4 ms·

Obvious, real world example: I've been dreading Timeline because I know the only high-resolution pictures of me on Facebook (that I've either uploaded myself or

Obvious, real world example: I've been dreading Timeline because I know the only high-resolution pictures of me on Facebook (that I've either uploaded myself or been tagged in) all include my ex-girlfriend, so I'll need to take a different picture for the header image. I know how absurd that may sound, but Timeline, especially taken long-scale, could have a major impact on how we perceive our lives and ourselves because of how impossible it will be to escape from the past without painstakingly filtering and removing posts and pictures. The obvious response, of course: "if you don't want permanence, don't upload in the first place." And this will be something I keep in mind, unless Facebook adds features to easily prune content from Timeline. But it's ridiculous that I should need to be that concerned about every pithy status I decide to post, not because of its contents in the present, but how they could be perceived in the future by myself and others.

samstave 15y ago
It would be pretty awesome for FB to have a "Selective Memory" feature... where you can apply filters to the timeline such as "pictures minus those with [ex-girlfriend] tagged in them" "pictures where place does not equal [bar/club]" etc...
- orijing 15y ago
  That would be a great app--Facebook content management utility. Write a few queries, like the UI equivalent of UPDATE posts SET visibility = CLOSE_FRIENDS WHERE ts < NOW() - 3600 * 24 * 365 DELETE FROM posts p WHERE COUNT(SELECT id FROM tags t WHERE t.post_id = p.post_id AND t.user_id = EX_GIRLFRIEND_ID)=1
  - pak 15y ago
    Back when Facebook was still wet behind the ears, before the whole apps platform was created, such "power user" features were occasionally available... via SQL injection. Ah, those were simpler times.
krausejj 15y ago
the part about "don't upload in the first place" is interesting - i wonder if quality/quantity of sharing on facebook changes because people will (consciously or subconsciously) be thinking about the Timeline and how this post will fit in their "lifestream"
jahmed 15y ago
Maybe we should be concerned with the perceptions of the future. The younger generation is already accepting the idea of unforgettability and I think this could push us to accepting the idea that our past acts, thoughts, and words have relevance to the future.
- tripzilch 15y ago
  > The younger generation is already accepting the idea of unforgettability Really? I work with kids and that's not really my experience. One of them told me what one of their friends posted on Twitter, which I won't repeat here, but shows that they really, really have no idea.
  - jahmed 15y ago
    I meant it more in the idea that they are less apt to hide what were traditionally "private" thoughts. Its less about trying to live by the standards of generations before them and more about embracing the new blurred boundaries of public and private. What you consider offensive or career limiting might be totally irrelevant in 10 years because anyone will be able to find anything someone ever said.
jquery 15y ago
I think the obvious solution is for Facebook to offer temporal privacy settings, e.g., "Hide all content older than X months/years."
- krausejj 15y ago
  agreed - i am shocked they aren't doing this. i understand that they want people to give it a try, but forcing users to either divulge all their information instantly or spend hours deleting manually - this is just hubris on the part of facebook. i hope they can get that ipo through before people start deactivating.
pault 15y ago
I quit facebook because of this. When the timeline preview came out I was horrified at all the stupid shit I had posted years ago when I first signed up and only my close friends were on it. Of course all of that stuff was there before, but you would have had to click through hundreds of pages on my wall before you could find it. With the timeline all it takes is a few scrolls. With the lack of a bulk remove feature, I decided it was easier just to delete my account. There are so many things I already disliked about Facebook, the timeline was just the final straw.
- kajecounterhack 15y ago
  There does happen to be a "hide old posts" option, fwiw. It might have been implemented after you left.

samstave 15y ago

It would be pretty awesome for FB to have a "Selective Memory" feature... where you can apply filters to the timeline such as "pictures minus those with [ex-girlfriend] tagged in them" "pictures where place does not equal [bar/club]" etc...

orijing 15y ago
That would be a great app--Facebook content management utility. Write a few queries, like the UI equivalent of UPDATE posts SET visibility = CLOSE_FRIENDS WHERE ts < NOW() - 3600 * 24 * 365 DELETE FROM posts p WHERE COUNT(SELECT id FROM tags t WHERE t.post_id = p.post_id AND t.user_id = EX_GIRLFRIEND_ID)=1
- pak 15y ago
  Back when Facebook was still wet behind the ears, before the whole apps platform was created, such "power user" features were occasionally available... via SQL injection. Ah, those were simpler times.

krausejj 15y ago

the part about "don't upload in the first place" is interesting - i wonder if quality/quantity of sharing on facebook changes because people will (consciously or subconsciously) be thinking about the Timeline and how this post will fit in their "lifestream"

jahmed 15y ago

Maybe we should be concerned with the perceptions of the future. The younger generation is already accepting the idea of unforgettability and I think this could push us to accepting the idea that our past acts, thoughts, and words have relevance to the future.

tripzilch 15y ago
> The younger generation is already accepting the idea of unforgettability Really? I work with kids and that's not really my experience. One of them told me what one of their friends posted on Twitter, which I won't repeat here, but shows that they really, really have no idea.
- jahmed 15y ago
  I meant it more in the idea that they are less apt to hide what were traditionally "private" thoughts. Its less about trying to live by the standards of generations before them and more about embracing the new blurred boundaries of public and private. What you consider offensive or career limiting might be totally irrelevant in 10 years because anyone will be able to find anything someone ever said.

jquery 15y ago

I think the obvious solution is for Facebook to offer temporal privacy settings, e.g., "Hide all content older than X months/years."

krausejj 15y ago
agreed - i am shocked they aren't doing this. i understand that they want people to give it a try, but forcing users to either divulge all their information instantly or spend hours deleting manually - this is just hubris on the part of facebook. i hope they can get that ipo through before people start deactivating.

pault 15y ago

I quit facebook because of this. When the timeline preview came out I was horrified at all the stupid shit I had posted years ago when I first signed up and only my close friends were on it. Of course all of that stuff was there before, but you would have had to click through hundreds of pages on my wall before you could find it. With the timeline all it takes is a few scrolls. With the lack of a bulk remove feature, I decided it was easier just to delete my account. There are so many things I already disliked about Facebook, the timeline was just the final straw.

kajecounterhack 15y ago
There does happen to be a "hide old posts" option, fwiw. It might have been implemented after you left.