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So I've made my decision...good bye Facebook


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I am going to delete my account this weekend (just want to copy down email addresses for friends). I am tired of the privacy issues, tired of the drama. I like Google Plus, and love the "circles" that really limit who hears what I say. I'll stick with that.

 

Anyone else a Facebook defector and live to tell the tale? :lol:

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Google "How to delete a facebook account." FB promotes "deactivating" your account, which doesn't delete it. You can find instructions at Wiki-How on deleting.

 

Thanks-I already figured out the difference and I will be _deleting_ my account not deactivating :tongue_smilie:

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Good for you! I should leave facebook but it's the only way to be in contact with some people. I hardly ever log in so it doesn't really affect my life... but I still hate it. :p

 

It actually wasn't consuming any of my time LOL. I got burnt on FB when something I posted was misconstrued last year, causing unnecessary drama. At that point, I closed my Wall and made no updates. Then I decided I'd give it another try, and then the virus hacked my account (or however you phrase it). I felt violated, and so I'm leaving.

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I am going to delete my account this weekend (just want to copy down email addresses for friends). I am tired of the privacy issues, tired of the drama. I like Google Plus, and love the "circles" that really limit who hears what I say. I'll stick with that.

 

Anyone else a Facebook defector and live to tell the tale? :lol:

 

I would like to go this route too, but I thought that the email addresses weren't shown by default? At least, the last time I tried to do this I couldn't figure out where to find them. :confused:

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Me! I left Facebook a couple weeks ago. I deactivated my account but couldn't figure out how to delete it - hooray for the poster who linked the instructions!

 

Too much silliness there. I'd rather talk to folks I like in real life (I say as I post on an online forum...hmmm). :lol:

 

The last straw for me was when the Facebook app on my iPhone stopped using my security settings properly. All of a sudden people *cough*MIL*cough* who were supposed to be filtered could see everything I posted. Not cool.

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The Internet is not a safe place.

 

:iagree:, however facebook has the pressure of pictures posted, you listing personal information as well as connecting with people you know. Far more deeper into the dangerous waters. No matter where you go you have to be careful what you share online. Sadly many people I know tell alot about themselves on facebook and think it's perfectly safe because their account is set to private. :( Sad reality.

 

So while I agree the internet is not safe. Facebook and other sites similar that allow you to list personal information are just dangerous for those that think a simple setting will protect them.

Edited by mamaofblessings
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Anyone else a Facebook defector and live to tell the tale? :lol:

 

Here! Glad I did it. Yes, I miss the convenience of communicating that quickly, but I don't miss Facebook, if that makes sense. I do use Google + and LOVE it. LOVE.

 

I had a number of annoyances regarding Facebook that were compiling themselves in a corner of my brain, but the thing that pushed it over the edge for me was that even though I had my privacy settings and everything set to NOT do it (yes, I double and triple checked that I DID have it set correctly)...Facebook was tagging my kids via facial recognition as I loaded pics. I didn't tag them, and I couldn't untag them. Probably someone will say they "fixed" that or whatever, but it was just the last straw in a long line of mostly petty irritants:D.

 

Enjoy your Facebook-free life! You'll definitely live!

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I always admire people who have the courage to follow up on their convictions.

 

And FWIW, I do a lot of contract work and my employers strongly discourages it for liability reasons. Not a problem for me!

 

That is interesting. A friend of mine told me that his sister's job REQUIRES she have a fb account.

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:iagree:, however facebook has the pressure of pictures posted, you listing personal information as well as connecting with people you know. Far more deeper into the dangerous waters. No matter where you go you have to be careful what you share online. Sadly many people I know tell alot about themselves on facebook and think it's perfectly safe because their account is set to private. :( Sad reality.

 

So while I agree the internet is not safe. Facebook and other sites similar that allow you to list personal information are just dangerous for those that think a simple setting will protect them.

 

What sort of personal info would a person put on facebook that would be dangerous? I never understood this mindset.

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That is interesting. A friend of mine told me that his sister's job REQUIRES she have a fb account.

 

 

Probably true. Many employers are now on facebook, twitter, and linked in and encourage their employees to link to their pages. Of course, employee has to sign an internet usage policy, which many have had to do already anyway.

 

A certain large publicly held entertainment and lodging company recently used facebook to recruit a couple people from our firm to work for them.

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What sort of personal info would a person put on facebook that would be dangerous? I never understood this mindset.

 

 

I do not understand that worry either. You are not required to include personal identifying information other than your name, nor are you required to post a photo.

