upvotes posts that agree with their opinion and downvotes ones that disagree - effectively hiding them whether they're factually correct or not.

Hacker News is much better than Reddit in general for allowing comments on both sides of an issue to be heard, but it's not perfect either. I think it benefits from not being able to see the number of votes on someone's post because it removes that way of checking the previous hive consensus. I'm not sure I even like the greying effect on heavy downvotes.

The best real discussion (especially for ongoing topics and events) I've seen is still on old-school forums like SomethingAwful. The barriers to entry help ($10 on SomethingAwful, 500 points to downvote on Hacker News) but I think Discourse went too far in that direction, where anti-spam limits can make it hard for new users to even write a good post or respond when they want to. I'd like to see a modern forum site where anyone can create a subforum and moderate it themselves the way anyone can create a subreddit on Reddit.

Re: Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

#92

Post by joeblau »

I can't even get to Facebook anymore on any of my devices. On all of my Macs, my `/etc/hosts` file includes:

  0.0.0.0    facebook.com
  0.0.0.0    www.facebook.com
And then to double down, I have a custom 1Blocker rule to prevent accidentally opening up any Facebook links on my iPhone:

  https?://([a-z\.]*)?facebook\.com.*

Re: Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

#93

Post by 1001101 »

bg4 wrote: post #60
taylodl wrote: post #2

The best thing I ever did was delete the Facebook app from my phone. I had already disabled all the notifications, but that didn't change things like deleting the app. Not being able to get to Facebook wherever you are. As silly as it sounds it was liberating. I still access Facebook from my laptop - but now that it's off of my phone, I'm accessing Facebook less and less frequently and I'm find I'm happier as a resul…

For me: The best thing I ever did was delete the Facebook.

Even better, don't sign up. I'm envious of my friends who are in this category. I deleted after reading about PRISM, then got back on. Deleted again, and then moved away from some friends and got lonely and got back on again. Luckily more and more of my friends are deleting, so should be easier to take the plunge again.

Re: Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

#94

Post by notyourwork »

taylodl wrote: post #2

The best thing I ever did was delete the Facebook app from my phone. I had already disabled all the notifications, but that didn't change things like deleting the app. Not being able to get to Facebook wherever you are. As silly as it sounds it was liberating. I still access Facebook from my laptop - but now that it's off of my phone, I'm accessing Facebook less and less frequently and I'm find I'm happier as a resul…

I treat facebook as a contact list for people who I don't regularly communicate with on a daily/weekly cadence. It is a way to keep in touch and up to date with people but the less I frequent facebook the "less unhappy" I am. I don't want to say I am happier not going to facebook, but I do know less facebook isn't a bad thing.

Re: Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

#95

Post by parthdesai »

jrs235 wrote: post #30
ars wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could just use facebook in a browser on your phone.

Yup. And for those rare occasions you need to use facebook messaging, use mbasic.facebook.com so that facebook doesn't "force" you to install their messenger app!

i bit the bullet and installed messenger lite. No facebook app on phone though.

Re: Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

#96

Post by hammock »

mafuyu wrote: post #43
mbillie1 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same. I initially only uninstalled messenger (which intolerably presented me with a popup asking me to enable notifications EVERY TIME I OPENED THE APP ), then got rid of the FB app. Now even on my laptop facebook.com is pointing at localhost in /etc/hosts, which makes me edit a root file to look at it. I'm much, much happier. If it works for you, cool, but if you're dissatisfied and considering abandoning it anyway,…

I installed the Lite version of Messenger, and it's way better. (Not available in the US App Store; there are verified APKs floating around the internet.) It's just a bare-bones chat app that launches when I want it, without all the nagging about chat bubbles, their Snapchat knockoff, and whatever else.

You can also go to Facebook on Chrome and request the desktop version of the site- Messages will work in that. That way you don't have to install a Messages app.

Re: Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

#97

Post by TallGuyShort »

dreamcompiler wrote: post #87
tucif wrote: post #41

"I’m likely not going to delete Facebook entirely since I do genuinely enjoy staying in touch with the people in my life, and for better or worse Facebook is where those people hang out" Is it likely that most people are willing to move and the only problem is there are no compelling options?

No option is compelling until everybody you know is on it. And there is no such option besides FB.

This is all from my a sample size of 1, myself, but this is how entrenched Facebook is: - I know multiple people who do not use email or text socially, because they only use Facebook messenger for either. I can't think of anything else that replaces either one where I know people who use it exclusively. - The only people I can think of who aren't on Facebook but with whom I'd like to communicate with more, are not on any social media platform at all.

So nothing is even close.

Re: Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

#98

Post by greymeister »

I deleted my thefacebook.com account in 2008 when the daily privacy rollbacks were the rage du jour. The chief reason was that 90% of the content I was seeing was who received a banana in Mafia wars, which in retrospect is annoying but relatively benign.

Re: Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

#99

Post by ve55 »

It's interesting the large amount of regulations that are involved with gambling, due to how addictive and potentially harmful it is.

Facebook seems to be one of the few things even more addictive than gambling. What is one of the only things humans value more than money? Attention, love, affection, friendship, relationships...

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