Extra Technical Obstacles for Facebook Quitters • Hacker News Board

Re: Extra Technical Obstacles for Facebook Quitters

#101

Post by JKCalhoun » Fri, Apr 06, 2018, 5:59 AM UTC

nxc18 wrote: post #12

I deleted my Facebook to the best of my ability about a week ago. Fun facts: * They switch around button colors to trick you into undoing your actions * They are very eager to log you back in if you, for example, try to access help. This reactivates your account. * You cannot delete your account on Messenger. They removed the option. Deleting your Facebook profile does not delete your messenger account * Their doc fo…

More dark patterns: when I tried to delete my account, they claimed my password was incorrect. After trying and failing to delete my account for over a week, a tiny comment I saw on a YouTube video turned out to be gold: "if your password has upper and lower case characters, you must enter them all in lower-case or you will be told your password is incorrect."

That were correct.

(Account now deleted.)

Re: Extra Technical Obstacles for Facebook Quitters

#102

Post by DrScump » Fri, Apr 06, 2018, 7:13 AM UTC

flyinghamster wrote: post #25

nxc18 wrote: post #12

I deleted my Facebook to the best of my ability about a week ago. Fun facts: * They switch around button colors to trick you into undoing your actions * They are very eager to log you back in if you, for example, try to access help. This reactivates your account. * You cannot delete your account on Messenger. They removed the option. Deleting your Facebook profile does not delete your messenger account * Their doc fo…

I'm surprised there wasn't a step that involved a locked file cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying "Beware of the Leopard."

For those unfamiliar with this classic reference:

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/40705-but-the-plans-were-on...

Re: Extra Technical Obstacles for Facebook Quitters

#103

Post by awiesenhofer » Fri, Apr 06, 2018, 8:01 AM UTC

nxc18 wrote: post #12

I deleted my Facebook to the best of my ability about a week ago. Fun facts: * They switch around button colors to trick you into undoing your actions * They are very eager to log you back in if you, for example, try to access help. This reactivates your account. * You cannot delete your account on Messenger. They removed the option. Deleting your Facebook profile does not delete your messenger account * Their doc fo…

> I ended up manually deleting all my content, unliking everything, and deleting all my posts.

Sounds like its worth waiting a month or two for when they fully implemented GPDR. That probably makes this way easier. (At least for EU residents)

Kudos to your hard work and perseverance though!

Re: Extra Technical Obstacles for Facebook Quitters

#104

Post by DrScump » Fri, Apr 06, 2018, 8:33 AM UTC

WhitneyLand wrote: post #46

Cox, a major cable operator, allows you to sign up and add any services you want online. However, partially removing or cancelling services online is expressly forbidden. For example, if you wish to keep Internet service but cancel cable TV, a call is required. I know it’s a different process, but wanted to reilluminate the some of the measures taken against disconnecting a service in general. Once you do call, which…

  However, partially removing or cancelling services online is expressly forbidden.

Same with the Wall Street Journal. I went through this twice.

The first time, they didn't process the cancellation at all.

The second time, they delayed it two extra days so that they charged me another cycle.

Both times, I was routed to an offshore call center.

Re: Extra Technical Obstacles for Facebook Quitters

#105

Post by ino » Fri, Apr 06, 2018, 10:16 AM UTC

JKCalhoun wrote: post #101

nxc18 wrote: post #12

I deleted my Facebook to the best of my ability about a week ago. Fun facts: * They switch around button colors to trick you into undoing your actions * They are very eager to log you back in if you, for example, try to access help. This reactivates your account. * You cannot delete your account on Messenger. They removed the option. Deleting your Facebook profile does not delete your messenger account * Their doc fo…

More dark patterns: when I tried to delete my account, they claimed my password was incorrect. After trying and failing to delete my account for over a week, a tiny comment I saw on a YouTube video turned out to be gold: "if your password has upper and lower case characters, you must enter them all in lower-case or you will be told your password is incorrect." That were correct. (Account now deleted.)

