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I "deactivated" my Facebook account long ago. I'd like to delete it, but that apparently involves sacrificing some small animal and studying the entrails for c

I "deactivated" my Facebook account long ago. I'd like to delete it, but that apparently involves sacrificing some small animal and studying the entrails for clues. I deleted by Google+ account(s) recently, as well. I have several Twitter accounts with no tweets. I'm thinking of sanitizing my LinkedIn account soon. It's not that I'm anti-social (well, maybe); I am just one of those elder geeks who once dreamt of truly federated services under one's own control.

k-mcgrady 13y ago
I deleted my Twitter account, LinkedIn, and Google+ a couple of years ago. I also Googled myself and slowly removed myself from every other service I haven't used in years. Facebook was the only one I kept as I get a lot of value from it. The only server that has crawled back into my life is Google+, and only for one reason - Android. It's the easiest way to backup all my photos. Not to mention the fact I also use Youtube, Google Music, Gmail etc. and it's only a matter of time until a G+ account was forced on me again. However I don't post to the G+ account and I think I've only followed one or two people.
- myko 13y ago
  > I also use Youtube, Google Music, Gmail etc > a G+ account was forced on me again To be clear, a G+ account is a Google account. It ties together all Google properties. Just seems bizarre to use these and consider G+ as being forced on you - it is just your Google account. One doesn't need to actually use the social features provided by one's Google account.
  - prodigal_erik 13y ago
    Isn't avoiding G+ still the only way not to have its real name policy inflicted upon your account?
  - midas007 13y ago
    A Google account can optionally have G+ enabled or disabled. It's not a requirement.
  - herbig 13y ago
    This is false.
    - myko 13y ago
      No, this is not false.
  - martinp 13y ago
    You can delete your Google+ account without deleting your Google account [1]. [1] https://support.google.com/plus/answer/1044503?hl=en https://support.google.com/plus/answer/1044503?hl=en
- kordless 13y ago
  I've been free of Facebook since June of 2010. Still use the crap out of Twitter and G+ though.
- mafuyu 13y ago
  Dropbox also has automatic photo uploads, if you're interested in an alternative. The space you're given grows to accommodate your photos such that you virtually have infinite photo storage space.
  - k-mcgrady 13y ago
    I actually use Dropbox's photo uploads and like it however Google+ Photos seems more nicely integrated with my Android device.
diminoten 13y ago
Deleting your Facebook is difficult? I believe mine is hard deleted (not deactivated), and it was the same workflow as deactivating it, if I remember correctly. I just clicked "delete" instead of "deactivate" or whatever. Facebook leaves the account deactivated for a week so you can ponder on your choice, but if you don't do anything, it was my understanding that the account gets deleted.
- puredemo 13y ago
  I don't think that option has existed for a long time.
  - ubercow13 13y ago
    Of course it does, https://www.facebook.com/help/delete_account https://www.facebook.com/help/delete_account
- wrhs 13y ago
  Your understanding is incorrect and the option to "delete" an account hasn't existed for a long time. You might want to check these things next time, since the only thing your comment is likely to do is mislead people and waste their time looking for something that isn't there.
- jrs235 13y ago
  I believe doing the delete account via Facebook will only delete [your own] posts and things on "your timeline/wall". Any comments you made on other peoples posts do not get deleted. I believe, using the "automation" method or similar methods actually goes through and finds all your posts and comments on other people's walls/timelines and also deletes them.
  - ubercow13 13y ago
    I deleted my account and I am pretty sure all your comments on others' things do get deleted..
Bill_Dimm 13y ago
I don't know if this procedure for deleting a Facebook account still works, but it's worth a try: http://www.groovypost.com/howto/security/permanently-delete-your-facebook-profile-account/ http://www.groovypost.com/howto/security/permanently-delete-...
marincounty 13y ago
Don't delete your name--some other dude will just snatch it up, and make mark richer. I still use facebook sometimes, but under a pseudonym. Now--- Google Social, primary, whatever---needs to be burned down!
johnpowell 13y ago
I'm with you. I actually installed wordpress/buddypress on a 5 dollar droplet on digitalocean. It works great as a kinda Facebook replacement that I only allow my family to use. We can share photos and send private messages and even chat. No ads, no facebook.
dredmorbius 13y ago
It's not that I'm anti-social (well, maybe); I am just one of those elder geeks who once dreamt of truly federated services under one's own control. What the world needs is a club for anti-social people, to (mis?)quote Ashleigh Brilliant. I very much share your perspective. I never bought into the Facebook madness, tried G+ very briefly under my real name, then decided that wasn't a good idea. I've since withdrawn virtually completely from it though I may use it to help promote my writing elsewhere. One thing I've found as I look to alternatives is that much of the infrastructure for a federated system already exists. Blogs, RSS/Atom, image hosting, and a very few other pieces, would pretty much make it come together. A slightly better integrated messaging infrastructure is the primary missing bit (though there's no reason why any of the existing tools, including Jabber, AIM, or IRC, couldn't cover much of the ground). And I'm not knocking Google for its technical execution. G+ was very well engineered (hrm: why am I referring to it in the past tense), phenomenally stable (I saw one push which broke the site in 2.5 years), and at least on the server end, performed well (the client side is another story, and I'm having to free browser memory far, far less often having left it). In terms of UI/UX and social factors ... I really found the site left a great deal to be desired.
midas007 13y ago
https://prism-break.org/en/subcategories/web-social-networks/ https://prism-break.org/en/subcategories/web-social-networks...
zafiro17 13y ago
I know it's old-fashioned, but Usenet is still out there and is still good for communicating and sharing, with no one out there building a profile of your stuff and trying to make money off of it. Change your name and email address - or just use a fake address - anytime you want. I shared that optimistic dream for the internet back in the early days, but I think we've figure out how to make money off it now and that's going to be its undoing. Usenet is free, doesn't provide any value anyone could easily monetize, and allows interaction with other users. That's about all I want from the Internet these days anyway.
ta_delallthings 13y ago
Here's for you my friend: http://www.accountkiller.com/en/ http://www.accountkiller.com/en/ alternatively, you could give http://www.howtoleavefacebook.com/ http://www.howtoleavefacebook.com/ a try

