Facebook?

Started by hpinson, March 22, 2018, 10:56:06 AM

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hpinson

The topic of migration of this forum to Facebook was brought up the other day, in a very ungraceful and aggressive way by a literal first time user, who has since stolen John's trademarked CountryPlans.com name and tagline without permission, and is now using these on Facebook for her own purposes. 

I thought I would give my personal thoughts on the topic, and want to hear yours.

My personal answer is HELL NO, and we want nothing to do with Facebook in the context of this forum. 

The owners and other Admins agree.

I have specific reasons for not advocating Facebook forum migration, and we can discuss any and all of these, and others:

-- Information Organized By Most Recent. Difficult Access To Older Topics.

-- Rudimentary and Censored Search Functionality.

-- Algorithms That Selectively Hide And Show Information and Relationships Based On Unknown Criteria

-- API that actively encourages data mining and sale of personal behavioral information and relationships between parties.

-- Inconsistent and Changing Personal Privacy Policy

-- Personal Privacy Settings that Inexplicably Change

-- AI Photo Recognition and Face Tagging.

-- Legal Ramifications - Facebook Photos or Threads being used in Courts of Law to achieve targeted outcomes.

-- Psychological Profiling

-- Builder Privacy Issues

-- Psychological Manipulation and User Influence

-- Addictive By Design

-- Encourages Intellectual Property Infringement and Theft (case in point, this just happened to us)

-- Amalgamation of small dynamic web communities by a few heavily monetized players into just a few centralized and censored sources.

-- Intrusive And Often Inappropriate Advertising.

-- Encourages Stalking

-- No, or Ineffective, Customer Support

-- Variable Moderation in Groups

-- Click and 'Like' Fraud. Falsified Reviews

-- Etc....

Thoughts?

NathanS

I'm also a big no. I deleted my facebook over 5 years ago and will never use it again.

I probably found this site around 2010. I have wondered if like minded people could find this site with a google search today. Everything seems to be getting amalgamated to a couple sites that are heavily monetized, and smaller web communities like this are becoming a thing of the past. A huge loss if that's true.


hpinson

Very true - adding that to the list. Thanks Nathan.

Beavers

I deleted my Facebook account a few months ago and have no desire to re-join.  I agree with all your reasons to keep Country Plans off Facebook. 

IMO one of the biggest benefits of this forum is the 1000's of pages of info here that are fairly easy to search.  No way could that be recreated in a Facebook group.

BTW- I'm in my 30's... so I'm not just some crusty old timer who just doesn't like newfangled technology. ;D

UK4X4

Facebook is a marketing tool and information mine...............I only use it to keep in touch with friends around the world, its an easy media to share and see what others are doing.

But I'm an expat having lived in multiple countries over the last 30 years............if I lived in one city, had a lovely group of old friends, Facebook would be unrequired

as far as migrating...why ? I don't see any benefit


MountainDon

I have had a personal FB page for a few years. I was a late joiner and only joined to make or keep contact with family members who are scattered to the four winds in two countries as well as a few old friends who are also now scattered. Harlow pretty much said it all when it comes to reasons to not have this forum on FB and I agree wholeheartedly.

I can't get my mind around how this forum and the info it contains could be presented on FB. ???  FB is just a constant stream of whatever comes along, in the order it comes along.  ??? 



One online opinion piece I read yesterday stated the FB users are not the customers, they are the product. I think that sums it up nicely.
Just because something has been done and has not failed, doesn't mean it is good design.

Don_P

I'm a crusty old timer, draw and quarter her   :D.

Beavers

Haha...Didn't mean to suggest this place was full of crusty old timers  ;D ;)

Don_P

It's pretty thick, some times ya just gotta face the reality  :).
I've tried to read FB, my wife has to use it for work. I find it annoying and pretty nonsensical.


Nate R

I agree that FB is not the right format for something like this. No thanks. I'm in my early 30s, (so not old YET!), but have a lot of the same reasons for preferring this format.

I have noticed the decreased traffic here and on another similar forum in the last few years. Do you think it's all FB? YouTube vloggers? Is it the decline in interest in tiny/small living after a few years of fascination? Are there less people these days interested in building their own small structure?

GaryT

From the other side of the coin:  I am 68 and have a great time with facebook.  That is because I have been ultra careful about who I "friend" there.  Essentially, most of my friends there are at least 20 years younger than I am, and they are all into Atlantic salmon fly tying and fishing...as am I.  As soon as someone posts about politics or religion and it appears on my page, they are gone from my friend list.  I am a member of several facebook groups relating either to bird hunting or salmon fishing.  Great way to share photos, memories or tips.

Do I think this forum would be better served on facebook?  No, I don't.  Facebook is not, in my opinion, conducive to the interesting, long photo stories of the projects folks publish here.  this is a great place to follow a journey.  Facebook is more for snapshots taken along the way.  At least that's my take.

An example of a friend and then not a friend:  Yesterday, one of my old bosses at a conservation organization looked me up and asked to friend me.  I figured, why not, he was a good boss.  An hour after I friended him, I blocked him.  He is so far right of reality that it's not funny.  I do not need my page cluttered up with ridiculous accusations, etc.   If he had just posted pics of his elk and turkey hunts, we'd still be friends.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents.
Gary

MountainDon

Quote from: Nate R on March 23, 2018, 09:52:26 AM

I have noticed the decreased traffic here and on another similar forum in the last few years. Do you think it's all FB? YouTube vloggers? Is it the decline in interest in tiny/small living after a few years of fascination? Are there less people these days interested in building their own small structure?

