facebook, I started a fake account

[Goodvibes]

I'm shocked at what I found, it's far worse than I ever expected.

Had an account when it first started, bailed after it annoyed me. I was a professional at the time and besides the bullshit, had concerns that it could reflect on my work. Killed the account a bit over year later.

Decades later, my motorcycle interest groups ignorantly do business on facebook. There are a lot of 'Tradies' that know no other form of communication. So I grabbed a gmail email address and used that to make a facebook account. There were no impediment to doing that as all they want is you mobile phone number anyway.

What I found has shocked me, I knew of the effect it was having on the community but the degree is truly scary.

Main points:

1. Competely automated pages and accounts on specialist subjects like 'Birds' or 'Aircraft' designed to just harvest eyeballs for a few seconds. Look like they are based in eastern Europe or Africa to monetize Clicks somehow.
2. Religious subjects that just post computer generated images of someone called Jesus, followed by bot comments that often are just one word 'Amazing' or 'Praise God". WTF?
3. Sicko military groups reminiscing about shooting gooks in Vietnam, a war that was a disgrace and defeat.
4. You cannot block millions of groups, they keep coming, notifications in your face.
5. That most of the posts in legitimate groups are clearly the left hand side of the IQ bell curve, silly stupid, unnecessary junk.
6. The influencers of course, what it is all about after all, I expected that but the degree of the deception is extreme. Anybody know where I can find a plumber?
7. But the most incredible thing, is the shutting down of any dissenting views, it's all fake Happy/Happy bullshit when what might actually help people is missing. Alternate voices are quickly filtered out.

I have come to the conclusion that a large percentage of the accounts on facebook are fake. Bots, influencers. Forget Musk's concerns about Twitter fakes, this is big Daddy. And they do not care, they want the numbers. Simple to work out that the Name I supplied does not match the mandatory phone number I supplied to get the authorization number sent to a Youtube app.

On this an other forums we have seen the expression "I feel dumber for having read that." Well, this is real, I doo feel dumber for the experience of connecting to facebook, it's truly shocking stuff.

 

[veni vidi vici]

I'm shocked at what I found, it's far worse than I ever expected.

Had an account when it first started, bailed after it annoyed me. I was a professional at the time and besides the bullshit, had concerns that it could reflect on my work. Killed the account a bit over year later.

Decades later, my motorcycle interest groups ignorantly do business on facebook. There are a lot of 'Tradies' that know no other form of communication. So I grabbed a gmail email address and used that to make a facebook account. There were no impediment to doing that as all they want is you mobile phone number anyway.

What I found has shocked me, I knew of the effect it was having on the community but the degree is truly scary.

Main points:

1. Competely automated pages and accounts on specialist subjects like 'Birds' or 'Aircraft' designed to just harvest eyeballs for a few seconds. Look like they are based in eastern Europe or Africa to monetize Clicks somehow.
2. Religious subjects that just post computer generated images of someone called Jesus, followed by bot comments that often are just one word 'Amazing' or 'Praise God". WTF?
3. Sicko military groups reminiscing about shooting gooks in Vietnam, a war that was a disgrace and defeat.
4. You cannot block millions of groups, they keep coming, notifications in your face.
5. That most of the posts in legitimate groups are clearly the left hand side of the IQ bell curve, silly stupid, unnecessary junk.
6. The influencers of course, what it is all about after all, I expected that but the degree of the deception is extreme. Anybody know where I can find a plumber?
7. But the most incredible thing, is the shutting down of any dissenting views, it's all fake Happy/Happy bullshit when what might actually help people is missing. Alternate voices are quickly filtered out.

I have come to the conclusion that a large percentage of the accounts on facebook are fake. Bots, influencers. Forget Musk's concerns about Twitter fakes, this is big Daddy. And they do not care, they want the numbers. Simple to work out that the Name I supplied does not match the mandatory phone number I supplied to get the authorization number sent to a Youtube app.

On this an other forums we have seen the expression "I feel dumber for having read that." Well, this is real, I doo feel dumber for the experience of connecting to facebook, it's truly shocking stuff.

Well they have to do something in between presidential elections to keep tuned up .

 

[Marty Gingras]

I got on Facebook for the first time almost exactly one year ago. I was at first deluged with a bunch of shit, but then it became clear that you can train it by being selective about who you “friend”, what you “like”, and what to “stop seeing.” I did that in spades and now it is quite a pleasant and educational experience.

 

[giegs]

If you use firefox you can right click on particularly offensive page elements and block them manually. Keep in mind that if you do this you won't see any page content for the element you blocked and you can create functionality issues for yourself if you're not careful.

Depending on the lengths you went to in establishing and using that fake account, fb already knows it's you and will adjust your feed accordingly.

 

[Point Break]

Great way to see what family is up to and pictures of kids and grandkids. Lots of friends/coworkers scattered around the US after retirement. Nice to see what their worlds are like and how they are doing. The rest of it is easy to scroll by. I find it useful in that sense. I certainly don't use it for news or any other fact finding effort. I'm in charge of how I view it and what I use it for. It's all part of our digital world. I am neither enthralled or appalled.

