Facebook

Scepticalscribe said:

Ah, well, the circle closes…….fascinating, as matters are tracked to their ultimate source…... Ah, well, now (if there was an icon to depict rubbing hands in gleeful pleasure I would click on it, now). Did you indeed? (Chuckles). As an historian by training I love tracking stuff back to its stated source…….

Well, those bottles are sitting winking at me in a room which - incongruously - doubles as laundry room and cellar (the latter, however, is rather impressively well stocked, though I do say so myself).

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I hope you enjoy! I suspect you will.

Scepticalscribe said:

That is what I thought; 'strangers who send you messages' has a comforting ring of truth about it - I find that I much prefer it to sticking the gushing label 'friend' on anyone who wishes to make contact, and reserve this noun, term, word, for those who actually merit the description of 'true friends'.

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From my experience with with online gaming, and voice capabilities, I can tell you that friendships can develop, even with text messaging, but until you are interacting with someone outside of an online interaction, "online friend" has substantially less value than a old fashioned friend. I have never developed more than the most casual of acquaintances in an online guild, strictly limited to the game environment although I have a real friend who has traveled across country to meet guild mates at events (not romantic). For Facebook, I really have no desire to grant strangers access to my life, even if they do know a real friend or family member.

I use it as a chat platform, since I can respond from phone or computer. I don't post anything really, and don't really care what others post. It's nice when people share photos of an event I was at, but besides that, it's just a chat platform.

Oh, and a very handy birthday reminder. No need to send a card now, simply writing on someone's wall when Facebook reminds you is sufficient these days. I'm all for that!

Agree on the birthday reminder, that's quite handy. And I have some remote links back to my home country where we use FB to keep communication alive.
Else I spare FB with any pictures of my family, only food and other non-privacy related info goes there. The real family pictures are in more secure storages. Paranoia, I know.

Huntn said:

From my experience with with online gaming, and voice capabilities, I can tell you that friendships can develop, even with text messaging, but until you are interacting with someone outside of an online interaction, "online friend" has substantially less value than a old fashioned friend. I have never developed more than the most casual of acquaintances in an online guild, strictly limited to the game environment although I have a real friend who has traveled across country to meet guild mates at events (not romantic). For Facebook, I really have no desire to grant strangers access to my life, even if they do know a real friend or family member.

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There is a fair bit of truth to what you have just written.

As modes of communication change, so, too, does how we interact with one another, and I'll concede that there is a lot more to human relationships that the categories 'colleague', 'stranger', 'acquaintance', 'family', and 'friend'. There are individuals who were a number of these label simultaneously, the one does not necessarily exclude the other.

And, I will also acknowledge that the online universe has transformed vast swathes of our world and how we relate to it.

I joined MR six years ago; as was the case with many others, my joining was prompted after a period of what I learned was called a 'lurker'; in turn, that had come about because I a had myself a MBP as a birthday present and had questions as the world of Apple was alien to me.

Anyway, I joined, I lingered, I stayed and I be became an active participant; over time, you get to know people, and start PMing and being PMed. While I have no time for FB (and no interest in, and simply don't even 'get' the idea of FB), there are individuals on this forum whom I would - to my astonished and delighted surprise - have come to regard as friends, people who, should chance and opportunity arise, I would be very happy to meet and chat with, in The Real World.

Needless to say, this was not a state of affairs I would have considered remotely possible some years ago, when I viewed online interactions which were mainly social (as opposed to writing emails or Skyping individuals whom I already knew or know) as somehow self-indulgent or trivial. I know now that they are not, that - as with most encounters - how one interacts has an effect on the tone, character, content and nature of the actual encounter - and I now know that it is another, ever evolving, layer of communication and that my life is far the richer for that.

I have it, though I'd not consider myself a heavy hitter. I post marginally, mostly to keep connected to people who are no longer living close to me.

Scepticalscribe said:

There is a fair bit of truth to what you have just written.

As modes of communication change, so, too, does how we interact with one another, and I'll concede that there is a lot more to human relationships that the categories 'colleague', 'stranger', 'acquaintance', 'family', and 'friend'. There are individuals who were a number of these label simultaneously, the one does not necessarily exclude the other.

And, I will also acknowledge that the online universe has transformed vast swathes of our world and how we relate to it.

I joined MR six years ago; as was the case with many others, my joining was prompted after a period of what I learned was called a 'lurker'; in turn, that had come about because I a had myself a MBP as a birthday present and had questions as the world of Apple was alien to me.

Anyway, I joined, I lingered, I stayed and I be became an active participant; over time, you get to know people, and start PMing and being PMed. While I have no time for FB (and no interest in, and simply don't even 'get' the idea of FB), there are individuals on this forum whom I would - to my astonished and delighted surprise - have come to regard as friends, people who, should chance and opportunity arise, I would be very happy to meet and chat with, in The Real World.

Needless to say, this was not a state of affairs I would have considered remotely possible some years ago, when I viewed online interactions which were mainly social (as opposed to writing emails or Skyping individuals whom I already knew or know) as somehow self-indulgent or trivial. I know now that they are not, that - as with most encounters - how one interacts has an effect on the tone, character, content and nature of the actual encounter - and I now know that it is another, ever evolving, layer of communication and that my life is far the richer for that.

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I've believe in text environments like MacRumors forums you do get to know peoples' personalities to some degree based only on their thoughts and expressions, while understanding the difficulty and limitations of text comms to express all of the intended meaning and the possibility of misunderstanding and even occasions where an online persona does not truly reflect the actual personality, differentiated from dealing with an individual in person. Also, I think the aninimity of an online identity allows people the freedom to say things they would not dare say in person. So you see a window into a person, you might not see in an otherwise casual relationship. All of these aspects are up for interpretation to determine honesty, and intent. Sometimes you get stark honesty.

maflynn said:

I have it, though I'd not consider myself a heavy hitter. I post marginally, mostly to keep connected to people who are no longer living close to me.

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Facebook in moderation is great a multimedia way for staying in touch with family and real friends.

I have facebook, but I find that I am often more annoyed by it. I never really post anything anymore, and find that the things that other people post I don't really care about.

I have one and have had it for a while but i'm starting to hate it more and more everyday. it's something I go to when I want news (my local news doesn't post much on twitter). I don't post much in either (nor do I have enough twitter followers to care). I do have a lot of those friends who post everything and anything and it gets annoying to constantly see them on my feed but I like to see some of my other friends who have moved away.

Facebook also does what they want with my news feed so it's always frustrating to see things from today then another from 3-4 days ago?

yanki01 said:

I have one and have had it for a while but i'm starting to hate it more and more everyday. it's something I go to when I want news (my local news doesn't post much on twitter). I don't post much in either (nor do I have enough twitter followers to care). I do have a lot of those friends who post everything and anything and it gets annoying to constantly see them on my feed but I like to see some of my other friends who have moved away.

Facebook also does what they want with my news feed so it's always frustrating to see things from today then another from 3-4 days ago?

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I hate how they do that. I've kinda stopped using facebook because of how frustrating it is. I only use it to advertise my business anymore.