Should I give in to Facebook?

[CanuckInUSA 0]

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You can turn off the email notifications

If I turn off email notifications then I am not notified when someone tries to send me a legitimate message. Then they may get all pissed if they think I am ignoring them. Of course if people really want/need to contact me, they can either pick up the phone and/or send me an email. I guess I am just an old dog refusing to learn new tricks. Facebook is annoying and Facebook is the last place I want to spend countless hours of my day on (LOL ... and yet here I am spending time on Dizzy.com).

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[davelepka 4]

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if phone, email and text allow you to keep in touch, more power to you.. but fact is you are living in the dark ages..

That's funny. I'm not old, but I remember the days before cell phones. I remember the days before home phones all had call waiting. Sometimes you would call someone, and just get a busy signal, end of story. You move on with your life, and the person you were calling moves on with theirs. The horror!!!

If you're happy with facebook, more power to you, I'm not trying to abolish it, I just think it's a little much. Anyone I know well enough to give my phone number to can reach me 24/7 three different ways, call text or email. I'm not sure what could be so important that a cell phone isn't good enough.

Pics of family? How about seeing them in person when you actually visit and see your family? Family lives out of town? Pics can also be sent via text or email.

You have your view, I have mine. To me, it's just watering down everyones relationships by trying to do too much with too many people. I'm far from a luddite, like I said, people who matter can get me 24/7, and that's enough for me. If you're not in my phonebook, I don't want to know that much about you, nor want you knowing that much about me. Good fences make for good neighbors.

[AdrianGlave 0]

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I have family. I have people I work with. I have skydiver friends. I have non-skydiver friends. These groups are separate and there are reasons for that.

You want Google+ (They use 'circles' just like you do in real life.)

And from what I can tell so far, google+ doesn't have a 'wall'.

[eeneR 3]

Google + has a feed, similar to FB. You have the ability to control which "circle" information is distributed across.

She is not a "Dumb Blonde" - She is a "Light-Haired Detour Off The Information Superhighway."
eeneR
TF#72, FB#4130, Incauto

[skydiver30960 0]

I like the idea that someone used the term "Luddite" above. Yeah, I guess that's how I am. Not in all things, interestingly enough: just a few things, FB being one of them.

Random question to all FB users: how do you turn down a friend request without feeling like an asshole? I understand why I would want to do so: as others have said above, if I do go FB then it's going to be a pared down, streamlined experience: no notifications, no tagging, and a limited number of friends. But what happens when you turn down that request from someone who bleeds Facebook and they take it the wrong way?

See? Too much damn drama, and I haven't even signed up yet.

Elvisio "need to stress less" Rodriguez

[skydiver30960 0]

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Google + has a feed, similar to FB. You have the ability to control which "circle" information is distributed across.

Anybody have an invite for Google+ they can send me?

Elvisio "so many smileys apply to this post, I lost count" Rodriguez

[AdrianGlave 0]

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Anybody have an invite for Google+ they can send me?

Yup. Send me your email.

[Shotgun 1]

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Anybody have an invite for Google+ they can send me?

Wow, Google+ is even cooler than Facebook because they require "invites."

But then being on Facebook is about as cool as.... watching TV. Much cooler to say that you don't do it.

I'm just being silly here, of course. With all these new-fangled diddlywhats, I have lost track of how cool or uncool I am.

[popsjumper 2]

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With all these new-fangled diddlywhats, I have lost track of how cool or uncool I am.

And that's how it happens.
One Type A narcissist creates a new diddlywhat because he suddenly discovers some other Type A narcissist created a diddlywhat that took away his mindless lemming followers.

The next Big Thing!

, or /

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[emmiwy 0]

Google+ to me is essentially the same as Facebook, only possibly more customizable and better integrated with all the other Google widgets/apps that are already available and make people's lives so much easier. For those with Android-supported devices I gather it's probably pretty awesome.

Facebook is pretty useful for sending mass messages without having to ask people for email addresses, sharing photos, and learning about/creating events. I think we all wish we didn't have to have a Facebook account, and be the one who lives off the grid, but I care enough about keeping in touch with friends and don't have the time/energy to call all my friends or visit them and have hour-long conversations with all of them. :)

[popsjumper 2]

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Do it. But understand that for each farmville and mafia wars invite you send me, a baby seal is clubbed to death.

I just block the damn things

I delete the bozos who send them.

Recent victims and time on "friends list":
1 nephew - 3 days
1 other nephew - 2 days
1 nephew's wife - 3 hours
122 skydivers - 1 day to less than 1 week.

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[ryoder 1,590]

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You have the ability to control which "circle" information is distributed across.

Or do what my co-workers teenage daughter did: Create a whole 'nother profile just for the parents.
(Her brother ratted her out.)

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[eeneR 3]

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You have the ability to control which "circle" information is distributed across.

Or do what my co-workers teenage daughter did: Create a whole 'nother profile just for the parents.
(Her brother ratted her out.)

