Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Facebook Status "I got Nothing"

I find that there are a lot of people on Facebook that feel that they have to come up with something to say in their status every day.  If they happen to be home sick from the urge seems to jump to hourly.

Frequently I will see a status update  that says, "I got nothing" or something relatively equivalent.  If a person has nothing to say I think I would figure it that out if they don't post a status.

I generally add people as my Facebook "friends" because I want a quick way to keep up with what has been happening in their life since I last saw them or spoke to them.  Filling up my Facebook page with drivel doesn't help me.  It just wastes my time sorting through nothing to get to something.  The flip of this is that when they do post something meaningful I have to wade through other people's nothing to get to their something.

Some would say just stop using Facebook or remove those people that do this from my friend list.  The problem is not that I don't want those people in my life and that I don't care about them.  The problem is that it is like having a kid sit next to your and say "Dad.  Dad.  Dad.  Dad.  Dad.  Dad.  Dad." while you are trying to do something else.  You can't finish what you are doing because of the extra chatter.

A similar problem is with sympathy bait posts.  Post like, "Oh no" or "Not again" or "I'm so sad".  These posts tell us nothing and just bait people to pity the poster.  If you have something to say, say it.  Don't bait me send you flowers when I have no clue what the problem is.

Also, don't post things like, "It is so sad when people..." and then jump down my throat when I don't realize that you were talking about something in your life and not just fretting about some condition of society unrelated to you personally.  Again, if you have something to say, spit it out.  Don't make me guess.  Don't make me think that something horrible has happened when it has not.  Don't make me read "nothing".

Monday, January 25, 2010

When Did Slander Become Acceptible

Over the last few months I have seen the number of cut and paste Facebook statuses of "send this to all your friends" spam spike.  Lately I have seen several of these come around, "DO NOT ACCEPT THESE 4 AS FRIENDS, _______, _______, ______ AND _______ THEY ARE HACKERS, TELL EVERYONE ON YOUR LIST BECAUSE IF SOMEBODY ADDSTHEM, YOUR ACCOUNT WILL BE HACKED TOO. COPY THIS TEXT TO YOURPROFILE... DO NOT BE LAZY, PLEASE POST TO YOUR WALL"


Several things make no sense about this:



  1. Why would you give strangers access to your personal information?  That is one reason people started using Facebook was become it was private and only people you choose can see your stuff.
  2. If someone tells me that one of my neighbors is a pediphile with no substantiating evidence other than someone told me and told said to tell everyone I know,is it now okay for me to spread it around?
  3. By labeling the person as a hacker can they really get into your computer by adding them as a friend on Facebook?