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Post by nddave on Jun 29, 2019 14:19:33 GMT
Hi everybody,
So it's come to a time where I've been cornered so to speak to join something that I've been avoiding for quite some time now....
Facebook
I've avoided joining Facebook for years. Why? Well I always thought it was silly and didn't really want to. If I wanted to chat about stuff online I did it on the few forums I joined like here or IGN. Well now I've kinda went public anyway with the YouTube channel and doing the cutting videos so all my friends and family have been telling me I might as well join Facebook as they've always given me a hard time for not joining anyway.
So I'm creating this poll to see what you guys think. Should I just keep my stance and stay away or should I join the hive and create a Facebook?
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Post by AndiTheBarvarian on Jun 29, 2019 14:40:32 GMT
I try to avoid data kraken like Facebook. I have friends who needed it for some reasonable reasons but I do not and I'm still happy without. Social media dinosaur, I know.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Jun 29, 2019 15:46:11 GMT
For me, Facebook is more suited to family and close friend connections.
Regardless of private, or public groups, one has to then choose and manage notifications. As well, catering to individual administrations and in many cases being forced to read an awful lot of nonsense, along with incessant memes and gifs. Even the most serious of the sword groups simply add more tedium to attend to. Some love those pet self groups and there is no reason not to join Facebook just for that reason of self expression.
There are several boards set up more or less with this type of discussion board venue that I frequent and maintain a presence. With Facebook groups, I have joined and deleted participation from several within no more than a few days. That doesn't make Facebook useless in that sense but I had come and gone from Facebook entirely as superfluous to me. It was only at the behest of immediate family that sucked me back in and while I know many more as closely knit on boards, not a great many are on my own friends list. Some of the old high school friends and a few multi forumites/smiths but by and large, my short list is mostly comprised of family members (maybe more than 50% of that list). I checked into a local public group and check only to see what the sirens were about, how many bear and turkey crossings, stuff like that. Treading tiptoe through the memes and gifs.
Usenet is largely unused these days but is still the last bastion of freedom. While one group from twenty years ago is all but dead, even lacking spam, it is a bit like ham radio. If you know the frequency, staying in touch is a click away. Of course we have email and telephones as well. I used usenet as an archive. Those posts and thoughts last much longer in the ether than other groups and venues have lasted.
Many have pretty much gone to twitter, instagram and Facebook; several will only be found there as groups in general can be a drag. Surprisingly, some blogs survive on independent pages. I lost a big one when Opera dumped support of those pages and I just didn't bother to rebuild.
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Post by legacyofthesword on Jun 29, 2019 18:35:33 GMT
I pretty much use Facebook just for Messenger. So... Um, I guess you could take that as a yes or no...?
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Post by Adrian Jordan on Jun 30, 2019 0:03:56 GMT
If you are interested in keeping up with otherwise hard to keep track of friends and family or patron specific groups then I'd say yes. I'd suggest turning off all notifications to anything you don't want up to date updates on, otherwise it'll turn into a morass of pure garbage. I see longtime friends and family turn on each other over political crap all the time. Constant contact does it, and it's sad and pathetic to me. It's not just Facebook, either. It's all social media. If you can look past things like that then it's good. Otherwise I'd say no.
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Post by csills2313 on Jun 30, 2019 0:15:58 GMT
No don’t use Facebook. I got rid of mine and never regretted it.
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Post by nddave on Jun 30, 2019 0:43:40 GMT
Wow, didn't expect it to be so one sided! Maybe I've been right all along to stay away from Facebook. I don't know it's always just rubbed me wrong and yea aside from a few catch up things with old friends or long distance family I don't see the real significance of it.
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Post by SandStormZA on Jun 30, 2019 1:13:41 GMT
I've been happier since I stopped using Facebook on a daily basis. However, as you said you're becoming more of a public figure, I do recommend it as a networking and marketing platform. It has a use, and can certainly help bring new viewers to your channel.
Just, don't read 90% of the comments...
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Post by nddave on Jun 30, 2019 5:25:54 GMT
I've been happier since I stopped using Facebook on a daily basis. However, as you said you're becoming more of a public figure, I do recommend it as a networking and marketing platform. It has a use, and can certainly help bring new viewers to your channel. Just, don't read 90% of the comments... Oh I have pretty thick skin when it comes to that stuff, lol. Hell I razz myself probably the worst when it comes to my cutting videos. My personal jab at my cutting videos is I've dubbed them my "uncle rekos" if you catch the movie reference, lol.
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Post by SandStormZA on Jun 30, 2019 11:35:31 GMT
Movie reference gotten without Googling it. Good reference sir!
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pgandy
Moderator
Senior Forumite
Posts: 10,296
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Post by pgandy on Jun 30, 2019 14:17:05 GMT
I use Facebook but only to monitor what the family is doing as nobody keeps me that well informed. I restrict any post to friends and family, 21 in all, and of late political messages. So far as chatting, being social, etc. I forget it as I would probably wind up with more $emprini holes swamping me with all kinds of nonsense, including ads. It all depends on what you want to accomplish. They offer a apps called Messenger that I use occasionally , mostly to answer to a someone’s communication. I don’t know why they don’t just email me.
