5 ms·

Simple solution: don't chat on Facebook. Reply via the web interface and tell the other person to send you an email, SMS, or Google Hangouts message.

curiousgal 10y ago
Simple yes, practical no.
- yellowapple 10y ago
  Practical enough for me. The only thing I use Facebook for is to say "Thank you" when folks wish me a happy birthday on my "wall". For literally everything else, the friends and family worth talking to have gotten the message that I'm not reliably reachable on Facebook and therefore should be reached by other means (and if they're worth talking to, they should already have my phone number and/or email address). It's about drawing a line. I drew that line two years ago, and not once have I looked back or otherwise felt any semblance of regret or frustration from it. Among SMS, email, Telegram, Google+/Hangouts, ordinary phone calls, snail mail, in-person, and the cornucopia of other communications options out there, there's zero reason to put up with Facebook's nonsense.
  - mrweasel 10y ago
    > The only thing I use Facebook for is to say "Thank you" when folks wish me a happy birthday on my "wall". You can fix that by removing your birthday from Facebook. I did that one year and it turned out as expected, people only wish you happy birthday on Facebook, because Facebook more or less tells them to.
    - technomancy 10y ago
      The other way to solve this is to set your birthday to an incorrect date; that way you don't have to feel bad about not saying thanks.
      - curiousgal 10y ago
        That's just evil! I like it.
  - e12e 10y ago
    Then why do you even have a facebook account?
    - wutbrodo 10y ago
      I use Facebook (somewhat sparingly) but considered deleting my profile a few years ago, when I wasn't using it at all. I decided against because it was so useful as an "every once in a while" inbox for people who wouldn't have been able to reach me otherwise: a girl I met at a party, a cousin from Australia who happened to be in town for a couple of days, etc etc. The former would either never find me (depending on how big the party was) and the latter would have to jump through the hoops of chaining phone numbers through our large extended family. Both of those are handily coopted by having an almost-universal directory, with customizable amounts of information displayed, along with photos so you know it's the right profile.
      - bogomipz 10y ago
        Or you know, you guys could have emailed each other. Everyone still has email and you know what its the one thing on the internet that always works really well. This is typical trope of the "why I have to be on FB." Download everyones contact and or sync to your address book. When people are in town they text you or email you. Trust me it works. People found each other just fine before FB and they can just find now.
        wutbrodo 10y ago
        > Or you know, you guys could have emailed each other. Um, did you actually read my comment? Roughly half ofit was dedicated to the fact that being able to find me by just my name and photo is easier than trying to track down my phone number; I'm not sure how you missed that.... Why do you think it would be any easier to find my email address? If anything, connecting us across my extended family would be a lot harder through finding a bunch of emails than finding a bunch of email addresses. I honestly don't know what reality you're imagining where everybody has the email address of everybody they know.
    - 10y ago
  - r2dnb 10y ago
    >For literally everything else, the friends and family worth talking to have gotten the message that I'm not reliably reachable on Facebook Same thing here, I drew this line about 5 years ago. Now everybody knows that the only reliable means to communicate remotely with me are : Emails/Signal, or regular phone calls/SMS as a fallback. Only people worth talking to (family and close friends), do the effort of reaching me on my preferred communication channel.

curiousgal 10y ago

Simple yes, practical no.

yellowapple 10y ago
Practical enough for me. The only thing I use Facebook for is to say "Thank you" when folks wish me a happy birthday on my "wall". For literally everything else, the friends and family worth talking to have gotten the message that I'm not reliably reachable on Facebook and therefore should be reached by other means (and if they're worth talking to, they should already have my phone number and/or email address). It's about drawing a line. I drew that line two years ago, and not once have I looked back or otherwise felt any semblance of regret or frustration from it. Among SMS, email, Telegram, Google+/Hangouts, ordinary phone calls, snail mail, in-person, and the cornucopia of other communications options out there, there's zero reason to put up with Facebook's nonsense.
- mrweasel 10y ago
  > The only thing I use Facebook for is to say "Thank you" when folks wish me a happy birthday on my "wall". You can fix that by removing your birthday from Facebook. I did that one year and it turned out as expected, people only wish you happy birthday on Facebook, because Facebook more or less tells them to.
  - technomancy 10y ago
    The other way to solve this is to set your birthday to an incorrect date; that way you don't have to feel bad about not saying thanks.
    - curiousgal 10y ago
      That's just evil! I like it.
- e12e 10y ago
  Then why do you even have a facebook account?
  - wutbrodo 10y ago
    I use Facebook (somewhat sparingly) but considered deleting my profile a few years ago, when I wasn't using it at all. I decided against because it was so useful as an "every once in a while" inbox for people who wouldn't have been able to reach me otherwise: a girl I met at a party, a cousin from Australia who happened to be in town for a couple of days, etc etc. The former would either never find me (depending on how big the party was) and the latter would have to jump through the hoops of chaining phone numbers through our large extended family. Both of those are handily coopted by having an almost-universal directory, with customizable amounts of information displayed, along with photos so you know it's the right profile.
    - bogomipz 10y ago
      Or you know, you guys could have emailed each other. Everyone still has email and you know what its the one thing on the internet that always works really well. This is typical trope of the "why I have to be on FB." Download everyones contact and or sync to your address book. When people are in town they text you or email you. Trust me it works. People found each other just fine before FB and they can just find now.
      - wutbrodo 10y ago
        > Or you know, you guys could have emailed each other. Um, did you actually read my comment? Roughly half ofit was dedicated to the fact that being able to find me by just my name and photo is easier than trying to track down my phone number; I'm not sure how you missed that.... Why do you think it would be any easier to find my email address? If anything, connecting us across my extended family would be a lot harder through finding a bunch of emails than finding a bunch of email addresses. I honestly don't know what reality you're imagining where everybody has the email address of everybody they know.
  - 10y ago
- r2dnb 10y ago
  >For literally everything else, the friends and family worth talking to have gotten the message that I'm not reliably reachable on Facebook Same thing here, I drew this line about 5 years ago. Now everybody knows that the only reliable means to communicate remotely with me are : Emails/Signal, or regular phone calls/SMS as a fallback. Only people worth talking to (family and close friends), do the effort of reaching me on my preferred communication channel.