Are most of you moms on facebook???

[Anonymous]

I like connecting with old flames and tempting myself with what could have been...

Just kidding.

I DID just reconnect with a DEAR friend from childhood and we are going to get together this month! I am genuinely excited...

[Anonymous]

My SIL recently told me that "Facebook is like myspace but for older people"..I guess i was a little offended since im 31 and on FB.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not on it, don't want everyone I ever knew or dated to contact me. This is happening to friends of mine and they find it annoying.

Yes, it is REALLY annoying to have to click "ignore" when you get a friend request. I mean, it takes half a second to do, but it is SUCH a pain.

I'm the poster you're quoting. You obviously don't get it. It's rude to ignore people you know -- i.e. from high school -- and then you're labeled a snob. No thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:


I do find it annoying because I feel guilty/bad about it and I hate being put in the position of feeling guilty (even if it's just for a second or two). When it comes down to it, I don't want to connect with everyone in my past but it's not something I relish "telling" people (generally old high school friends) by ignoring them on facebook.

Are you my mother? I don't mean this to be sarcastic b/c she said the exact same thing to me when I explained facebook. She is very introverted and she would much rather be left alone than put in a position where she feels like she is hurting somebody's feelings by "ignoring" them on facebook.

I guess all that I can say is that if you feel really strongly about hurting the feelings of somebody you haven't kept in touch with in 20 years, then I guess you have a point. But you may be pleasantly surprised by how much you enjoy getting back into touch with your old high school friends. And most of the people you ignore, you are ignoring for a reason and they are likely to understand.

Actually I'm pretty extroverted and in real life I keep up with quite a large circle of friends. I wouldn't mind facebook friending people I've been out of touch with since highschool but I'm not entirely comfortable with them reading the nitty gritty of my life via my status updates. So even though there is no bad blood between us and never was I'm hesitant to accept them as facebook friends. But I also don't want them to think I'm a jerk when I ignore them. I actually had one highschool classmate message me (when I ignored his request) with "have you changed so much that now you're too good for me?" Um, no----I have nothing against you or all 100+ of my other long lost classmates. I just don't want you or them knowing everything about my current life and I appreciate the ability to use facebook to communicate more exact details about how I'm doing with close friends. But I hate that random high school dude is now convinced I'm a snob.

Why do you care who reads your status updates? Or looks at your page. I accept everyone even people I haven't the foggiest clue who they were in HS. Do you really think people are spending any time thinking about you and how you're feeling. Who are you, Jennifer Aniston? Most people want to get a look at your kids and then that's about it I think. I've had nothing but positive experiences on facebook and have been pleasantly surprised how much fun it is to reconnect. I feel badly for your high school classmate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, I was a facebook detractor until I got on it - it is great and so nice to see pictures of your friends' families without having to send around mass emails. I promise you will like it if you join.

http://www.slate.com/id/2208678/

I have been reluctant to join for all the reasons discussed the the Slate piece. Now I may just have to sign up! Thanks for the link...I think.

[Anonymous]

For us newbies who are just about to dip a toe in the Facebook waters, is it easy to do? I mean, all this talk about hitting "ignore" and posting things on "walls" is gibberish to me--could someone please give me a Facebook 101 primer? Or will it all be obvious once I join? Is there a virtual helper to help set it up? TIA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For us newbies who are just about to dip a toe in the Facebook waters, is it easy to do? I mean, all this talk about hitting "ignore" and posting things on "walls" is gibberish to me--could someone please give me a Facebook 101 primer? Or will it all be obvious once I join? Is there a virtual helper to help set it up? TIA.

It'll be obvious once you join.

[Anonymous]

I'm the poster you're quoting. You obviously don't get it. It's rude to ignore people you know -- i.e. from high school -- and then you're labeled a snob. No thanks.

I really don't think is very rude, and I doubt most people would label you as a snob because of it (unless they are the kind of person who looks for the negative in others, in which case, you are totally right to ignore them, or unless they think you are a snob anyway, in which case, no harm, no foul). I think of it this way -- I don't keep tabs on who accepts my friend requests, so I doubt people are paying that much attention to whether I accept theirs. In some cases it's blatantly obvious that someone is just friending everyone they have ever met, and I feel no obligation to add someone I barely know. I figure if they are doing it that way, they aren't going to notice anyway.

Plus, until you accept someone as a friend, they can't read your profile or see any of your Facebook activity. You can set it up so that they can't even see your friend list. Therefore, they have no idea whether you ever check Facebook, whether you have 5 friends or 500, whether you only limit it to family, etc. -- in other words, they have no idea whether they should be offended or not.

