This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
cross-posted from: https://programming.dev/post/35800407
Related: Meta’s chatbots held ‘sensual’ chats with kids, offered false medical info.
I did the same about 12 ish years ago as it was already becoming a misinformation machine.
Yes! And those wierd psychology experiments they were doing? Gross. https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-28051930 I left in 2014 passively (stopped daily use) then 2017 stopped any interaction
Once again like others said, drop Facebook! Lots of fake profiles, scam ads and miss information.
Only reason I have Facebook is Facebook marketplace. Would love for some to create a alternative. Craigslist and OfferUp are nice, but the Facebook algorithm is more like local ebay. It might not tell me the most recent stuff or make it easy to sort by category, but it's awesome at giving me recommendations.
I agree but fb is the only place for musicians and show/event notifications, not to mention TONs of non tech savvy small businesses use fb SOLELY for their business info and hours.
Its never going away.
If a business uses Facebook only, I boycott them.
Facebook and Instagram won't let me view any of it anyways, but a business should have principles.
For real. Like there are braindead-easy services for building a website. There are definitely alternatives.
It's not just a matter of the company's capabilities. Sometimes the customers demand it.
Very recently a group of moms I know was upset because their plans were weather dependent and the water park they were heading to only posted the closure on their official website and not on facebook!
Yeah we're all tech gods and they are dummies har har etc. And fortunately my work lets me work at quiet offices and at home. But I feel for the people who have to serve them, because the public IS filled with dummies, but many of them are just nice people who are trying to do business with you. And of course a large subset are cunts, which makes the ignorant decent people get much worse service.
This just reminded me about reading in an article how at some point Musk said he wanted to make X be the everything app. For many people, Facebook is already much further in that direction. That's where they get their news, text or call their friends, do their shopping, plan their events, doom scroll, argue with strangers, etc. They might never leave it if TikTok wasn't so deeply soaked into their neurons.
Needles to say, these people are exactly the type of conservative or recovering conservative people who should be far away from facebook. And I'm not excusing them. But I can at least understand the position folks trying to do business with them are in.
Not as brain dead as an fb page xD there's tons of businesses solely using fb.
Business info can be found anywhere through duckduckgo, google or with a phone call! I never knew that musicians use FB, I guess for promotions ? After leaving FB I used YouTube and bandcamp for new music.
I meant local music and such. There's no other avenue right now for that. Local city events too
I have a local newspaper subscription that often have articles/info and/or ads for local shows and festivals - one can even go to the library to read it every day for free if paying isn't in one's budget (but I like paying for it, it's a lot of fluff but sometimes they dig up something about how my city is being managed or mismanaged, and they have shone a light on a few desperately needed changes in local government).
I also know most venues in the area that host small bands and can check their website or get their newsletter through email.
There's also flyers being taped up at the store, library and on maintenance boxes and poles around town for current events and activities (that's how I found my knitting club!).
There are probably ticket vendors where you can flag certain bands or venues or maybe genres and get an email when something is booked in your area.
Just walking my city, talking to people, looking in shops and venues, and being present outside I get a ton of info about local events. I don't miss FB. I don't need a global mega-site to tell me what's happening outside my own door.
Bands In Town works pretty well for all the bands I follow.
There was this new technology in the 80s that took over in offices. It became so ubiquitous that people bought the machines to have at home, and it found a less-than-optimal use-case as a general communication device. In the 90s, as its popularity boomed, it would be totally reasonable to make the same assessment you just made, that they would never go away. But when was the last time you used a fax machine?
Im sorry, I dont feel like your comparison is relevant. Until something exists thats brain dead easy to use and has a ton of backing like fb, it will be required to have it for any community involvement in a lot of places.
Remember, the internet is scary now and people only want spoonfed services from massive corporations. Anything else is scawwyy.
I deleted my FB in 09 because of the social expectations and toxicity that came from it. Definitely in my top 10 best decisions of my life.
Honestly, good on him.
More people should do the same.
