On my departing from Facebook...

[xsg]

Several weeks ago, I abruptly departed from Facebook.  I didn't have a single reason for leaving, rather I had a whole bunch of half-reasons.  I'll get into them shortly.

First, I want to mention that it has been painful to do without the daily interaction with all of my friends.  I truly love you.  You make my life better and I hope that I had a

Comments

[nebslie]

I have always felt very iffy about Facebook... well, actually I think Facebook is terrible, but it's hard to do without. It's the only way I've been able to keep in touch with some people.

I was unhappy when the changed all my settings so I couldn't prioritize messages as well, but I hadn't heard of any of those privacy violations except the making photos public. I think you're right -- Facebook is completely untrustworthy. That is not good.

[themassivebri]

it is terrible, but okay for finding out if there is a decent party to attend somewhere. however, i suspect the same info could be had with only slightly more work elsewhere...

[xsg]

Speaking of which... looking forward to this weekend. :)

[aleeka]

It is horrible. One of my classmates from Italy had her finace denied entry to the US based on his FB and messages he wrote saying he was coming to the US to get married. Apparently he was turned away AT the border based upon these messages. They didn't feel he was coming here for "sincere reasons".

[xsg]

Wow. That sure seems pretty arbitrary and capricious! It makes me wonder... how to the customs and immigration officer discover the FB account? And were the FB statuses regarding the marriage public?

[aleeka]

When you're coming into the US as a non-US national your name is searched. Apparently they have a backdoor into places like FB, Myspace, etc they can read messages, they let him know as much. They determined that he was coming here to get married for the purpose of a green card only (my classmate has citizenship), so they turned him away AT the border. They could have at least turned him away before he got on a plane, sheesh. Word to the wise, use a fake name and fake email address on FB if you're foreign! At least make it harder for immigration to search your name.

[xsg]

Hrmmm. That sounds awfully fishy, though. Are you sure your friend didn't just make up a tale to cover for some other reason?

[veleda]

i dislike facebook and yet use it because LJ is a ghost town these days.

i think of you and yours often.

[xsg]

And where it isn't a ghost town, it's being invaded by Russian spam. LJ's days are numbered, I think. I'll send you an invitation to try out my own Social Network Connector when it's created.

[anonymous]

Really informative blog post here my friend. I just wanted to comment & say keep up the quality work. I’ve bookmarked your blog just now and I’ll be back to read more in the future my friend! Also well-chosen colors on the theme it goes well with the blog in my modest opinion :)