Facebook Login Google Stuff
Just in case you have been sorely missing out on all the fun - Facebook's recent design, combined with a quirk in the Facebook login system and mysterious patterns in Google search results did lead to a funny situation, where a gazillion of users who do not appear to own a brain wailed on arbitrary websites that top-ranked the Google search "Facebook Login" about how they could log in (to Facebook). While not being on Facebook.
And while the thought of people trying to log in to random websites trying to get into another totally boggled my mind this morning, I also noticed a certain consensus among self-elected internet specialists about how these guys were "doing it wrong". Apart from the group who blamed Google, but that is not the point here and I don't really care about this aspect. So, what exactly did these people do wrong? Apart from having suffered some serious brain damage at some point in their lives, but if I were to complain about everyone without a functioning brain, I'd never be able to stop.
So, apart from this, what was it? Searching for the terms "Facebook Login"? Searching for a website they could have easily typed in to the address bar, or opened it from their bookmarked links?
By the by, I have never understood the concept of bookmarks. Even with books. Although I do enjoy beautiful bookmarks, and I frequently get them as gifts, I don't use them. On the opposite - usually I lose them, break them, I find them too big, too small, too thick, too thin, or I don't know what to do when I'm actually reading... there's always something wrong.
This frequently leads to frustrating moments and every now and then I have to re-read passages, or I miss a chapter. But if the book is good and the memory of what I read manages to stick, i.e., I didn't actually waste my time with the book, I will easily find the lost page later, even if I have to retrace my steps for a while, scanning passages for familiar ideas, reconstructing what happened while finding my personal thread hiding somewhere in the lines.
It's the very same thing with browsers - for me at least. Every now and then I bookmark things, thinking I probably should, because that's what people do. On very rare occasions, I'll jump into my bookmarked pages and put them in a new random order, only to never look at them again. Generally, I seem to bookmark things that I know I should read or know about, but will eventually never ever click. And then if I did click one of these links years later, they'd yield a 404, because only awesome people don't break links.
The things and places I want to find on the internet I google for. I was very happy when the search bar was added to Firefox some years ago. And when I downloaded Chrome a while ago and realized the search bar had vanished, but instead I can just type anything into my address bar and yay, the browser will immediately know whether I want to search for the term on google, or go to the website with the same name, I was in heaven.
Everything I do on the internet first goes through a search engine. It's very easy, fast, and whatever I'm looking for I'll find within seconds, if not on the first search, then on the second or third, by finetuning the input data. I'm one of the people who, back in the days when I was not using chrome, even searched for "Google" in the *cough* Google search bar.
This is my transparent me, the online identity that privacy advocates are warning about so fervently, all of the information I'm putting on the internet about the things I'm not even aware about. And maybe if they had my DNA (Google would just have to infiltrate my keyboard, they can totally do it I'm sure, and read out the samples I'm leaving there) and know how to clone people properly, maybe they could even recreate me, ideally without the health problems please; maybe I could just not google these and I'd be set.
In other words, and this is something I recently discussed over a very entertaining lunch with a co-worker - people tend to take themselves too important. I'm having a hard time imagining how people would want to use your google searches over blisters on your feet, itchy skin and how to date more effectively against you.
Returning to the original thought: Searching for something really isn't the wrong way to go about it. In fact, it is quite a clever thing to do, provided you possess enough intellect to validate your results.
So I guess the only thing these poor souls wandering around on the internet like lost kittens, looking for their Facebook beacon, did wrong, was not remotely realizing they were on the wrong website at all. And that is quite a dumb thing, particularly when the website looks very different. It's like going into a butcher shop when you wanted to buy new socks, and not realize your mistake, even if they sell you some lovely lamb chops instead.
In other words, I think I'm going to go set up a spam server now.
And while the thought of people trying to log in to random websites trying to get into another totally boggled my mind this morning, I also noticed a certain consensus among self-elected internet specialists about how these guys were "doing it wrong". Apart from the group who blamed Google, but that is not the point here and I don't really care about this aspect. So, what exactly did these people do wrong? Apart from having suffered some serious brain damage at some point in their lives, but if I were to complain about everyone without a functioning brain, I'd never be able to stop.
So, apart from this, what was it? Searching for the terms "Facebook Login"? Searching for a website they could have easily typed in to the address bar, or opened it from their bookmarked links?
By the by, I have never understood the concept of bookmarks. Even with books. Although I do enjoy beautiful bookmarks, and I frequently get them as gifts, I don't use them. On the opposite - usually I lose them, break them, I find them too big, too small, too thick, too thin, or I don't know what to do when I'm actually reading... there's always something wrong.
This frequently leads to frustrating moments and every now and then I have to re-read passages, or I miss a chapter. But if the book is good and the memory of what I read manages to stick, i.e., I didn't actually waste my time with the book, I will easily find the lost page later, even if I have to retrace my steps for a while, scanning passages for familiar ideas, reconstructing what happened while finding my personal thread hiding somewhere in the lines.
It's the very same thing with browsers - for me at least. Every now and then I bookmark things, thinking I probably should, because that's what people do. On very rare occasions, I'll jump into my bookmarked pages and put them in a new random order, only to never look at them again. Generally, I seem to bookmark things that I know I should read or know about, but will eventually never ever click. And then if I did click one of these links years later, they'd yield a 404, because only awesome people don't break links.
The things and places I want to find on the internet I google for. I was very happy when the search bar was added to Firefox some years ago. And when I downloaded Chrome a while ago and realized the search bar had vanished, but instead I can just type anything into my address bar and yay, the browser will immediately know whether I want to search for the term on google, or go to the website with the same name, I was in heaven.
Everything I do on the internet first goes through a search engine. It's very easy, fast, and whatever I'm looking for I'll find within seconds, if not on the first search, then on the second or third, by finetuning the input data. I'm one of the people who, back in the days when I was not using chrome, even searched for "Google" in the *cough* Google search bar.
This is my transparent me, the online identity that privacy advocates are warning about so fervently, all of the information I'm putting on the internet about the things I'm not even aware about. And maybe if they had my DNA (Google would just have to infiltrate my keyboard, they can totally do it I'm sure, and read out the samples I'm leaving there) and know how to clone people properly, maybe they could even recreate me, ideally without the health problems please; maybe I could just not google these and I'd be set.
In other words, and this is something I recently discussed over a very entertaining lunch with a co-worker - people tend to take themselves too important. I'm having a hard time imagining how people would want to use your google searches over blisters on your feet, itchy skin and how to date more effectively against you.
Returning to the original thought: Searching for something really isn't the wrong way to go about it. In fact, it is quite a clever thing to do, provided you possess enough intellect to validate your results.
So I guess the only thing these poor souls wandering around on the internet like lost kittens, looking for their Facebook beacon, did wrong, was not remotely realizing they were on the wrong website at all. And that is quite a dumb thing, particularly when the website looks very different. It's like going into a butcher shop when you wanted to buy new socks, and not realize your mistake, even if they sell you some lovely lamb chops instead.
In other words, I think I'm going to go set up a spam server now.