RealTown's RealTalk

There's no 'peril' on Facebook. Relax. Enjoy. Depends on why you go there in the first place as to who you accept as friends. I have not met many of my friends on there, however, we have friends in common, interests in common, etc. Why not friend them? You never know what great fun and/or business might come of it.

Geeze, lighten up and have some fun in this life; you can't use this time through to be all serious and get it perfect so the next time through you can relax.

If you want business from Facebook, then make lots of friends, comment on what they do, wish them a happy birthday, and have some fun.

Same with twitter, bebo, myspace, etc. Relax first, fun second. Social media is NOTHING MORE THAN AN ONLINE PARTY for the most part.

That begs me asking a question that should have been asked prior to any of the above: Do you not go to social gatherings offline, for fear of being in peril or danger? If you avoid social gatherings out of fear for your physical, financial, or other form of security, then invest your facebook time in psychotherapy. Seriously. If you do indeed go to social gatherings offline, which I suspect is the case, then you know how to behave in social settings, and FB is no different.

If someone is upsetting or obnoxious or boring at an IRL party, you avoid them, walk away, etc. FB is no different - block them out.

There's no reported cases of a gun reaching through a monitor and shooting someone; no reported cases of rape happening through a monitor on someone's computer desk, etc. Absurd? Maybe. More absurd than thinking you are in peril by playing on FB? Hell no!

Newell

Chris, I agree... sometimes people do say things that cause me to raise an eyebrow... but I don't feel it's a refection on me. The person that posted their thoughts have to live with what they posted, and I can always add a contradictory comment if I choose.
One of my FB friends mentioned seeing a particularly badly prepared BPO, and in doing so, kind of inferred that all BPO agents were idiots. I didn't like that much, but I benignly inquired what city that agent was in, so as to deflect the sweeping statement.
Another of my FB friends constantly harps on about how litter is bad for the planet... not exactly a newsflash, and gets tedious with repetitive posts.
I don't respond to the games, flowers, and so forth that some send, although I acknowledge the sweet intent. They are more active & knowledgeable than I am. I did try the game Farkle... horrible game, even when I thought I was winning, I lost.
As you said, it is like a party, and many will have opposing viewpoints, it's to be expected.
OTOH, I do not understand how the messages posted on mine disappear after a couple weeks, and yet others, like Yoyo, still have posts that are several months old? Perhaps I changed a setting without knowing it, or perhaps an auto-purge is the default. Once when I didn't check FB for about a month, I went on there and people were talking about something, and I had missed the beginning, and the beginning was not there... only the most current posts were there, and clicking on "old postings" at the bottom did not help. I'm curious how far back do others' FB postings go?

Lindy in Houston

I utilize the "Friend's List" feature quite a bit on FB to help weed out those prefer to see less or more of. This feature allows me to create lists based on the relationships I have with the people I friend. For example, I have "Local friends & family", "out of town friends & family" "Classmates", "Book club" & "professional contacts".

When you first get a friend request, you wil lsee the option to add them to a list...you can also go toyur established list of "all friends" and add them from this area also. Friedns can be part of more than one list.

Since I have established a "Professional Contacts" list...this enables me to limit what I want this group to see. For example, when you create a photo album, you are asked "who can see this"...it defaults to "everyone"..but you can change it or CUSTOMIZE it...When you customize it, you can tell it WHICH friend list you DON'T want to share your pics with...I hit Professional Contacts. That is just one small way to limit what people see on your FB.

As for seeing all the games and hugs etc....when it's on your wall, towards the right end of their post...if you hover your mouse near there, it should say "Hide"...here, you have the option to HIDE that person's posts all together or also the application they are playing...so if you don't want to see ANY Mafia wars or Farmville regardless of who sends it, this is one way to eliminate it.

Hope that helps somewhat!

Tanja (Randy's Assistant)

Thanks Randy,

Your information is helpful.

Yours, Dave