Reasons why Facebook is evil

[Second Summer]

1. They use your name and avatar to sell products. ("Look, your friend Joe Bob Dinkelwink is a fan of this product! Along with Jesus Kristensen, Random Arbitrary and 50371 others!")
2. They bombard you with advertisements. ("Join Smoked Meats Forum today and get an awesome surprise!")
3. They connect you with people you'd rather not be connected with. ("You have received a friend request from your uncle's estranged ex! And from Joe Bob Dinkelwink's sister-in-law who works for Burgers for Africa foundation! Wait ... it's not a real friend request, it's just that we recommended you become friends with her, but we'll make it look like a friend request anyway!")
4. You're the product that they sell to third-parties.
5. The software is slow, ugly and not up to the standards of more recent comparable software.

The list goes on ...!

 

[Amy SF]

When I'm about to post a comment on another site, right before or after the comment is posted I get a pop up message telling me I can post the comment on Facebook. If I wanted to post a comment to Facebook I'd actually BE on Facebook.

I have a FB account but hardly ever use it. I get emails all the time saying I have notifications pending, but I ignore them. I don't want to know that my cousin Myra has commented on her own picture. Who cares?

 

[beancounter]

Yea, hardly ever sign on to FB myself. I've heard that young kids are moving away from FB and going to Twitter.
Soon, it will just be a bunch of 30 and 40 somethings posting what they had for dinner.

btw, you realize that the VV sign on screen, allows people to sign on with Facebook?

Why are you helping to promote a site you think is evil?

 

[Poppy]

I love FaceBook! I love that it's easy to re-connect with old friends, promote local animal rights protests, show-off my fosters, and stay up-to-date on various rescue organizations without having to get all their endless emails. I love seeing family pictures, sending happy birthday messages, and seeing what my friends find funny on the internet. I'm a big FaceBook fan.

I have a picture of me and five friends from our 10 year high school reunion. After the 10th, several of us dropped off the face of the earth due to moves and babies, and we lost touch. And yet now, after over 30 years, we're all back in touch thanks to FB. It's wonderful.

 

[Scorpius]

But, but . . . Farmville!!!!!

 

[Second Summer]

btw, you realize that the VV sign on screen, allows people to sign on with Facebook?

Why are you helping to promote a site you think is evil?

I hope it's not promoting FB exactly ... That feature is there to help people who already have an FB account and for whatever reason wants to use their FB credentials to authenticate here so they won't have to remember yet another set of credentials.

I did remove the FB recommend / like buttons from VV, though mostly because it was slowing down the site. At the moment we only support Twitter and G+. (You can of course still post VV links on FB.)

 

[yally]

They also continue to censor pictures of mastectomies and oysters while ignoring groups dedicated to rape jokes and their ilk. Gross.

I do still love a lot about Facebook but that seriously need to stop hating on women.

 

[RabbitLuvr]

I've opted out of the thing where they use my profile to sell stuff, and Adblock means I don't see them advertising to me. When I get friend requests from people I don't want to be "friends" with, I usually report them as people I don't know. I think this results in some kind of short-term hold on their account or something.

The users aren't any more the product they sell than on any other free social media site - Twitter, G+, Tumblr, Pinterest, etc... I don't think Facebook is any better or worse. They're just a business out to maximize profit, just like any other business.

Even so, I wouldn't call them "evil."


Edit: Facebook Ads Blocker is what I use to block the ads.

 

[Mel]

I have a love/hate relationship with FB. I love it for the reasons that Poppy listed, and I hate it for the reasons that IS stated. I'm seriously conflicted...

Google is no better though.

 

[Freesia]

I have very little interest in it. I only use it because my online therapy group uses FB.

 

[Calliegirl]

It's okay. I like it a lot less now that there are more ads/sponsored pages then posts. It really irritates me when they suggest or put a sponsored page on my timeline for something like jimmy dean sausages. When they do that I post a link to a similar vegan product and mention how much better its tastes then a rotting carcass.
It reminds of the fashion magazines, 200 pages of ads and 5 pages of actual content.

 

[Amy SF]

btw, Facebook isn't the only site on the web where you have to navigate around ads and "sponsored links" inserted between paragraphs just so you can read an article or blog. Just saying.

 

[KLS52]

I'm a fan.

 

[Spang]

I use Facebook, mostly, to keep in touch with friends and family. There are plenty of annoyances, but many of them can be hidden, blocked or ignored.

 

[Second Summer]

That's how I use it too, but I wish I could get them to move to G+ or something instead. Oh well. I don't see a good way to get around many of fundamental annoyances with FB.

 

[Clueless Git]

Bless you all ..

You watched the film "The Social Network" and now you believe that FB is real???

Rumours abound that FB is real, mind, but I never bothered to check ...

 

[Amy SF]

This seriously creeps me out. http://www.care2.com/greenliving/the-potential-danger-of-facebook-tagging.html#comment-5360381

 

[thefadedone]

This seriously creeps me out. http://www.care2.com/greenliving/the-potential-danger-of-facebook-tagging.html#comment-5360381

Not surprising.

There's a local FB group page here that mocks and shames homeless people. People snap photos of the homeless around the city, post them to the page and then the comments begin laughing at them, saying things like "Eewww" and just overall making fun of them. It's highly disgusting and offensive. I've reported the page but apparently it's not against FB rules.

I also have stumbled upon ex classmates pages. One girl has a habit of taking pics of random people while she's out shopping or out in public in general and then posting them on her page and making fun of their weight, looks, clothes, etc. Sadly she wasn't the only one who does something like this.

 

[Ann Chovie]

Facebook is evil because..it leads otherwise sane aquaintances of mine to post:

Pictures of their surgery scars, cleveage, sleeping hubbies and a never ending stream of their own babies, friends babies and cartoon babies.

Links to fishing sites, beauty tip sites, teen fan club sites, and 'God save the Queen ' sites

Invites to vitual farmyards, candy stores, and dream councellors

ON MY WALL!!!!!

I tried to ignore them, erase, block or bleach them out but as soon as I do another lot pops up so I just decided to knock the wall down.

 

[Moll Flanders]

Facebook apparently makes people unhappy.

Facebook: Social Network Linked To Unhappiness