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Facebook is gaslighting the web. We can fix it.

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Re: Facebook is gaslighting the web. We can fix it.

#11

Post by jojopotato »

redthrowaway wrote: post #9
ChuckMcM wrote: post #6

Cache link is essential, of course the term 'gaslighting' [1] may be common in some groups, it was new to me. The general theme is that Facebook is making changes which make the service benefit Facebook more and is less user friendly. I'm not sure it rises to the level of abuse implied by the term but that is clearly subjective. The 'answer' of course is to leave. I know, I know, "But all my friends are there!" or "N…

>(warning Wikipedia link) What's the warning for? If it's warning against being confronted with Jimbo's piercing gaze, that seems a bit snarky.

I took it as a riff on the "Please be careful" popup warning from the article.

Re: Facebook is gaslighting the web. We can fix it.

#12

Post by derekreed »

I agree completely.

Well thought out and sound reasoning.

And the effort is probably hopeless, but maybe it will at least draw some attention to facebook's abhorrent practices. But they get plenty of negative press already, doesn't seem to slow them down.

I figure it's going to take a lot more efforts like this, to stop the abuses when portals gain monopoly power on user's attention.

User's will put up with it, (and probably put up with much worse), there is no alternative to facebook for what facebook does and is. Chickens and eggs ...

Re: Facebook is gaslighting the web. We can fix it.

#13

Post by lbrandy »

I work on the team that generated the warning that seems to be the crux of this post. I am pretty convinced that it is a bug.

His central theme, though, is a bit misguided. I don't understand why 1) using opengraph, or 2) using a like button implies facebook should trust your link and whitelist it. Even pages with those integrations can be malicious.

In this actual case though, the notification link (generated from the commenting widget) seems to malformed and causing it to trip a security check. I've pinged a bunch of people about figuring out what is happening and getting it fixed. The guy sitting next to me is currently trying to repro.

As for convincing Google/Microsoft to warn users when visiting facebook.com because of security false-positives, I'll leave that discussion for you guys.

Re: Facebook is gaslighting the web. We can fix it.

#15

Post by chc »

lbrandy wrote: post #13

I work on the team that generated the warning that seems to be the crux of this post. I am pretty convinced that it is a bug. His central theme, though, is a bit misguided. I don't understand why 1) using opengraph, or 2) using a like button implies facebook should trust your link and whitelist it. Even pages with those integrations can be malicious. In this actual case though, the notification link (generated from t…

Thank you for expressing this so cogently and calmly. It's easy to get defensive when somebody starts flinging wild accusations like Anil does here, but informative and level-headed responses like this are much better at keeping the conversation on track.

Re: Facebook is gaslighting the web. We can fix it.

#16

Post by 1010010111 »

ck2 wrote: post #10

The only thing that will "fix" facebook is the next thing to popup to diminish their influence. Of course shooting themselves in the foot wouldn't hurt either. Remember MySpace? How about Digg?

Exactly.

It is only when the annoyance levels reach a breaking point that the FB alternatives will be made as user-friendly as FB and brought to the attention of the masses. One will emerge as dominant. And the cycle begins again.

Every itch gets properly scratched, eventually.

Re: Facebook is gaslighting the web. We can fix it.

#17

Post by evgen »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #6

Cache link is essential, of course the term 'gaslighting' [1] may be common in some groups, it was new to me. The general theme is that Facebook is making changes which make the service benefit Facebook more and is less user friendly. I'm not sure it rises to the level of abuse implied by the term but that is clearly subjective. The 'answer' of course is to leave. I know, I know, "But all my friends are there!" or "N…

The 'good' Facebook you are looking for has to charge its users for accounts because that is the only way to pay the bills without selling you off to less purient interests.

Is that related to how the only 'good' search engine would be one that has to charge you per-search lest it be forced to sell your click info and search terms to less prurient interests?

Re: Facebook is gaslighting the web. We can fix it.

#18

Post by natrius »

Point 3 ("WEB SITES ARE DEEMED UNSAFE, EVEN IF FACEBOOK MONITORS THEM") has been addressed. Here are the other two.

"YOU CANNOT BRING YOUR CONTENT IN TO FACEBOOK"

False. Facebook's API allows all sorts of external content to enter Facebook. They're just shutting down their app that does that automatically. There are plenty of third party apps that already solve this problem.

"PUBLISHERS WHOSE CONTENT IS CAPTIVE ARE PRIVILEGED"

False. The Washington Post has chosen to embed their stories within the Facebook canvas pages, but that's not a requirement. The other popular news sites on Facebook, The Guardian and Yahoo, do not do this.

This entire post is woefully misinformed.

Re: Facebook is gaslighting the web. We can fix it.

#20

Post by qeorge »

lbrandy wrote: post #13

I work on the team that generated the warning that seems to be the crux of this post. I am pretty convinced that it is a bug. His central theme, though, is a bit misguided. I don't understand why 1) using opengraph, or 2) using a like button implies facebook should trust your link and whitelist it. Even pages with those integrations can be malicious. In this actual case though, the notification link (generated from t…

FWIW, I see that warning every single time I click a link from inside the FB app.

I find it annoying as hell, but I took it as a bad UX decision and not a conspiracy.

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