He took a principled stance when he left Spotify too, after they paid hundreds of millions for Joe Rogan's podcast.
Edit: Disappointingly, it turns out he went back to Spotify after a couple of years.
I'm pretty sure his label put his stuff back on there, despite his wishes. I seen to remember a need article at the time describing his reaction as "disappointed". Not all of his stuff is back on there, but I guess the stuff he didn't have full control over is.
Personally, I don't listen to Joe Rogan, but I do listen to Neil Young. And Spotify is the way I typically listen to anything since they killed the SD Card on most mobile phones. So it hurt me, and I assume it hurts anyone who would want to listen to both and only gets the option of Joe Rogan. So I think having access to media is better, but I'm not the artist and I get taking a moral stance.
I think the aim is to get people to switch to a more ethical streaming service, if they want to stream music. Spotify isn't the only option.
The way people turned up their nose at the Fediverse when the Muskening happened to Twitter was heartbreaking. I knew social media was an addiction but when you find out your dealer is an absolute monster how do you not go looking for a new supplier?
But they all discarded Mastodon et al as cringe and teduoust. Like, the way even trans women influencers stayed on Twitter blew my mind. When bluesky got off the ground there was finally some migration, but not enough.
It really showed me how many of the "anti-capitalist" and the "anarchism" and "mutual aid" people were all just talk. The mutual-aid volunteer-based platform exists and you stuck with the fascist because it was easy and you're too cool for the nerd shit.
I quit 10yrs ago. I am almost 70. If this old fart can do it. So can you.
I feel like more people should know what’s going on. Facebook has done some scummy stuff in the past. Now Zuck is openly defending his AI grooming children. In and of itself it doesn’t make a lot of sense — what’s the upshot for Meta here? But outside the bubble of logic, it sets kids up to be groomed by real predators. It’s unacceptable.
People say the problem is that all the people they know are on Facebook. Two issues: most of those people would forget you exist if you leave Facebook. Also, you’re the reason they’re there. The second reason is that you are literally the product. You being on Facebook is part of the reason those people are, too, so be the change you want to see in the world.
most of those people would forget you exist if you leave Facebook
This is 100% true. I dropped facebook about 10 years back. If I'm not your "friend" without facebook, then you're not really my friend. Getting out of that cesspool of drama and ignorance was one of the best moves I've made.
what’s the upshot for Meta here?
I'm a firm believer that there is some data point somewhere that indicates this will make them more money somehow, so that's why they do this.
These companies aren't run by people; they're run by data.
Facts
Neil Young and Dolly Parton
Role models we need but don't deserve
Once again, Neil Young reminds us that he has a gargantuan penis.
So based 🙏
What is up with these CAPS? Are we copying the typographic INCONTINENCE of Trump?
typographic incontinence
This term tickled my linguizzle gland.
I have noticed people have changed the way they type since around 2016, when trump became president. The amount of people putting "Sad." Behind a sentence is mindblowing. He gave so many people severe brainworms.
Using caps for emphasis in places where formatting options don’t exist is a practice as old as the internet. I remember doing it in the usenet days.
I did the same earlier this year for exactly this reason. Glad to know I'm in such good company.
On the one hand, that's good, but on the other hand, Meta crossed my line over eight years ago, and I'm woefully disappointed that he was using it until this point.
I guess, but you will lead a lonely life if you can't find common struggle with people in different scenarios than our own. We can easily lose our soul with these endless purity tests — for some reason, Leftists, progressives, and liberals seem to be constantly on the lookout for the next Jesus Christ, who will just simply energize voters by consequence of, I dunno, magic or some shit.
Neil Young is still a working musician who needs to get his face and music in front of as wide and as general of an audience as possible — why wouldn't they be where people are? That's what makes this stand so important. Homie needs Facebook and Insta and still said no.
He did the same thing on spotify and a little while later all his songs (at least the ones I had in my playlists) were back.
The Almighty dollar always wins doesn't it Neil lol
Didn't have to look far for that heart of gold, seems he already had it.
