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Maybe "force" is too strong a word. However, it strongly pushes them by generating lists of people you may know even if you haven't talked to them in over a dec

Maybe "force" is too strong a word. However, it strongly pushes them by generating lists of people you may know even if you haven't talked to them in over a decade. It also makes it easier for someone to just click "Friend this person" rather than having to find someone's number and pick up the phone. Guilt is a strong motivator, as least for me, so granting someone that access makes it a lot more difficult to set appropriate boundaries.

jamesrcole 8y ago
It's up to you to accept a friend suggestion or request. And the UI makes it easy to delete any friend request. If there's pressure it comes from outside FB itself.
- panarky 8y ago
  > If there's pressure it comes from outside FB itself When I was a kid, long before Facebook, my mom would frequently receive an anonymous chain letter in the mail. The letter would have some dramatic emotional appeal, or it would claim to be raising money for a poor family in the church, or it would promise pyramid riches, or it might have some mystical mumbo jumbo warning about breaking the chain. But in the end, the stories about heartbreak or helping people or mysterious calamities were complete horseshit. Their only purpose was to convince my mom to copy the letter and send it to 12 other people, thus expanding the base of the pyramid for the benefit of whoever started the chain letter. Facebook is the modern chain letter. Just like chain letters, Facebook has lots of horseshit stories about connecting people, with implied mysterious social consequences for not participating. But underneath all that, the real purpose of Facebook is to amplify social pressure to get people to expand the base of the pyramid for Facebook's benefit.
- rhizome 8y ago
  I'm jealous that there's nobody in your past you'd rather not be reminded.
- walterstucco 8y ago
  Not really If you delete a friend request people can send a new request The only option is to leave it there and be reminded you have new friend requests or delete the request and block the user It actually forces you to take action to block people you removed from your life long ago. It should work the other way around

jamesrcole 8y ago

It's up to you to accept a friend suggestion or request. And the UI makes it easy to delete any friend request. If there's pressure it comes from outside FB itself.

panarky 8y ago
> If there's pressure it comes from outside FB itself When I was a kid, long before Facebook, my mom would frequently receive an anonymous chain letter in the mail. The letter would have some dramatic emotional appeal, or it would claim to be raising money for a poor family in the church, or it would promise pyramid riches, or it might have some mystical mumbo jumbo warning about breaking the chain. But in the end, the stories about heartbreak or helping people or mysterious calamities were complete horseshit. Their only purpose was to convince my mom to copy the letter and send it to 12 other people, thus expanding the base of the pyramid for the benefit of whoever started the chain letter. Facebook is the modern chain letter. Just like chain letters, Facebook has lots of horseshit stories about connecting people, with implied mysterious social consequences for not participating. But underneath all that, the real purpose of Facebook is to amplify social pressure to get people to expand the base of the pyramid for Facebook's benefit.
rhizome 8y ago
I'm jealous that there's nobody in your past you'd rather not be reminded.
walterstucco 8y ago
Not really If you delete a friend request people can send a new request The only option is to leave it there and be reminded you have new friend requests or delete the request and block the user It actually forces you to take action to block people you removed from your life long ago. It should work the other way around