I was a FB user from about 2007 to December 2020 when after I got fed up with all the bullshit and constant temp bans for crimethink so I deactivated it, did not delete it but put it on ice.

This past May/June or so I decided to go back on after 4.5 years just to keep up with family stuff and friends and found that most of them were already gone. The only people who would respond seemed to be the same 3 or 4 people hanging on but that was it.

The site is absolutely overrun with AI slop now and all sorts of weird random crap and is basically unusable now. It seems to have morphed from a platform for friends and family to communicate into a giant nasty version of Nextdoor.

I just shut it all back down again. Debating whether to just nuke it totally at this point.

quote:

Debating whether to just nuke it totally at this point.

You already know the answer.

Same here, family and few friends, I see no posting from friends much, It's loaded with BS AI videos, stupid ads for stuff you don't like

God forbid you take too much time looking at a post that pops in the feed because from that point on FB's algorithms thing if you glance at something you want 4,698 more posts of it in seconds...

FB banned me years ago, actually kicked me out. Seems they didn’t care for my political or 2A beliefs. I created a ghost account to keep up with vendors, etc but have no friends or family. Half the time I still can’t tolerate it.

The only thing I use with FB is the Marketplace for buying and selling. And when using that plan on weeding through some idiots but overall I've had very good results.

Facebook is a wasteland. If it weren't for a few pages (sportsmen's club, township, local sporting groups) I wouldn't have an account.

You should check back in on SixDegrees and MySpace too!

quote:

Originally posted by dry-fly:


I created a ghost account to keep up with vendors, etc but have no friends or family.

That's my plan for marketplace/yard sale sites and some general local area pages.

I left FB a few years ago. Never once thought about going back. I think Twitter is next.

Nuke it from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.

Even though you guys told me leftys are crazy and unable to be reasoned with, I still must verify occasionally on FB. Sorry I questioned your wisdom.

AI slop is certainly prevalent out there, especially among the older crowd who aren't as savvy at recognizing it. My mother was one of the worst before she passed... About 3/4 of what she'd put on Facebook was reposted chain letter type posts and AI crap, and you couldn't convince her that it wasn't real. (She turned into the embodiment of that old commercial where the lady says something like: "They can't put anything on the internet that isn't real, right?")

But I still use Facebook for limited purposes: To stay in touch with a few distant friends and relatives, to find coupon codes for several manufacturers whose stuff I buy regularly, and to lurk in a couple small town groups for the towns in which I live and where I work as a police officer, in order to stay on top of small town current events. (Believe it or not, it has been helpful in several cases.)

You don't have to be Facebook friends with everyone that you know or that requests it. You don't have to be a member of every page related to things that interest you. You don't have to participate in political discussions or engage with political content. And you don't have to be afraid of using the provided tools to mute or totally block stuff that doesn't interest you.

Just be selective about what you engage with, who you add as a friend, and what groups you join, and it's still mostly usable, though clearly circling the drain and a shadow of what it used to be.

quote:

Originally posted by Georgeair:
You should check back in on SixDegrees and MySpace too!

Sorry, I'm too busy w/ Friendster and Classmates.com.

I look at a few Asian girls on there, some vintage cars, some firearms related and industrial machine tools and, I enjoy the reloading posts by life long and newby reloaders. Fun to see the issues new people have learning to reload.

my company fakebook page has been limited a lot,
got to the point that we cannot control the page,
I can post, but nothing else since my brother created the page and was the sole owner or whatever they call it,
and he was banned,

he started another page for our store front after he created another page for himself, but we post very little to it, since they both get shadow banned or limited in some way often

my person page (only 3 yrs old or so) has been limited, but now is free of fakebook restrictions,

and I have learned if I post on Instagram, and feed that to my fake book page, it rarely gets edited or monitored,

the Store page is updated regularly, but limited in what we post, and I need to create new page for my side of the business, but I cannot kill the old one,

I use marketplace, generally scan daily and have bought and sold several cars. I've been playing with cars since mid 70s buying and selling for walking money and fun. I'm a trader,it's in my blood I guess. Marketplace rules, craigslist is basically defunct and newspaper classifieds died about 20 years ago.

Also useful to scope out menus as most restaurants have a website on FB. Effective way to market if you are diligent.

I've browsed fb and as most have said just garbage ai slop and click bait, also full of scam ads that mimic real thing selling name brand goods at almost too good to be true-scams, all scams. Keep your guard up.

I hate FB Marketplace, but it has become the #1 platform for local general online classifieds. I maintain a FB alter ego account to access Marketplace.

I had success using Craigslist for many years, but it sadly has become a shadow of its former self.

All of social media is complete crap. I do not have a single personal social media page beyond LinkedIn, which I do not post ANY personal opinions.

That said, I have fake accounts for every social media under crazy names for investigations. I even want to shut those down as I get sick of what I see, but I need those accounts.

Social media really is bad and sad.

even if you think you nuke it it's still there.