Oh I know a ton of people on FB that have done that! Not just the kids Google lets you use one account and create seperate groups to control who see's what.

She is not a "Dumb Blonde" - She is a "Light-Haired Detour Off The Information Superhighway."
eeneR
TF#72, FB#4130, Incauto

[david3 0]

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You have the ability to control which "circle" information is distributed across.

Or do what my co-workers teenage daughter did: Create a whole 'nother profile just for the parents.
(Her brother ratted her out.)

Oh I know a ton of people on FB that have done that! Not just the kids Google lets you use one account and create seperate groups to control who see's what.

See that is just too much to manage. I know i would screw that up.

[nigel99 568]

Facebook is alright to stay in touch with people.

I don't play the games and have a few people that I hide their updates so that it isn't a constant stream of garbage.

It has allowed me to stay in touch with friends who I grew up with, and I am genuinely interested in "major" events that happen in their life. My wife is even less into FB and probably logs in every 2 or 3 months to catch up

The key is to not get caught up in the games and crap, and remember the people who have 600 friends probably don't notice that you don't reply to them

Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

[champu 1]

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I have family. I have people I work with. I have skydiver friends. I have non-skydiver friends. These groups are separate and there are reasons for that.

You want Google+

Do I...

[Bolas 5]

I don't get the point of hiding someone's updates. If you don't like what or how often they say things, just unfriend them cuz if you hide their updates, the only way to see what's up with them is go to their profile which are you really going to do if they annoyed you enough to block them?

Stupidity if left untreated is self-correcting
If ya can't be good, look good, if that fails, make 'em laugh.

[NWFlyer 2]

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I don't get the point of hiding someone's updates. If you don't like what or how often they say things, just unfriend them cuz if you hide their updates, the only way to see what's up with them is go to their profile which are you really going to do if they annoyed you enough to block them?

Because then you don't have to get into the "Why'd you unfriend me?" drama. And there are people who are caught up enough in their online persona that they'll call you out on that... hiding is easier.

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[Krip 2]

Hi R

I voted yes but I lied.
Polls you got to love em, Just don't believe them

R.I.P.

One Jump Wonder

[AdrianGlave 0]

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I have family. I have people I work with. I have skydiver friends. I have non-skydiver friends. These groups are separate and there are reasons for that.

You want Google+

Do I...

In so far as the Google+ Circles feature addresses your point about having groups that are separate from each other.

It would allow you to have a Family Circle, Work Circle, Skydiver Friends Circle, Non Skydiver Friends Circle and share what was relevant to each with each.

Your Family Circle wouldn't get to see what you shared with your Skydiver Friends Circle and vice versa.

[Zenister 0]

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***To me, it's just watering down everyones relationships by trying to do too much with too many people. I'm far from a luddite, like I said, people who matter can get me 24/7, and that's enough for me. If you're not in my phonebook, I don't want to know that much about you, nor want you knowing that much about me. Good fences make for good neighbors.***

I see it as exactly the opposite, in many ways Facebook IS my phonebook. It all hits my phone, and because of that its easier to FB most of the people I interact with than it is to email or text (I've sent maybe 500 texts in the last couple of years because of FB.)

I remember life prior to cell phones or even call waiting as well, but the fact is "your world" was significantly smaller then because of the limited contact. Its very analogous to life before cars... 50 miles away was along way to go on a horse so you didnt without good reason, now many people drive more than 50 miles simply to work.

Whether it 'waters down' or 'deepens' relationships is entirely up to how you use it. If you were a social butterfly before facebook you still are now, simply to a broader group of people. You can sit at a bar and tell a complete stranger your life story, or be FB friends with 1000 people, none of whom really 'know you". All technology is a tool, and how you use it determines it value. But ultimate as a tool (when used effectively) it only expands your life. If you get a perverse pride from cutting and acre of lawn with a swingblade, by all means continue, but its undeniable that you can better your quality of life with a powered mower.

Today, in the course of about an hour over spare moments (mostly while I'm sitting through a meeting I really dont NEED to be in, but have to for political reasons)

I:

read reviews from several friends on a couple of albums that are coming out tomorrow,

Learned a friend who has been unemployed just got a great job, another is working on a dream project, someone else is engaged,

watched several training videos from one of the VRW teams I follow,

caught up on multiple news stories from a huge variety of interests, all preculled, perused and approved by people I trust in their fields,

checked out (and ordered two prints) a couple dozen photographs from multiple photographers,

chatted laughed and argued with several people over a variety of topics,

added a college professor to my friends list (which I honestly love.. I have nearly all my favorite college mentors as friends, and it has resulted in a free 'continuing education' via the interaction none of us would have time for otherwise)

scheduled a date later in the week, and a beer tasting tonight,

watched a community celebrate and grieve, saw his family respond

could I have done all that via text, email, phone and web? absolutely... but the time involved to do so, the headaches in managing that many interfaces and accounts would be a job in and of itself.

