Monday, February 8, 2010

Mercy Killing: Self-Assisted Facebookicide Watch


Is it just me, or does it seem a bit suspicious that a site devoted to getting Second Life avatars ejected from Facebook launched about the same time Linden Lab acquired a competing Social Network?  No! Of course not. I just love to kid the Lindens when the opportunity arises.

But seriously, I was added to the Fake Facebook Profiles hit list the other day. And although some people have expressed anger about the lone gunman's efforts to shoot down as many of us as he can fit into his busy schedule, I'm ambivalent. Maybe even grateful.

Truth is, I actually hate Facebook. I joined a couple years ago on a whim. Next thing I knew, I had over 900 friends and an endless stream of attention-sucking requests to attend events, play games and accept virtual tokens of affection, few of which I was interested in. Of course, anyone who really is my friend (in the "know me" sense of the term), reads my blog or pays any attention to my status updates would never ask me to join their Mob or accept a digital plant.

Since my policy has been to accept every friendship request that comes my way, I have no one to blame for this sorry situation but myself.

I friended people who only post in languages I don't understand.
I friended people who look like serial killers in their profile pics.
I friended people whose lives seem to revolve around Farmville.
I friended people with obviously commercially oriented spam accounts.
I clicked yes, yes, yes, yes, yes with absolutely no discrimination.

Once I figured out the error on my open-door approach, I could have unfriended the 800+ people I don't know. But at this point, it hardly seems worth it since I'm already connected to most of those I actually have relationship with through Twitter, Plurk or Avatars United. And as I noted at the top, my days are now numbered anyway.

I guess the main reason I haven't committed Facebookicide is that despite the fact that I almost never find anything of interest, there's a little part of me who is afraid that if I bail, I'll miss something. Yeah, right. Or someone will miss one of my "new post" announcements. Since I auto-post Tweets to my Facebook status, once in Blue Moon it turns into an interesting chain of conversation in the comment space. But they are far and few between and really not worth the insanely low signal-to-noise ratio. So...

Maybe I should just pull the plug on myself before I get virtually murdered...

Maybe I should stop accepting every friendship request I receive on Avatars United...

Maybe I should stop while I'm behind and end this post here.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Congratualtions, you made it onto the hit list! Where and when is the goodbye party?

Just a thought, how about we all just leave Facebook for good, avatar and real life identity? I have a feeling we're not welcome. Is that a sigm Facebook has grown a little too mch maybe? I have to say I love communities that kick out their users.

Oh, and can you please get me onto the list too?

Lalo Telling said...

Maybe I should just pull the plug on myself before I get virtually murdered...

By now, everyone who care knows why FB's ToS disallows "fake" users: data mined from them doesn't lead to successful marketing, and therefore can't be sold. I don't understand that fanatical, self-appointed vigilante (FB employee in disguise, maybe?), but I love the irony that he/she is doing it under a "fake" name.

Maybe I should stop accepting every friendship request I receive on Avatars United...

Yes, you should. I've been taking the time to screen them, after posting my policy there (and in my blog). I consider the time worth spending... but then, I regularly cull my SL friend list, and my Inventory has fewer than 3800 items after 2 years in-world. I.e., a change of habit now will be rewarding in the long run.

Indigo Mertel said...

I agree with you 100% on FB. I can't stand all the crap I get through it.

I was added to that list myself about a week before LL bought AU. I was surprised at first but then disregarded the whole thing with a shrug. I was more amused about the fact that someone who take the trouble to list me there (the lil' poor me???).

Incidentally, it didn't do much. Alas, I am still on FB. :)

sororNishi said...

hmm...I'm in the same boat except I haven't been sussed yet.
I do accept every 'unite' (what a crap use of language) offer.
I also don't pull the plug...in case...etc etc...

How social is social media anyway...if I see another fluffy lamb I may throw up....no chance of sending vomit to these "friends" unfortunately.

so...this is community....

Tia Fisher said...

A quick question - if you unfriend someone, do they get notified? Or would they only find out if they trawled through their list of friends and found you no longer there? I'm thinking in-laws and diplomacy here ....

Eric Rice said...

I'd like to know what the hacktivist's view is on people who have a real identity in SL, in addition to a regular ol' account? I can be verified as a human -and- and avatar with my real name.

Then again, FB has banned real accounts on accident. Who knows how much that policy is weighted vs. rearranging the layout every week.

Camilla said...

I'm with you. I hate Facebook. And what is it with AU that everyone wants to be my friend? Is it some kind of competition to collect the most friends? I just said yes to everyone, but now I feel uncomfortable with that decision, and I think I will cull the list down to people I actually know, which is about 5 people!

Good post. Thanks!

Southieface said...

Facebook and I have a love/hate relationship. It pisses me off to no end when people try to show applications up my nose. This post made mt giggle, nice one!

<3 Southie

Southieface said...

p.s. ignore spelling errors, lack of sleep.

iliveisl said...

oops, bummer. that lucifer butthead sure has time on his hands

but i don't think he has listed me on his site, even though fb said i was fake (maybe that's why? i am already poofed) and that i even had my comments published on his blog

what a tool eh? meanwhile, cyber bullying via facebook results in the suicide of kids and he is more concerned about avatars

i still hold firm that he fell in love isl, later discovered it wasn't real and is all hostile

or maybe he is just an assh0le