3 ms·

The only thing Facebook was ever good for was finding those old friends. Now that you found them, now what? Do you need Facebook? The easy way out is to mess

by snarfy 11y ago

The only thing Facebook was ever good for was finding those old friends. Now that you found them, now what? Do you need Facebook? The easy way out is to message all of them saying you are quitting Facebook and ask them for their email address. That's all you ever needed, but there was no index/search engine for it until Facebook. And once you have that part of the index you care about, you'll never need it again.

logan5 11y ago
That is assuming you have found all your old friends that you wanted to find. Else, you can't leave.
perfTerm 11y ago
Hmmm... And I did this (had fb for a few years, deleted for a few, had for a semester abroad, deleted as soon as I had my first steady girlfriend, broke up and now about three and a half years later I'm back on). The problem I found was, as soon as I deleted my fb no one had my e-mail as it was deleted with it my account and messages. I'm not the biggest fan of facebook obviously, but when I wqs studying abroad in France it really was a handy way to connect with people when I didn't have a cellphone. Now, after deleting for such a long period, I don't have any connection to my old friends which is a shame. There's the argument that if people wanted to talk to you they'd make it happen but then there's the argument that if you're on facebook people are more likely to talk to you because of the convenience. No one wants to lose touch, and facebook provides and easy way to make sure that (had I not deleted) when I wanted to go back to Europe I'd have easy access for communication lines to the individuals I might want to visit. Everything is double edged and while I've enjoyed my time off of facebook (why does everyone have to hate on the poorest in America? I will never understand. If the people on welfare were actual leechers maybe they'd own a portion of the country, anyways I digress). That being said, it's a total privacy invasion, and the people I apparently know don't critically think too often unfortunately even as I try to gently prod, and yet, it has allowed me to find events I might not have gone too, and friends I may not have seen. I hate to do this to hackernews where the discussion is the key reason I come here... but I did not read the article. Sorry!
macintux 11y ago
I stay away from Facebook, but it does have at least one significant advantage over email: pull vs push. If I (as a hypothetical FB user) hit a deer driving to work tomorrow, would I email all my old friends about it? Absolutely not. Would I post something to FB? Sure! I have email addresses for old friends, and they have mine, and I have no idea what's going on their lives.

by snarfy 11y ago

logan5 11y ago

That is assuming you have found all your old friends that you wanted to find. Else, you can't leave.

perfTerm 11y ago

Hmmm... And I did this (had fb for a few years, deleted for a few, had for a semester abroad, deleted as soon as I had my first steady girlfriend, broke up and now about three and a half years later I'm back on). The problem I found was, as soon as I deleted my fb no one had my e-mail as it was deleted with it my account and messages. I'm not the biggest fan of facebook obviously, but when I wqs studying abroad in France it really was a handy way to connect with people when I didn't have a cellphone. Now, after deleting for such a long period, I don't have any connection to my old friends which is a shame. There's the argument that if people wanted to talk to you they'd make it happen but then there's the argument that if you're on facebook people are more likely to talk to you because of the convenience. No one wants to lose touch, and facebook provides and easy way to make sure that (had I not deleted) when I wanted to go back to Europe I'd have easy access for communication lines to the individuals I might want to visit. Everything is double edged and while I've enjoyed my time off of facebook (why does everyone have to hate on the poorest in America? I will never understand. If the people on welfare were actual leechers maybe they'd own a portion of the country, anyways I digress). That being said, it's a total privacy invasion, and the people I apparently know don't critically think too often unfortunately even as I try to gently prod, and yet, it has allowed me to find events I might not have gone too, and friends I may not have seen. I hate to do this to hackernews where the discussion is the key reason I come here... but I did not read the article. Sorry!

macintux 11y ago

I stay away from Facebook, but it does have at least one significant advantage over email: pull vs push. If I (as a hypothetical FB user) hit a deer driving to work tomorrow, would I email all my old friends about it? Absolutely not. Would I post something to FB? Sure! I have email addresses for old friends, and they have mine, and I have no idea what's going on their lives.