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Dronecatcher

macrumors 603
Original poster
Jun 17, 2014
5,249
7,888
Lincolnshire, UK
Those wonderful folk at macintoshgarden have had their bespoke messaging server in place for a few years now but I recently tried it with iChat on my G3 iBook - it works great with a number of chat services and here it is using Facebook Messenger:

iChat.png



EDIT: I've just had to change the login details of my Facebook account - overnight it had over 70 unusual logins (or attempts) from the garden server - I don't know if there's an explanation for that or was it just plain compromised - waiting to hear back but in the meantime I wouldn't recommend anyone to use this.

EDIT: The developer at macintoshgarden says this behaviour is normal as the server checks/updates your contacts list and as such logs into your account autonomously - I'll forego this service as I don't want hundreds of warnings from Facebook every day!
 
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Oh you're going to have to give us the full list now...and "how to" if it involves steps. Maybe a wiki???
 
Haha, me too. But to be honest, I still use ICQ regularly via XMPP transports

I’ve honestly never tried ICQ via XMPP. The last time I remember using it was probably back when ICQ had a standalone client.

It’s entirely possible it survived the migration to when I used Adium, but I haven’t used that since, like, 2010 (which, alas and unfortunately, coincided with when I first signed up to a social media service — two, to be precise).
 
I was about to get excited, but then I realised that I deleted my Facebook account, and all other social media...

Still, nice find @Dronecatcher !
Here I am, thinking of starting fresh/creating new accounts for social media, I mean social network sites, and delete the so-called old versions...

I don't own a mac whether old or new but if I have I would be doing the same, using old apps in these modern times...
 
I would agree on one hand, but I honestly do not see any alternative atm to keep contacts with people which are not close but still useful.

This is exactly why I maintain my Facebook account - and also ended up being pushed into using WhatsApp (also owned by Facebook/Meta) because it's the most practical way for me to remain in touch and share news with a large volume of people - many of whom do not/no longer reside in the UK. For me it's a necessary evil.
 
I would agree on one hand, but I honestly do not see any alternative atm to keep contacts with people which are not close but still useful.

I admit I’ve lost touch with more distant acquaintances since the rise of FB, since I never set up an account from the outset. There is little doubt in my mind that many networking avenues to come of being a FB member were never paved by my not joining.

There was that window during the middle/later ’00s when I’d get random emails froom people I hadn’t spoken to in years doing the “how’s it going?… say, are you on FB?…” thing, and most of those people are folks with whom I’ve long since lost touch.

There are a mess of reasons, both personal (very estranged family of origin) and paradigmatic (surveillance capitalism), why I didn‘t set up a FB account, and of course, this means I also miss out on the few positive aspects which have emerged from the ubiquity of a worldwide private community situated within the internet. It also means I enjoy never reading the conspiratorial screeds of distant family members or rowing against the swift current of FB’s content delivery algorithms.
 
E-mail? But even for me who has never ever bothered with any form of “social” networks, this ain’t enough so I “have” to use WhatsApp as well… A necessary evil, as @TheShortTimer perfectly put it.

The trouble to have emerged with email is the manner by which advertisers and commercial services transformed the text-only protocol into the online equivalent of the glossy, cheap flyers and circulars which get stuffed into one’s postal box — only amplified by several orders.

Completely automated messaging (far from the voluntary mailing lists for groups sharing specialized information and correspondence) accelerated this volume once commercial web services began inviting visitors to join their mailing list (whose data began a medium for capital, one bought and sold between bulk email services).

Another is the commercial and advertising industry’s push from the late ’90s to move email (and, eventually, the producers of email clients, both online and standalone applications) to support a protocol for which it was never really designed: HTML rendering.

Consequently, at least for me, email over these last thirty years has gone from being the online counterpart of postcard messages (with maybe an attached picture or two) and longer missives between friends and loved ones (along with being the work equivalent of dropping by a co-worker’s desk, co-ordinating projects whose needs didn’t necessitate reserving a meeting room, or leaving a “while you were out” note), to being an overwhelming influx of noise (even with multiple layers of Bayesian filtering and rules at both at the server and client level).

All of these have lead to a “terminal email fatigue” for most everyone I know.
 
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Here's my take....

Facebook: Use for long distance calls and a few groups which I occasionally look at.

Twitter: Joined in 2007 but yet to tweet - used as a news aggregator

Whatsapp: Joined way back when it was available on my Nokia E71! Use it about once every 3 months.

Email: Used constantly - receive junk around twice a week.

You only have to take what you need ;)
 
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