That means that they either store the password in plain text, or store an extra hash of the lowercase with the only purpose to mislead and trick people.

People who work there are con artists.

Re: Extra Technical Obstacles for Facebook Quitters

#106

Post by Fnoord » Fri, Apr 06, 2018, 12:22 PM UTC

rabboRubble wrote: post #96

Fnoord wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you know of a way to automatically delete all my likes and posts? I'd like to not delete my Facebook account because my Spotify account is linked to it.

Try this Chrome extension, Social Book Post Manager. Appears to do exactly that.

Thank you very much, that's exactly what I was looking for (though I'm trying to use Mozilla Firefox). Works very well for this purpose but you gotta recheck and verify.

Re: Extra Technical Obstacles for Facebook Quitters

#107

Post by peatmoss » Fri, Apr 06, 2018, 6:19 PM UTC

existencebox wrote: post #67

peatmoss wrote: post #3

Probably (maybe?) not intentional, but suspiciously timed. Presumably off-boarding from Facebook looks a bit like a funnel, where every additional hurdle means more people will bail on their original intended action. I nuked my facebook account a couple years back and I remember eye rolling at the number of steps. And then there was the waiting period where they’d keep my account around for some number of days or wee…

Hey, question for you, admittedly slightly tangential. I've been a dev for a few user facing products that stored customer created content and offered account deletion. These sites weren't specifically social, and I always thought offering a "we don't hard delete for N days" (with reasonably short N) was a user friendly option, in case of accidental deletion or realizing recovery of certain assets was needed. Would y…

I feel like Github's Danger Zone strikes a nice middle ground between "total footgun" and Facebook's belligerent refusal to let someone immediately sever their relationship.

Actually, when compared to a breakup, the Facebook model seems even more silly:

"I just think this relationship isn't working, and that we should move on, and find someone who we'll be happy with."

"I'm really sorry you feel that way. I'll just continue being your boyfriend for the next week or two. If I hear from you at all during that time, I'll assume we're back together."

And specifically keeping a backup of my data prior to hard delete? On a continuum from worst to best:

Worst: Company as a matter of policy keeps my data around intentionally past the point of severing the relationship.

Forgivable: Technical architectural constraints mean that there might be some lag time before an "erase the tapes" process fully purges my data, with this limitation noted in the docs.

Best: Once I've terminated my relationship with the company, the company purges all my personal data.

Re: Extra Technical Obstacles for Facebook Quitters

#108

Post by hhfcvh » Fri, Apr 06, 2018, 7:10 PM UTC

ino wrote: post #105

JKCalhoun wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More dark patterns: when I tried to delete my account, they claimed my password was incorrect. After trying and failing to delete my account for over a week, a tiny comment I saw on a YouTube video turned out to be gold: "if your password has upper and lower case characters, you must enter them all in lower-case or you will be told your password is incorrect." That were correct. (Account now deleted.)

That means that they either store the password in plain text, or store an extra hash of the lowercase with the only purpose to mislead and trick people. People who work there are con artists.

Given their attitude to their users, probably plain text.

Re: Extra Technical Obstacles for Facebook Quitters

#109

Post by narutouzumaki » Wed, Apr 11, 2018, 1:41 PM UTC

JKCalhoun wrote: post #101

nxc18 wrote: post #12

I deleted my Facebook to the best of my ability about a week ago. Fun facts: * They switch around button colors to trick you into undoing your actions * They are very eager to log you back in if you, for example, try to access help. This reactivates your account. * You cannot delete your account on Messenger. They removed the option. Deleting your Facebook profile does not delete your messenger account * Their doc fo…

More dark patterns: when I tried to delete my account, they claimed my password was incorrect. After trying and failing to delete my account for over a week, a tiny comment I saw on a YouTube video turned out to be gold: "if your password has upper and lower case characters, you must enter them all in lower-case or you will be told your password is incorrect." That were correct. (Account now deleted.)

Wow, is that true? How do they justify it /even get away with that?