Vivian on 4/2/2016 at 14:33
Well, I don't really have that problem, so I don't know? I mean that's stuff is there, but it's a long way off outweighing the stuff worth paying attention to. YMMV I guess. But the sort of snooty ooh facebook, rubbish for the proles attitude round here doesn't really wash with my experience of it. It's how I keep tabs on most of my mates now, if they're out of my direct sight for whatever reason.
faetal on 4/2/2016 at 14:45
It's no snootier than a "my mates are clearly cooler than your mates" implication.
Vivian on 4/2/2016 at 14:55
Well, I am not currently complaining about how banal they all are.
demagogue on 4/2/2016 at 14:57
/shrug/ I'm on my fourth country in as many years so... there are so many different circles with different chemistries. I'm fine with it. I'm not about to cut myself off in a huff. It's just the nature of the beast.
Japan, a lot of East/SEast Asia ftm, is actually more connected through Line for actual social connection with the people physically around you, late night chats and coordinating things, etc, the way I think Viv is talking about keeping up with your mates, which makes FB even more about all the other circles out there you're not hanging out with but you want to keep tabs on. Then you get the baby/bathwater issue.
That said, I did just FB message GBM my hot lyrics to one of his dope tracks. :cool: So FB has that kind of thing going for it.
faetal on 4/2/2016 at 15:00
Quote Posted by Vivian
Well, I am not currently complaining about how banal they all are.
Neither am I. I'm lamenting the signal to noise ratio of facebook as a medium.
Dema - it is the nature of the beast, which is why I still use it. Doesn't mean I am not
allowed to mention things I dislike about it.
fett on 4/2/2016 at 21:10
Quote Posted by Vivian
Also, I'm going to persist with this. Your experience on FB is pretty much entirely due to your friends. If you think it's full of annoying bullshit, is that (as people seem to be trying to imply) down to something inherent in the platform, or is it that you've made friends with a bunch of annoying people who just post bullshit about their child?
But that's not my situation at all - though I admit mine connection with TTLG is probably a bit unique. It's no secret to anyone here that I used to be strongly evangelical - progressive, but conservative in my religious beliefs, and a pastor and theology teacher to top it off. Then I left it all behind - mostly because I was challenged so much by many of you and past members in these pages, which led to a lot of soul searching. I owe TTLG a LOT in that regard. Even though I left that life behind, I didn't leave the people behind. I even relocated geographically because of that whole thing, but there are people still in that group that I grew up with and still have strong affection for, despite their assholery when it comes to politics and religion. Add to that, my family are all conservatives and I now live thousands of miles away from them. FB is the logical way to keep up with these people, and especially to keep my family updated on my health situation. So in a sense, I didn't really "choose" my FB friends - I confirmed them out of a practical need stay connected with them. But that doesn't mean I want to discuss Trump, or God, or sex, or raising children, or even music with them. It's easy to say "just unfriend them" but then that link is lost for me, and the obvious question becomes - "should I unfriend my own mother?" I could do that, but is it really worth the drama and conflict over a FB account? Regardless, even when I post original thoughts or try to start a discussion, it gets lost in the mix. Replies are one to two sentences, even from well-meaning posters, but there is hardly ever a real discussion and when there is, it's usually an argument. It's just not the same - and I say that as someone who, as a direct result of my conversations here, changed my entire life and career, moved away, re-invented myself and started a new life. Tell me when anyone, ever, has done that over a FB conversation. My experience here is probably way more intense than most people's but the fact is, online forums/communities like this have the potential to affect and challenge us much more than Twitter and FB. Particularly when you've developed relationships with the members beyond funny memes and sharing Onion articles. Hell, TTLG has collectively contributed nearly $10,000 toward my medical bills in the last two years. There's no way shit like that happens out of FB hookups when someone liked your post and decided to friend or follow you. That happens because of daily interaction and sharing life together which forums like this allow for to whatever degree the user chooses.
Chade on 4/2/2016 at 22:25
So everyone wants to be able to keep in touch with distant friends from all sorts of circles without pulling in all the "crap"? What would that look like in practice?
faetal on 4/2/2016 at 22:28
It's probably not possible. Facebook is designed around the concept of throwing a million things around and using algorithms to decide who sees what. I personally wish there was a way to get granular with the algorithm, but I appreciate Facebook don't generally cater to people who'd appreciate that level of control and thus aren't likely to throw resources into making it possible.
heywood on 4/2/2016 at 22:50
Quote Posted by Chade
So everyone wants to be able to keep in touch with distant friends from all sorts of circles without pulling in all the "crap"? What would that look like in practice?
It would look like Facebook did when it was new.
IMHO, Facebook was pretty great at first. Lots of signal, little noise. No real need for an algorithm to filter.
Of course it couldn't last like that, but it was cool for a while.
Pyrian on 4/2/2016 at 23:17
Quote Posted by Chade
What would that look like in practice?
Early Facebook like heywood said, or even LiveJournal, which I'd still use if anybody else did. Making a good-for-users social platform is easier than making a good-for-advertisers social platform. I've got AJAX manuals that use it as a beginner's exercise.
But, Vivian's right about the fundamental nature: a social platform is only as good as your active network ON that platform. If only we had a really good aggregator...