And finally, if it's someone from high school that you don't want to add, chances are you haven't seen them in years and won't see them for a long time yet, so who really cares what they think of you? But mainly, I don't get offended when someone doesn't add me because I know some people use it for different purposes and might be very selective. It wouldn't/doesn't hurt my feelings at all, so I don't feel guilty about hurting others'.

[Anonymous]

I've been on for a year. More and more people keep turning up, so from that perspective, it's fun. Sometimes I say, "Oh! I can't believe so-and-so is not on here! I would really like to catch up with them!" and then *poof* two months later there is the friend request.

I have made one "virtual" friend (someone I don't know IRL (in real life) at all), turned one down, and am debating what to do about another, but generally when I can figure out a connection, I go with it. I think it's kind of funny to have people write: "Remember that time in college when I drove you home for Spring Break? It was so fun" when you have zero memory of it. I have since made a point of seeking those people out if we know we are going to be at the same event. At my advanced age (42), people are generally pretty friendly and introspective.

I do have one rule: I restrict all my stuff to friends only and I never use my kids' names. I have abbreviations I use for them. This is just my little internet safety rule.

Happy Facebooking to all!

[Anonymous]

Yes, I'm on it. Find it great to stay in touch with friends who are away.

[Anonymous]

Yep, it's great. Wonderful way to stay in touch, share latest photos, etc. Also reconnect with old childhood friends. My next door neighbor as a kid sent me pictures of the house I grew up in!

It is what you make of it. put as little or as much on there as you want. Pics or no pics. You control the privacy. I don't see a downside.

[Anonymous]

I really liked it after having kids--I can control who looks at the pictures and I don't have to bother with mass emails. Plus, I can post video of the kids.

A lot of the other picture-sharing sites required the viewer to either sign up for an account or sent them lots of junk mail, and/or wouldn't have the privacy protection (so that even strangers could view the site).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I'm the poster you're quoting. You obviously don't get it. It's rude to ignore people you know -- i.e. from high school -- and then you're labeled a snob. No thanks.

I really don't think is very rude, and I doubt most people would label you as a snob because of it (unless they are the kind of person who looks for the negative in others, in which case, you are totally right to ignore them, or unless they think you are a snob anyway, in which case, no harm, no foul). I think of it this way -- I don't keep tabs on who accepts my friend requests, so I doubt people are paying that much attention to whether I accept theirs. In some cases it's blatantly obvious that someone is just friending everyone they have ever met, and I feel no obligation to add someone I barely know. I figure if they are doing it that way, they aren't going to notice anyway.

Plus, until you accept someone as a friend, they can't read your profile or see any of your Facebook activity. You can set it up so that they can't even see your friend list. Therefore, they have no idea whether you ever check Facebook, whether you have 5 friends or 500, whether you only limit it to family, etc. -- in other words, they have no idea whether they should be offended or not.

And finally, if it's someone from high school that you don't want to add, chances are you haven't seen them in years and won't see them for a long time yet, so who really cares what they think of you? But mainly, I don't get offended when someone doesn't add me because I know some people use it for different purposes and might be very selective. It wouldn't/doesn't hurt my feelings at all, so I don't feel guilty about hurting others'.

Perhaps my situation is unique, but I have already received a few requests by e-mail from people I knew from high school - have not spoken to them since the last reunion 8 years ago and wasn't that close to - to join Facebook and send pictures. Once I sent out a few pictures, I heard nothing. I think a lot of Facebook is purely voyeuristic and trying to see who is doing what and how do they look et cetera. I could care less what most people are doing -- I feel like if we're no longer in touch, there is a reason. Sure there's 1 or 2 people I'd love to reconnect with, but they aren't on Facebook, I checked through a friend's account. So I'd be on there connecting with friends I speak to anyway (which are few, mainly those with friends living abroad, as most of my friends feel the way I do about Facebook), or fending off friend requests from people I have no interest in entertaining. So, for me, it is a waste.

[Anonymous]

I could care less what most people are doing -- I feel like if we're no longer in touch, there is a reason. Sure there's 1 or 2 people I'd love to reconnect with, but they aren't on Facebook, I checked through a friend's account. So I'd be on there connecting with friends I speak to anyway (which are few, mainly those with friends living abroad, as most of my friends feel the way I do about Facebook), or fending off friend requests from people I have no interest in entertaining. So, for me, it is a waste.

I think that makes total sense. If you're not interested, why do it?

I do think that for people who would otherwise be interested, fear of having to reject/ignore a few unwanted would-be acquaintances shouldn't stop them.

[Anonymous]

I think it's fun but if you're not into it, it's no big deal. I joined recently and now have so many friends on it. Now if you want to know what's going on with me, you can find out without sending me an awkward e-mail. Much more efficient for someone with limited time.