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It is always technically 'possible,' to figure out how to make Facebook's privacy settings match yours, the fact that there are forum posts and blog posts like

It is always technically 'possible,' to figure out how to make Facebook's privacy settings match yours, the fact that there are forum posts and blog posts like yours show that Facebook on some level is doing it wrong with privacy. Granted Facebook is a huge network, but if they are going to succeed, they need to match privacy with as much intuitiveness and perfectness as Google manages search results.

dirtyaura 16y ago
Not to defend Facebook per se, but "managing privacy intuitively" is hell of a user interaction problem. I don't know any design that could encompass all the complexity of human social interaction and privacy issues related to it intuitively.
- alanh 16y ago
  This is indeed the last great problem of social UI — but Facebook could do with better defaults, which is half the battle.
- wmeredith 16y ago
  It's pretty easy, actually, just make everything opt-in instead of opt-out.
  - DrSprout 16y ago
    It is in fact very hard to find these bugs. Most of the time when a person sees something about you, that person has no idea if that's in line with your preferences, so can't even know if Facebook is working as it's supposed to.
- pasbesoin 16y ago
  Something that contributes considerably to mitigation of the problem is to make changes "opt in". Users not opting in continue to get the old model. If you just can't support the old model any more, the default is removal of presentation and/or removal of the information involved. A few people who can't be bothered to back up their own work and data, nor to respond to announcements of upcoming changes, may be pissed when items are "lost". But no one's privacy is compromised. Further, if you provide clear means of such a back up and/or instructions and advisement to maintain private copies, you can help lessen this second problem. That's something to Google's credit, that they've officially supported and developed means for users to retrieve their data locally into documented, usable formats.

dirtyaura 16y ago

Not to defend Facebook per se, but "managing privacy intuitively" is hell of a user interaction problem. I don't know any design that could encompass all the complexity of human social interaction and privacy issues related to it intuitively.

alanh 16y ago
This is indeed the last great problem of social UI — but Facebook could do with better defaults, which is half the battle.
wmeredith 16y ago
It's pretty easy, actually, just make everything opt-in instead of opt-out.
- DrSprout 16y ago
  It is in fact very hard to find these bugs. Most of the time when a person sees something about you, that person has no idea if that's in line with your preferences, so can't even know if Facebook is working as it's supposed to.
pasbesoin 16y ago
Something that contributes considerably to mitigation of the problem is to make changes "opt in". Users not opting in continue to get the old model. If you just can't support the old model any more, the default is removal of presentation and/or removal of the information involved. A few people who can't be bothered to back up their own work and data, nor to respond to announcements of upcoming changes, may be pissed when items are "lost". But no one's privacy is compromised. Further, if you provide clear means of such a back up and/or instructions and advisement to maintain private copies, you can help lessen this second problem. That's something to Google's credit, that they've officially supported and developed means for users to retrieve their data locally into documented, usable formats.