Traffic is strange. Over the past three to four years traffic, as measured by the number of new topics started and the number of new posts to existing topics, is down. However, when we look at the total number of page views traffic is up during the same period of time. Last year actually shows a significant increase in the number of page views. More lookers and fewer members active posing questions, showing their builds and replying to questions.  ??? 

To add to the wonderment it seems to me that perhaps we have less activity in the non-building related topics than we did several years ago. There were times several years ago when the Off Topics forum had more visitors than the building related topics. I can think of a couple of people who were very active Off Topic posters but have not logged in for 5 years or so. Some of that patter was interesting, some less so. 

I do not know how the sales of plans compare so have no idea if there is a correlation between sales and new posts to the forum.

Spammers are not appearing as frequently as they once did. I catch some after they register but before they post anything.
Just because something has been done and has not failed, doesn't mean it is good design.

MountainDon

I possibly qualify as the local curmudgeon at age 71, 72 come summer.  ;D   8)   ::)
Just because something has been done and has not failed, doesn't mean it is good design.

Adam Roby

I used to post much more frequently, but I've been blocked from posting at work - but I can still read.  I am a bit crusty at 46 years old... by the time I get home I forget what I wanted to say.  :)  I am on nearly every day reading the posts.

I find FB is full of BS.  People hear a very small part of a story that was hearsay to begin with and re-post it as if it were fact. 
I come here to get back to sanity and hear real people talk about real things. 

You know when some new smart-a$$ joins this forum and acts like they know everything, bashing everyone's feedback and constructive criticism...  then after a few days or weeks they disappear and life goes back to normal?  Well, I feel if this forum were on Facebook, that would become the norm and all of us regulars would wind up leaving. 

Personally, if this went to FB I think it would mean the end of the forum.


GaryT

Uh, for the record, I don't read the news via facebook.  Again, it's just myself and some friends sharing pics and such, so there is no BS as far as I'm concerned, unless one of my pals is stretching the length of his catch just a little too far.  There should be a primer on how to enjoy facebook without being sucked into the BS.  Oh well, there's not, and it's good that there's still forums such as this one.
Gary

MushCreek

No thanks on FB. I'm on it to keep track of what far-flung friends and relatives are up to, but that's about it. I rarely post on FB.

As for forum traffic- the great photobucket debacle really hurt a lot of forums. I lost several build threads on various forums. It would be too much work to go back and rebuild them, as there are a lot of pics over a 4-5 year period. I cruise through here once a week just to catch up.
Jay

I'm not poor- I'm financially underpowered.

firefox

I am so glad that this forum has nothing to do with facebook!
Bruce & Robbie
MVPA 23824

Don_P

A little google security isn't a bad idea either. You certainly won't get it all but you can follow the links in this article to turn off some of their tracking;
https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/talkingtech/2018/03/30/download-google-data-how-what-found/473227002/

waggin

My sentiment is the same as others that this forum would not work with Facebook's format. 

As for Facebook in general, I like it and use it.  Are there things I don't like about it?  Sure, and I share the privacy concerns.  My friends list is tight, and my sharing controls are too.  Even though I have friends and family all over the political/ideological spectrum, drama doesn't happen on my page.  I have strong opinions on lots of subjects, but my page is full of me doing fun activities, projects, and pictures of my dog.  There are some contentious issues I occasionally discuss, but I stay on the topic and don't attack people.  I also don't put up with people turning it personal.  In a way, it's like a hammer or any other tool that can do lots of good work, but if you misuse it, you can get hurt.  When I hit my thumb with a hammer, I don't blame the tool.  Some people who point at Facebook as the source of issues might want to look a little more deeply at themselves.

Back to this site and forums in general, I'll add some additional thoughts.  Anonymity is good, IMHO.  I've shared my contact information with people in forums extremely selectively.  There are people online (and on this site) who I would not want to know my real name, because I don't trust them.  Thankfully, the vast majority here seem like great people though.  With Facebook, even if you signed up with a fake name, the friends you have will lead right to your real identity if someone is so inclined. 

On forum traffic, honestly, I've dropped off this site a few times for extended periods.  The topics and helpfulness of members were interesting, and there are lots of great people on here, but there are some that are constantly combative and bitching & moaning about anyone who disagrees with them on anything.  When I visit a forum, and the first thing I notice on most days is a post by, "xxxxx" complaining about some group of people they hate, it gets old.  When I see them berating anyone who dares to disagree, no matter how politely, it makes me wonder how many decent people are driven away by that.  Since I can't control the content like I CAN on my Facebook page, I wander away for a time. 
If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy. (Red Green)

hpinson

Waggin, as an administrator, we do try to manage that stuff, and I hope combative and complaining posts are at a tolerable minimum for you here.  I can honestly say that having the big picture in my head, the CountryPlans formum is a relatively civil place, and stays on topic well.  Some forums, and Facebook and Twitter especially, are much less civil, as the personal pages are not moderated.


MountainDon

I'd like to add to the comments.  We don't intend to ever operate the forum on Facebook; none of the admins or John can see how a FB group could be as functional, let alone better, for this type of use. The upstart FB group has shut down after some prodding. Now back to the regularly scheduled programming.    ;) ;D
Just because something has been done and has not failed, doesn't mean it is good design.

squirreldog

Its encouraging to see this particular post, the reason for it, and the comments that have been left in the wake. I'm pretty sure that I am in full agreement with the original administrators views and reasons for them as well as the others.  To be honest, and this is somewhat selfish, I joined this forum for ideas, ideas in the concept of country plans and living.  And I thank the who ever's for their devotion to the creation and maintenance of this site.