k-mcgrady 13y ago

I deleted my Twitter account, LinkedIn, and Google+ a couple of years ago. I also Googled myself and slowly removed myself from every other service I haven't used in years. Facebook was the only one I kept as I get a lot of value from it. The only server that has crawled back into my life is Google+, and only for one reason - Android. It's the easiest way to backup all my photos. Not to mention the fact I also use Youtube, Google Music, Gmail etc. and it's only a matter of time until a G+ account was forced on me again. However I don't post to the G+ account and I think I've only followed one or two people.

myko 13y ago
> I also use Youtube, Google Music, Gmail etc > a G+ account was forced on me again To be clear, a G+ account is a Google account. It ties together all Google properties. Just seems bizarre to use these and consider G+ as being forced on you - it is just your Google account. One doesn't need to actually use the social features provided by one's Google account.
- prodigal_erik 13y ago
  Isn't avoiding G+ still the only way not to have its real name policy inflicted upon your account?
- midas007 13y ago
  A Google account can optionally have G+ enabled or disabled. It's not a requirement.
- herbig 13y ago
  This is false.
  - myko 13y ago
    No, this is not false.
- martinp 13y ago
  You can delete your Google+ account without deleting your Google account [1]. [1] https://support.google.com/plus/answer/1044503?hl=en https://support.google.com/plus/answer/1044503?hl=en
kordless 13y ago
I've been free of Facebook since June of 2010. Still use the crap out of Twitter and G+ though.
mafuyu 13y ago
Dropbox also has automatic photo uploads, if you're interested in an alternative. The space you're given grows to accommodate your photos such that you virtually have infinite photo storage space.
- k-mcgrady 13y ago
  I actually use Dropbox's photo uploads and like it however Google+ Photos seems more nicely integrated with my Android device.