 

[Goodvibes]

If you use firefox you can right click on particularly offensive page elements and block them manually. Keep in mind that if you do this you won't see any page content for the element you blocked and you can create functionality issues for yourself if you're not careful.

Depending on the lengths you went to in establishing and using that fake account, fb already knows it's you and will adjust your feed accordingly.

I use FF, I tried that but I don't want to spend the rest of my life playing wackamole.

 

[MR.CLEAN]

Good for finding used ATVs and trailers.

 

[Goodvibes]

Great way to see what family is up to and pictures of kids and grandkids. Lots of friends/coworkers scattered around the US after retirement. Nice to see what their worlds are like and how they are doing.

1. Parents, other people getting happy happy look at me snaps, not posted is being in the fetal position crying about the job. It's a jaundiced view of people's lives through image filters. It aint real.
2. When I quit it, one of the considerations was that I did to want to stalk my children. They know where I live, have my phone number and email address. Don't need 'look at my hamburger' post to relate to them. In fact if the situation were reversed, my parents stalking my posts would shape what I posted.

 

[Goodvibes]

Good for finding used ATVs and trailers.

Just bought a bike trailer off marketplace, but I let the wife find it.

 

[veni vidi vici]

Just bought a bike trailer off marketplace, but I let the wife find it.

Smooth operator!

 

[Raz'r]

Guessing here, but I've found the 10 new groups of the day thing to have really kicked in about the new year. Most feel like AI bullshit. ChatGPT....

 

[MR.CLEAN]

Just bought a bike trailer off marketplace, but I let the wife find it.

lol I bought a boat + trailer for my sunfish clone off marketplace for $350 because it was cheaper than buying just a trailer. Anyone want a shitty old 16 foot aluminum skiff full of holes buried in the snow next to my woodpile?

 

[giegs]

Guessing here, but I've found the 10 new groups of the day thing to have really kicked in about the new year. Most feel like AI bullshit. ChatGPT....

AI generated pages are starting to crowd the top of Google SEO. It'll devalue some of the crappier aspects of the modern internet, so might end up being a positive in some ways.

 

[Raz'r]

AI generated pages are starting to crowd the top of Google SEO. It'll devalue some of the crappier aspects of the modern internet, so might end up being a positive in some ways.

Half my facebook feed (which used to be mostly sailing buddies, college and HS pals) now is clearly AI generated BS content. "NASA discovers wormhole opens up between earth and sun every 8 minutes" - ChatGPT seems to have taken on headline writing from the Enquirer or Weekly World News.

 

[Point Break]

1. Parents, other people getting happy happy look at me snaps, not posted is being in the fetal position crying about the job. It's a jaundiced view of people's lives through image filters. It aint real.
2. When I quit it, one of the considerations was that I did to want to stalk my children. They know where I live, have my phone number and email address. Don't need 'look at my hamburger' post to relate to them. In fact if the situation were reversed, my parents stalking my posts would shape what I posted.

It most certainly is real. A picture of one of my grandchildren in Texas having a birthday cake and laughing....it doesn't get any more real than that. A snapshot of a gathering of the retired guys I worked with who have relocated to Tennessee, its nice to see everybody. My 94 year old aunt having lunch in El Dorado Hills with my cousin. Love it. Another son who works in the Forest Service rehabbing a National Forest in Puerto Rico and just bought a small house there is great to see the trail work and the house. Tiny moments in their lives otherwise not likely to be shared is really nice. Once in a while we can get together and thats certainly better but some are thousands of miles away. In the case of any number of old co-workers I would not likely travel a thousand miles to see, I enjoy seeing what's going on. Thats not stalking....they are posting it for folks to see.

It is what you bring to it. Its easy to ignore the other stuff and if you don't click on it they won't feed you more and anything they do try to troll you with....thats what the scroll wheel on the mouse is for.

 

[Point Break]

lol I bought a boat + trailer for my sunfish clone off marketplace for $350 because it was cheaper than buying just a trailer. Anyone want a shitty old 16 foot aluminum skiff full of holes buried in the snow next to my woodpile?

Mrs PB uses Marketplace a bit as well. We've saved a ton on money buying perfectly good things at bargain basement prices that people are just tired of. A big wood framed mirror for the guest bedroom. Hundreds of dollars at Pottery Barn. We got it for $30. One very little scrape that I touched up and you cannot even see it. We've sold a few things as well. I like the notion someone else will repurpose something rather than just toss it.

 

[dacapo]

Good for finding used ATVs and trailers.

I have sold thousands of dollars in both sailing gear and musical equipment

I have booked many gigs off of FB

It’s being smart in how you use it.

 

[Bump-n-Grind]

It takes about 15 minutes in the security tab to lock down an account to the point where you don't get deluged with horseshit or friend requests. I get very little AI generated crap in my feed. and if someone I actually know starts spouting a lotta garbage, the "don't follow" button works very well.

I use it for alumni groups, sailing and skiing stuff and taking vitriolic field trips to a wide variety of politicians pages

 

[Point Break]

.

 

[Chris in Santa Cruz CA]

lol I bought a boat + trailer for my sunfish clone off marketplace for $350 because it was cheaper than buying just a trailer. Anyone want a shitty old 16 foot aluminum skiff full of holes buried in the snow next to my woodpile?

Give it to remus