Live data from Hacker News

Stallman: "Facebook is an international parasitism project."

lists.csail.mit.edu

21–30 of 300 posts

Re: Stallman: "Facebook is an international parasitism project."

#22
post #5

Outspoken misanthrope with poor social skills and a tendency towards an absolutist black/white view of the world dislikes social networking? Color me surprised...

Now that you got your ad hominem out of the way, maybe you could focus on the issues RMS brings up.

Re: Stallman: "Facebook is an international parasitism project."

#23

This is the only time I've ever agreed with RMS. Facebook is a disease. Please do not require me to log in to it for your cause.

I agree that Facebook login should not be mandatory, but I do like the option to not have to create another account with every site just to leave a comment or try their service. Facebook and OpenID should be standard options, as well as local accounts.

Although I dislike some of Facebook's policies, I don't hate them.

Re: Stallman: "Facebook is an international parasitism project."

#24

This is the only time I've ever agreed with RMS. Facebook is a disease. Please do not require me to log in to it for your cause.

I had the same reaction (though I can sympathetic to some of rms' opinions). It's a false dichotomy to say "do you hate Facebook more than you care about $fixing_some_big_global_problem? I reckon if your cause really, really wants to recruit people, they would look beyond Facebook.

Re: Stallman: "Facebook is an international parasitism project."

#25

Said the man who reads web pages through an email client.

Thanks for the downvotes, everyone.

My point was that even though he happens to be spot-on in his very pithy remark about the disease that is Facebook, if you know anything at all about RMS -- or have interacted with him personally, for a minute or two -- you'll know that he's so far off the page from the vast bulk of humanity (in terms of how he communicates) that it's difficult to take anything he says about the pros and cons of social media very seriously.

Re: Stallman: "Facebook is an international parasitism project."

#26

When I was a kid, my parents sent me to camp, even though all I wanted to do was sit home and write text adventures in BASIC. I hated camp. I hated the kids, and the counselors, and most of all I hated how everyone acted like if you didn't like it, if you weren't having fun, then there was something messed up about you . Facebook = camp. The most oppressive and authoritarian thing about it is, at root, that most peop…

> The most oppressive and authoritarian thing about it is, at root, that most people appear to enjoy it and not see any problems with it, while you view it as this heinous violation of your freedom and imposition on your private space.

While many of my friends enjoy Facebook and I'm still to lazy to upload a profile image and mainly use it to find out where the next birthday party is located, I really can't say that I am feeling oppressed.

Some people just like camp.

Re: Stallman: "Facebook is an international parasitism project."

#27

When I was a kid, my parents sent me to camp, even though all I wanted to do was sit home and write text adventures in BASIC. I hated camp. I hated the kids, and the counselors, and most of all I hated how everyone acted like if you didn't like it, if you weren't having fun, then there was something messed up about you . Facebook = camp. The most oppressive and authoritarian thing about it is, at root, that most peop…

None of my colleagues have Facebook. They have fine lives. They don't give a shit about Facebook, it doesn't have to be part of your life at all.

Re: Stallman: "Facebook is an international parasitism project."

#28

I just thought Facebook was a way for millennials to share photos online. It is likely riding on a wave of "easy enough for anyone" that technology provides. Nevertheless, it is a company out to make a profit, so it does provide lessons for people who use this site. Anyway, that's me defending Facebook for the day. Have a good one ;)

According to this (dated) study, Facebook has a fair share of Gen X'ers.

http://royal.pingdom.com/2010/02/16/study-ages-of-social-net...

Post reply on HN