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Post by bruntson on Jun 30, 2019 21:18:02 GMT
I found FB naysayers are very boisterous about their views, the folks that use FB keep their FB opinions to themselves. I'm on FB and use it to stay touch with family and hobbies I have.
There are lots of FB people who shoot off their mouths without thinking and say stupid and cruel thing all the while hiding behind their computer. I'm good at ignoring such comments or I use the delete key often.
Join FB and use it to your advantage. Just ignore the idiots and trolls.
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Razor
Senior Forumite
Posts: 1,883
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Post by Razor on Jun 30, 2019 21:36:06 GMT
Wow, didn't expect it to be so one sided! Maybe I've been right all along to stay away from Facebook. I don't know it's always just rubbed me wrong and yea aside from a few catch up things with old friends or long distance family I don't see the real significance of it. It's only one sided because most of the members/or used to be members are on FB. They are a lot of Bladed groups in FB and makers too. Forums and FB groups both have their plus and minuses so I'm on both. I find Fb more easier to keep up with all the groups then going on different forums. Everything is in one spot.
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Post by Jordan Williams on Jun 30, 2019 22:07:01 GMT
I found FB naysayers are very boisterous about their views, the folks that use FB keep their FB opinions to themselves. I'm on FB and use it to stay touch with family and hobbies I have. There are lots of FB people who shoot off their mouths without thinking and say stupid and cruel thing all the while hiding behind their computer. I'm good at ignoring such comments or I use the delete key often. Join FB and use it to your advantage. Just ignore the idiots and trolls. Isn't their use of Facebook a reflection of their opinion of FB? I have only found FB useful for finding out what family and friends I don't see often are up to, how many arguments I can get into, and how many people can lowball me on stuff I'm trying to sell. Lol
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Post by nordmann on Jun 30, 2019 22:39:43 GMT
I'm on Facebook, as the old man I am,(the popular kids use like virtual reality playboy mansion Instagram Twitter box) I use Facebook to keep in touch with extended family, school friends, but also doing hobby stuff, half my Facebook friends are connected to my wargaming hobby, and I'm member of like two dozen hobby related groups, be it history, wargaming, or HEMA.
So I recommend it.
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Post by zabazagobo on Jul 1, 2019 18:38:55 GMT
Bear in mind, nddave, that forum enthusiasts are likely a biased sample here. I am not a fan of FB, I think it leeches data and can't be trusted. No interest in the whole social media junk. That being said, I joined FB using an alias that's a spin on my user name here to chat it up with fellow enthusiasts and scholars who don't stop by here (Scott Rodell, John Pope, etc.). There's a lot more people involved with the sword community who don't pop on here, including smiths and vendors. There's quite a lot going on you'd have no idea of if SBG is your only reference, so for that reason alone I suggest you make an account, perhaps using an alias if you don't want to do the whole friends/family bit. I don't have any interest in the blanket social media aspect of FB, so I just keep to martial arts and sword groups (there's dozens) and chat it up with other enthusiasts. Serves its purpose fine, and don't have to deal with all the dumb aspects of the platform or worry about data mining. If FB wants to data mine 'Zabazia Gobius', they can have at it
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Post by Sir Thorfinn on Jul 1, 2019 19:10:57 GMT
Yes... I use FB, but only to keep in contact, never for politics, and gave it minimal info to mine. So consider the advice I was given...then be better than that. "Don't post it if you don't want it displayed at your church, every family gathering and public thing you do."
So its a tool, much like a sword, it cuts many ways, and some unexpectedly. Just use sense and you'll be fine.
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Post by William Swiger on Jul 1, 2019 19:56:17 GMT
FB is alright if you can stomach all the political crap from both sides on there. You will also see many topics and want to reply to them if you have convictions on certain subjects or are religious. Be prepared for a rash of ignorant people regardless of how well you present yourself and back up your views. FB is almost as bad as YouTube concerning many postings.... Seems like everyone is a subject matter expert on the sword groups as well. Gets on my nerves after awhile. I originally joined FB to connect with old classmates and such as I left home and never moved back.
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Post by nddave on Jul 3, 2019 12:59:55 GMT
Alright so we've kind of stopped the train at 9/13 with the the too vote being no. Some really good yes votes and reasons for joining have come up though to even the poll.
You know it's funny that most of the positive posts for Facebook focus on family and catching up as a reason. Yet that is the one thing I'm more annoyed by than the politics or trolls, lol. Having 200 people come out of the woodwork and make friend requests only to either feel obligated to friend them or get bullied into friending them by other users or local friends and family. The alternate account idea sounds good but then again if I ever do want to use the profile for promotion or advertising then I'd have to "take off the mask" so to speak and explain that.
Think I'll keep the poll open for a little longer and then make my decision.
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