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Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

bradfrost.com

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Re: Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

#261

Post by jacobolus »

debaserab2 wrote: post #255
smcl wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

GChat used to be great - it was simple, relatively lightweight and quick. Then it was rebranded Hangouts and became a little muddled and unwieldy for a brief period when Whatsapp was ascendent which nearly overnight caused my entire group of friends to switch. You're right about the IM apps being not great. This and the poor state of desktop email clients on Windows and Linux are my pet hates

I'm sorry, but what? I've had facebook messenger, gchat/hangouts installed on my phone for some time. I don't know if I'd call it great, but I have a hard time arguing that it doesn't immediately solve my instant messaging needs. What exactly do you want that gchat or facebook messenger doesnt solve?

I want open chat protocols so I can use whatever client I damn well please (e.g. Adium, Pidgin, some terminal thing, or a bot made from a little python script, ...).

Whenever I’m stuck using a centralized service (Twitter, facebook, some web forum, whatever bullshit IRC replacement businesses are buying this week, ...) their client invariably does something different than what many people want it to do, but we have no recourse because everything is locked-down proprietary bullshit, even though most of the messages are plain text and could have been delivered just fine by open protocols in 1990. Not to mention these apps are all poorly designed resource hogs that spy on everyone, inject ugly ads, and burn mobile battery.

Re: Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

#262

Post by KozmoNau7 »

I have no idea what I did, but I don't get any of that nonsense.

I have all notifications turned off in the app, I've disabled all email except if someone explicitly mentions me by name in a discussion (I should probably switch off that one, too) and I've made an effort to hide all kinds of stupid apps and games and pages that are nothing but time wasters. I also only like and follow pages that I have a genuine interest in (such as concert venues and bands I love).

Sure, there's a token notice from time to time ("why not repost a picture from 7 years ago?" and so on), but I find them easy to ignore.

Once you beat Facebook into submission, it becomes a reasonably useful tool.

Re: Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

#263

Post by JoeMalt »

jack1243star wrote: post #211
pmarreck wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could always just use the mobile version of the website. Uses less battery power, too!

They wouldn't let me see my messages without installing Messenger.

Try mbasic.facebook.com

As much as they want to force you into messenger, they don't want to cut off users of feature phones.

Re: Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

#264

Post by KozmoNau7 »

hasbroslasher wrote: post #133
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…

Up until last year, I chalked up the "I deleted my Facebook" phenomenon to hipsterdom or some pathology where people think the can "cure" "addiction" by quitting whatever unhealthy behavior pattern they exhibit for a week or month and then coming back. Last month I deactivated my Facebook and have yet to turn it back on. In the months prior I started finding alternative sources of news: NYT, Pitchfork, HN, various su…

What I did was pare down Facebook to the bare essentials. The only people I have on it are actual would-invite-into-my-home friends, the only pages I follow are for concert venues and bands I like, and I block and turn off every single stupid "joke" page, app and game I see.

Now I basically only get posts directly written by my friends, event notifications for concerts, and updates from my favorite bands.

I don't use Facebook for news, I don't engage in political discussions or stupid arguments. I guess I use Facebook for what its original intended purpose, to keep in touch with friends.

Re: Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

#266

Post by KozmoNau7 »

newman8r wrote: post #57
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 got rid of my phone ~2 years ago and I feel the same way about that decision

How do you handle a situation such as being at an event with friends, getting separated, and needing to find each other again?

At concerts, I've found it hugely helpful to simple take a picture from where I'm standing, and sending it to my friends.

Re: Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

#267

Post by nebabyte »

smcl wrote: post #243
paulie_a wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am honestly wondering if there is an inside joke for tech companies attempting to make the worst possible messaging app. Facebook messenger is god awful ugly, same with snapchat. Google Hangouts is ok at best (I personally have not used Google's other dozen or so messaging apps they have)

GChat used to be great - it was simple, relatively lightweight and quick. Then it was rebranded Hangouts and became a little muddled and unwieldy for a brief period when Whatsapp was ascendent which nearly overnight caused my entire group of friends to switch. You're right about the IM apps being not great. This and the poor state of desktop email clients on Windows and Linux are my pet hates

The desktop client was all I ever wanted in a chat app. Simple, fast, reliable. Which of course is why they killed it.

Re: Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

#268

Post by Joe-Z »

yeukhon wrote: post #205
scott_karana wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They probably asked your friends if the picture was you or not; they'd almost certainly be willing to do the verification if told it was to "prevent someone from impersonating you".

I thought they did that, but my experience has been quick, so I cannot imagine anyone got asked. I suspect it was either an automated process, or some human looked at my photos and decide whether I am that person. I believe it would be both, so facial recognition can be trained and perfected. I'd lean to say if this was all automated, they probably did a "Google image" search and came to the conclusion it could not h…

Well, even here you seem to be posting from two different accounts. Even I get the feeling of 'suspicious activity' with your story.

Re: Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

#269

Post by Tepix »

joeblau wrote: post #92

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.*

This won't match hostnames with numbers or dashes in them. Also it will match www.neverusefacebook.com

Re: Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

#270

Post by georgebarnett »

Interesting in this context that they killed the groups app so as to bring people back into the main app.

Makes me wonder if the real reason is that so many people got sick of "normal" Facebook when all they wanted is to use groups that engagement suffered and they needed to bring everybody back.

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