Facebook

[shootingstar]

Here's the thing I see as dangerous:
- I get privacy issues...ironically this doesn't bother me since I'm not doing anything I'd be ashamed of...
- but, now that I've seen the "dots connected", I see an ability for an uninformed third party to draw incorrect presumptions about me simply by my association with folks who do certain things or post links to other things...

Yes, true. Alot of people on Earth have my name. My last name is the top 10 most popular Chinese last name in the world. I've seen what other women look like who share the same name set as I. There's enough that we could run a guessing contest..

This is why even if some people had small info. on my cycling hobbies, I don't mind.

Or maybe it's a good thing to have aliases.

[OakLeaf]

True that. No one who's actually looking for me on FB can find me because my name is so common.

My DH, who has a less-common first name and an extremely unusual last name, still has two other people on FB alone with his same name.

[GLC1968]

True that. No one who's actually looking for me on FB can find me because my name is so common.

My DH, who has a less-common first name and an extremely unusual last name, still has two other people on FB alone with his same name.

And on the flip side of this, my maiden name is so incredibly unique that a simple google search will reveal all you'd ever want to know about me, my parents, my deceased aunt and my brother (and to a lesser extent, his wife). The info I have on my Facebook account is already out there. *shrug* It's a damn good thing that I have nothing to hide!

[tulip]

There are maybe five people with my first name (that I can find), and I never heard of anyone with my first name until about 10 years ago. My last name is rare except in certain areas. No one has both my first and last names that I've ever found. I guess that makes me easy to find. So maybe I don't need Facebook to be found. Folks can just google me.

[emily_in_nc]

There are maybe five people with my first name (that I can find), and I never heard of anyone with my first name until about 10 years ago. My last name is rare except in certain areas. No one has both my first and last names that I've ever found. I guess that makes me easy to find. So maybe I don't need Facebook to be found. Folks can just google me.

And I'm just the opposite. My name (both first and last) are so common that I'm nearly impossible to find! I also set up FB so that my Facebook account can't be found in a google search at all nor in a FB search unless it's by one of my already accepted FB friends (and I only have seven). There are a ton of other people on FB with my same first/last name, and I didn't use my maiden name as my middle name so as to avoid friend requests from old classmates. If I want to find them, I will (most are already friends of my one FB friend from high school), but I don't want them to find me.

I set all my privacy settings to "friends only" or "only me" and disabled apps and websites. I've only been on FB for two weeks but so far nothing remotely worrisome has occurred...at least that I am aware of.

[channlluv]

I really admire you for recognizing the problem and shutting it down. Did you completely delete your account, or just deactivate it?

I have an account but I often forget to check in for several days. I get real-life friends who ask why I didn't respond to their such-and-such post/photo/video link, and it's just because I never saw it.

I keep up with a few real friends via FB, and family, but the rest is all pretty much just interesting chatter among professional contacts similar to what I'd hear at a conference, so it's fun and informative, usually, but nothing I need to check on every day.

I have addiction issues in my family, too, so I don't drink, have never done drugs. I'm glad technology isn't one of my personal demons. (Food is challenging enough.)

Roxy