Has facebook become an integral part of my life? absolutely, in the same way my phone, car and computer have. I have (and could still) learn to live without all of them, but my variety and depth of daily experience would shrink drastically. There is always a certain distrust with any service that "sells" my participation as a marketing scheme (and my entire life is by no means on there) but I can definitely call everyone of the nearly 400 people (apart from the business, band or artistic pages) "Friends" and not "Facebookfriends" which is ultimately what matters. The quality of my relationships has increased at the same time I have added to (mostly by reestablishing old relationships) the quantity.

Granted I am and will always be an information junkie, and I'm quite sure something will replace Facebook eventually perhaps Google+ (honestly I think that's unlikely for many reasons, but I believe Google will force FB to adapt.) I will absolutely grant you there are some serious annoyances and adjustment required as with any new tool, the options, variety of use by members (I hate FB games I have real games when needed) lack of documentation and ambient 'noise' level exposure forced on someone new to Facebook makes it seem overwhelming at first, but once you configure it to your needs and learn to use it is easily the single most useful social tool since the internet itself, and ignoring it only narrows your possible relationships, the 'depth' is up to you.

"Good fences do make good neighbors." But my neighbors are not my friends, if you're on the other side of my fences you'll never know me at all.

____________________________________
Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.

[masterblaster72 0]

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Fuck facebook. You got email, and a cell phone with unlimited minutes, long distance and texts? You can keep in touch with anyone worth keeping in touch with.

Exactly.

I tried facebook in 2008 -- lasted for 3 days. Last year I tried again, for three months. Then I realized my pre-facebook life was far simpler when co-workers were upset with me for not having friended them after a few days (I didn't log in for a few days).

Then I visited some friends in Europe that I kept in touch with via facebook. One of them had 600+ friends. I hadn't seen her in years, and she sat at a table at the cafe with my friends, and hardly said a word because she was on her iPhone facebook app the whole time, keeping busy with her 600+ friends. This was the same person who would update her status on Facebook every hour with one useless thought after another.

In any case, maybe you should give it a try -- you might be one of the vast majority of people who likes it. I have many real-life friends who do.

if phone, email and text allow you to keep in touch, more power to you.. but fact is you are living in the dark ages..

Jumps from a boogie in Europe? I see video within an hour, pictures of new family? same. Updates to blogs, groups, musicians, current events, happen (because of my friends list and the fact they can broadcast, something you cant effectively do by the means you listed to interested parties in single action) for me in the same amount of time it takes someone to post about it. Family reunions are actually extremely pleasant, I dont need to spend hours 'catching up' instead I spend the few short hours with my extended family having new experiences. Why? because I already know everything (sometimes in painful detail) that has been going on with my family.

by all means adopt a Luddite attitude, the only one losing out is you, and while it certainly not perfect, it has absolutely replaced nearly every other form of communication, is more effective (timewise and cost wise) than all the others combined. Where as text, email and voice used to be primary means of communication (and are still important and useful in specific context) FB has made them obsolete by doing everything better, more efficiently and with capabilities they could not. it also allows me easy interaction with those I actually WANT to talk to... imagine DZ.com (social) composed of only the members you ACTUALLY LIKE with the ability to completely remove those you dont want to interact with... that is exactly what Facebook is for me.

The drawbacks of FB are easily overcome by informational awareness on your part... if you dont like someone, dont want them to see what you do on weekends, how hard you party, what you really think etc...... DONT FRIEND THEM, and sack up in the real world and tell them you dont like them and therefore you really dont want to be their friend on Facebook either.

also:rude is just rude... ignoring someone you are out with because you are posting on facebook is no different than ignoring them by texting or talking on the phone... if the people you are with are doing this, you need to find real friends...


ofc it cuts both ways.. I knew within minutes I'd lost a friend today... sometimes I'd rather just not know until I sit down to 'digest' everything else in the world...

I'm glad you're happy with FB. I tried it in earnest twice and it's not for me. I'm far from a Luddite -- not sure where you're getting that from. I live and work with technology, but the social tools I have (phone, email & text, as davelepka mentioned) have been working fine for me and I see no need to streamline or make that part of my life more efficient to accommodate bigger numbers.

Be humble, ask questions, listen, learn, follow the golden rule, talk when necessary, and know when to shut the fuck up.

[champu 1]

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Granted I am and will always be an information junkie.

Full stop.

[Zenister 0]

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Granted I am and will always be an information junkie.

Full stop.

nah.. if you stop you die

____________________________________
Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.

[Krip 2]

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Granted I am and will always be an information junkie.

Full stop.

nah.. if you stop you die

I never started and I've done fine. Email,pong and a land line with a answering machine work fine for me.

IMO Everyone's situation is different some folks need it, some folks think they gotta have it, some folks can survive without it.

It's a very powerfull tool but if you don't know how to use it

One Jump Wonder