diminoten 13y ago

Deleting your Facebook is difficult? I believe mine is hard deleted (not deactivated), and it was the same workflow as deactivating it, if I remember correctly. I just clicked "delete" instead of "deactivate" or whatever. Facebook leaves the account deactivated for a week so you can ponder on your choice, but if you don't do anything, it was my understanding that the account gets deleted.

puredemo 13y ago
I don't think that option has existed for a long time.
- ubercow13 13y ago
  Of course it does, https://www.facebook.com/help/delete_account https://www.facebook.com/help/delete_account
wrhs 13y ago
Your understanding is incorrect and the option to "delete" an account hasn't existed for a long time. You might want to check these things next time, since the only thing your comment is likely to do is mislead people and waste their time looking for something that isn't there.
jrs235 13y ago
I believe doing the delete account via Facebook will only delete [your own] posts and things on "your timeline/wall". Any comments you made on other peoples posts do not get deleted. I believe, using the "automation" method or similar methods actually goes through and finds all your posts and comments on other people's walls/timelines and also deletes them.
- ubercow13 13y ago
  I deleted my account and I am pretty sure all your comments on others' things do get deleted..

Bill_Dimm 13y ago

I don't know if this procedure for deleting a Facebook account still works, but it's worth a try: http://www.groovypost.com/howto/security/permanently-delete-your-facebook-profile-account/ http://www.groovypost.com/howto/security/permanently-delete-...

marincounty 13y ago

Don't delete your name--some other dude will just snatch it up, and make mark richer. I still use facebook sometimes, but under a pseudonym. Now--- Google Social, primary, whatever---needs to be burned down!

johnpowell 13y ago

I'm with you. I actually installed wordpress/buddypress on a 5 dollar droplet on digitalocean. It works great as a kinda Facebook replacement that I only allow my family to use. We can share photos and send private messages and even chat. No ads, no facebook.

dredmorbius 13y ago

It's not that I'm anti-social (well, maybe); I am just one of those elder geeks who once dreamt of truly federated services under one's own control. What the world needs is a club for anti-social people, to (mis?)quote Ashleigh Brilliant. I very much share your perspective. I never bought into the Facebook madness, tried G+ very briefly under my real name, then decided that wasn't a good idea. I've since withdrawn virtually completely from it though I may use it to help promote my writing elsewhere. One thing I've found as I look to alternatives is that much of the infrastructure for a federated system already exists. Blogs, RSS/Atom, image hosting, and a very few other pieces, would pretty much make it come together. A slightly better integrated messaging infrastructure is the primary missing bit (though there's no reason why any of the existing tools, including Jabber, AIM, or IRC, couldn't cover much of the ground). And I'm not knocking Google for its technical execution. G+ was very well engineered (hrm: why am I referring to it in the past tense), phenomenally stable (I saw one push which broke the site in 2.5 years), and at least on the server end, performed well (the client side is another story, and I'm having to free browser memory far, far less often having left it). In terms of UI/UX and social factors ... I really found the site left a great deal to be desired.

midas007 13y ago

https://prism-break.org/en/subcategories/web-social-networks/ https://prism-break.org/en/subcategories/web-social-networks...

zafiro17 13y ago

I know it's old-fashioned, but Usenet is still out there and is still good for communicating and sharing, with no one out there building a profile of your stuff and trying to make money off of it. Change your name and email address - or just use a fake address - anytime you want. I shared that optimistic dream for the internet back in the early days, but I think we've figure out how to make money off it now and that's going to be its undoing. Usenet is free, doesn't provide any value anyone could easily monetize, and allows interaction with other users. That's about all I want from the Internet these days anyway.

ta_delallthings 13y ago

Here's for you my friend: http://www.accountkiller.com/en/ http://www.accountkiller.com/en/ alternatively, you could give http://www.howtoleavefacebook.com/ http://www.howtoleavefacebook.com/ a try