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I quit FB for a bit over a year then came back because I missed connecting with people. I was quickly shocked by what I was actually 'missing'. The thing that j

I quit FB for a bit over a year then came back because I missed connecting with people. I was quickly shocked by what I was actually 'missing'. The thing that jumped out at me was a former elementary/high school classmate who was literally arguing for vehicular manslaughter (murder?) -- that protesters should be run over at high-speeds for blocking the freeway[0]. Now, that's one post from one person. Yes, it's an outlier, but there was a ton of truly corrosive shit people were posting. I quickly found that for me, getting out of FB altogether was the best option. I deleted my account a while back and I don't miss it. I get that people can actively curate their feed and use FB as a tool for communication, but for me, that's far too much effort and wasn't worth it. I'm actually quite sad -- the promise of what FB could be falls far short of what it is. [0] https://www.startribune.com/500-gather-near-u-of-m-to-protest-trump-s-election-statements/400770921/ https://www.startribune.com/500-gather-near-u-of-m-to-protes...

spurgu 5y ago
The obvious question to me here is why you're "friends" with people like that? One of you sent the friend request in the first place and the other accepted. If/when it turns up you made a mistake with either step it's easy to undo it. As you said it's mostly outliers. Most people don't post/comment at all and the ones who do you can easily regulate (unfriend, or create a custom list (either black- or whitelist) if you need to stay "friends" for whatever reason).
- bb88 5y ago
  > The obvious question to me here is why you're "friends" with people like that? I'm sure a lot of people loved others who have had drug addictions, joined a cult, or were fed misinformation by a group of zealots. Sometimes being a friend means "in spite of" not "because of".
- mynameisash 5y ago
  As it happens, this individual was the shortest-lived connection I had on the platform. I had gone back on, received and accepted the friend request, and they posted that shortly thereafter, at which point I immediately unfriended them. It wasn't long after that I decided to scrap the whole endeavor.

spurgu 5y ago

The obvious question to me here is why you're "friends" with people like that? One of you sent the friend request in the first place and the other accepted. If/when it turns up you made a mistake with either step it's easy to undo it. As you said it's mostly outliers. Most people don't post/comment at all and the ones who do you can easily regulate (unfriend, or create a custom list (either black- or whitelist) if you need to stay "friends" for whatever reason).

bb88 5y ago
> The obvious question to me here is why you're "friends" with people like that? I'm sure a lot of people loved others who have had drug addictions, joined a cult, or were fed misinformation by a group of zealots. Sometimes being a friend means "in spite of" not "because of".
mynameisash 5y ago
As it happens, this individual was the shortest-lived connection I had on the platform. I had gone back on, received and accepted the friend request, and they posted that shortly thereafter, at which point I immediately unfriended them. It wasn't long after that I decided to scrap the whole endeavor.