 

Common sense dictates that you would not post in advance that you will be away from home or post vacation photos while your home is unoccupied. My motto is that whatever you are unwilling to shout out on public street corner should not be posted on fb. But then I am one of those who has thus far been unwilling to look into how to set up special groups.

 

I am neutral toward facebook. I keep it because that is way some people choose to contact me, and I do like that fb sends me an email notification when I have a private message. Once in awhile, I enjoy looking at links my smart witty friends have posted.

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Now I know why I am not going to be opening up a facebook account, and I don't even have the time to do anything like that! If people want to stay in contact with me I just give them my email address or phone number. Facebook and twitter are just a waste of precious time in my opinion, I prefer the great outdoors to cyberspace!:lol:

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Welcome to the no face book world.

 

I do get questions about why i'm not on it. More specifically I get told, "I thought I saw you on it."

 

Years ago my husband was into face book for a few months. He created a account for me. I never used it. So I suppose it is out there somewhere. Meanwhile I have no clue how to find it. I'm not even interested in trying.

 

(I have also changed email addresses, so I no longer even have the email address it was hooked up to)

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OP -- so how does it feel? Liberating? Isolating? Both?

 

I have no idea if my best friends talk trash about me on fb. Never had fb. And it is one less point of drama in my life to also be a trash talk detector. I don't like to post alot of incendiary comments here on WTM because the passion of others' responses is not something I want weighing on my mind in my day-to-day life. (Sometimes I can't help myself, but it's more often that I did not think through that what I wrote would be considered incendiary, esp as I have mellowed with age) I don't even allow private msging here because I feel for a metaphysical electronic meeting place where I don't really know anyone IRL, there is no reason for have private convos. Call me weird that way.

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I've been thinking of leaving. I used to love it... but now all the changes they've made have made me feel anxious every time I'm there. I'm totally not someone who feels worried about internet privacy and I'm reasonably savvy about settings and things... but I feel worried now that every time I click anything there it will accidentally authorize everyone to see every article I read, every song I hear and every TV show I watch on Hulu. NO WAY. None of your business, thanks.

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I love Facebook! I live on the other side of the country from all my friends and family, so I obviously can't interact in person with any of them. And I highly doubt that I would be giving them all a ring once a week or so to hear what is going on in their lives, which I love hearing about. I also feel like I have gotten to know some of my friends so much better through Facebook than I ever knew them before because I frequently link to articles that spur thoughtful--and yes, sometimes heated--discussion. But all of my friends always remain civil toward me and each other, even when we disagree strongly. I love it.

 

As for privacy stuff, what you don't put up can't be made public. There is so very little personal info on my facebook account that I don't care if the whole world knew it. It's basically just my name. You are in charge of what info you provide, right?

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I left FB back in October. My account, however, wasn't a real one. It was just one made to play some of the games when I was up in the middle of the night (due to chronic illness). Other than a friend and two of my daughters, my friends on there were all strangers, also playing games.

 

I never did a real account because I didn't really see the need. My two daughters who are on there (adult daughters) rarely post. One has been using Google Plus and doesn't want to bother with FB (mentioned deleting her account). My friend doesn't post other than games, and her account is fake. My husband made one for a reunion but deleted it. I'm not really interested in people from high school. Relatives, extended, don't use it.

 

Reading the drama posts from some of the game friends, who used their real accounts, were enough to turn me off too. I'm not sure why they shared so much of their personal lives on an account which was filled with strangers (since they played games a lot more of their 1000 friends were strangers). I don't mean just general real life drama, but bickering and fighting back and forth with others on FB.

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I don't do facebook!

 

Glad to hear another person is leaving. It's not a safe place.

 

I left last year - it was just too weird. Safety was less of an issue. I probably would have been happier if I hadn't friended several old friends from high school. People who hardly gave me the time of day back then... and now they wanted me to meet up for lunches, etc. Creepy and not my thing. I'm a homebody and hate large social situations.

 

Halcyon, I've been intrigued by Google+ , but I just don't know that many people who have switched. Can you tell me what you like about it and how it compares with Facebook?

Edited by PrincessMommy
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Ex-fber here. I deleted my account a few months back. It was liberating and anxiety-provoking at the same time. I find that I don't miss it now.

 

I sometimes get the itch to go back and check out how things are. I also wished I had gotten some addresses and a few notes I had written up on FB... I just deactivated my account, so I guess I could go back for a day or two...grab all the stuff I want from my account and then delete the whole darn thing.

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I deleted (deactivated) about a year ago. My sister got several messages from my "friends" wanting to know if I was still friends with them or if I had blocked them. Not one of them ever contacted me directly via phone or email, etc. My sister gave all who contacted her the info to reach me, if they so chose.

 

I did actually start a new FB account about 6 months ago. However, I have no "friends" on there, and only use it to "like" businesses or whatnot to keep up with information from those that I choose to want to know about.

 

I didn't know there was a difference between delete and deactivate, but before I deactivated, I did delete everything on there, individually. Friends, photos, etc. Some of my info may be hanging out there still. I will look at the link to see if there is anything I can do after this amount of time.

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If I got a virus, or my password was hacked, I'd probably leave, too. As it stands, I like FB for keeping up with friends and family, but I rarely post statuses or pictures, etc. I use FB in the same manner that I act in real life. I quietly listen and watch.

 

I've been thinking of leaving. I used to love it... but now all the changes they've made have made me feel anxious every time I'm there. I'm totally not someone who feels worried about internet privacy and I'm reasonably savvy about settings and things... but I feel worried now that every time I click anything there it will accidentally authorize everyone to see every article I read, every song I hear and every TV show I watch on Hulu. NO WAY. None of your business, thanks.

 

:iagree: Totally! I somehow managed to "recommend" a CNN article I read. Perhaps I accidentally clicked something, but I honestly don't think so :glare:.

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I would like to go this route too, but I thought that the email addresses weren't shown by default? At least, the last time I tried to do this I couldn't figure out where to find them. :confused:

 

Many of my friends have their email accounts "showing" to friends. Not sure what the default is.

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OP -- so how does it feel? Liberating? Isolating? Both?

 

 

Haven't done it yet LOL--my plan is to do it on Thursday, once I've spent tomorrow copying down any email addresses I want to copy. I haven't had a chance to do that with the holiday hubbub!

 

I will post after I do it....:tongue_smilie:

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I've been thinking of leaving. I used to love it... but now all the changes they've made have made me feel anxious every time I'm there.

 

This is how I feel.

 

 

I'm totally not someone who feels worried about internet privacy and I'm reasonably savvy about settings and things... but I feel worried now that every time I click anything there it will accidentally authorize everyone to see every article I read, every song I hear and every TV show I watch on Hulu. NO WAY. None of your business, thanks.

 

That's right. I was playing some silly game linked to a company I liked, and the more you play the more points you get which can be redeemed for product. So of course I was playing like three times a day. Turns out every time I played there was a post in my feed about it, unbeknownst to me. Not the worst thing that could happen, but given that I have clients on there, didn't seem professional. Besides that, I really don't WANT people to know what I am doing online. I don't WANT people to know what articles I'm reading, or what music I am listening to, or what I'm posting to other people. I am getting quite tired of feeling exposed. Even though I know how to set my privacy settings, Facebook seems to change the "rules of the game" so often that you really have to be on top of it to make sure that their stupid "defaults" (which inevitably allow for MAXIMUM exposure) are reset.

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I deleted (deactivated) about a year ago. My sister got several messages from my "friends" wanting to know if I was still friends with them or if I had blocked them. Not one of them ever contacted me directly via phone or email, etc. My sister gave all who contacted her the info to reach me, if they so chose.

 

I did actually start a new FB account about 6 months ago. However, I have no "friends" on there, and only use it to "like" businesses or whatnot to keep up with information from those that I choose to want to know about.

 

I didn't know there was a difference between delete and deactivate, but before I deactivated, I did delete everything on there, individually. Friends, photos, etc. Some of my info may be hanging out there still. I will look at the link to see if there is anything I can do after this amount of time.

 

I think you can still delete. They keep your account in "sleep" mode in case you ever decide to come back.

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I left last year - it was just too weird. Safety was less of an issue. I probably would have been happier if I hadn't friended several old friends from high school. People who hardly gave me the time of day back then... and now they wanted me to meet up for lunches, etc. Creepy and not my thing. I'm a homebody and hate large social situations.

 

Halcyon, I've been intrigued by Google+ , but I just don't know that many people who have switched. Can you tell me what you like about it and how it compares with Facebook?

 

Google plus is simply WAY more focused on "who gets to see what". You can group people into "circles" and only the circles you specify will get to see what you post. I prefer it. Plus, there are fewer ads, apps, distractions, feeds and what had you. I feel much more in control of my information there. Not sure how accurate that is, however. Before I get more into it, I am going to search for information on google plus privacy.

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