Facebook is frustrating

[Josie Beth]

Ok. So I’ve been off Facebook for years now and I wanted to get back on so I could connect locally with some other transgender people. Pride fest is coming up in October so I thought it might be a good idea to get ready for it and create a new account. New phone #, new email, should have no problem at all right? Not exactly. Only about an hour into my creation of the account and setting up privacy I got locked out again because they wanted a current ID photo to verify that I really do own the account?!?! What kind of discriminatory nonsense is this? I’m about done trying to be on social media period because they are too intrusive into my privacy. Is there any alternative social media site that doesn’t require a current photo ID just to be privileged enough to have an account? I’m not showing that picture to Facebook. It’s just not going to happen.

[michelle_kitten]

That really doesn't sound right.  I didn't have to show any photo of any kind to setup my Michelle Renee account. (Which, if you wish to friend me, DM me. Any transpulse member.)

 

I would double check everything.  Make sure the URL you are connecting to is facebook.com and not facebook.somethingelsehere.com.  That's a common sub-domain ploy for phishing sites.  You have to be wise about facebook and your privacy.

 

I didn't know Springfield did their Pride in October too.  I've already scheduled October 11 off for pride here in Atlanta.  This will actually be my first Pride and I am rather excited.

[VickySGV]

I just checked FB and there are about 15 people with your name from here and Josie by itself picks up another bunch.  If you are using a stock photo that they may have one of already I can see a problem.  I have been "cloned" several times and one time got even with the cloner by changing to a really horrible face making picture about a year ago.  I think all they want to know is that you are not using a picture you snitched from someone else.  I am an Admin on a about 3 sites over there and other friends who have given them the ID have not had problems since. 

[Lexi C]

Hey JB yeah Social Med sucks and places like FB, Twitter and Instagram  are the worse...I have a pic of my cat on mine and never had a problem....Also Michelle congrats on yr 1st pride week. I never  done one in L.A just a big hassel...Be congrats

[Josie Beth]

Well it’s my picture and I took it on my phone so all they have to do is get the metadata off the picture and it says everything. And yes it’s a lot more than a time stamp. It’s currently still “under review” what a bunch of bull. The wizard of oz act is getting old. I’m probably going to just use some other place that isn’t Facebook.

[Maid In Bedlam]

I had this with twitter. I set up an account just to follow one person really as im not a big fan of anything like that. Not facebook, twitter, Etc etc.

 

Set it up all good then 20 minutes later i got the account then got the message your account is suspended.I hadnt even posted or looked at anyone or anything.  It apprently wanted me to confirm my phone number etc. yer so right im gonna give any information to them other than the basic stuff. Therefore twitter has lost a user. Quite simple. I wont be useing it. I would assume Facebook is the same. They ask so much for so little in return. Ask for there personal details and see how far you get.

 

its bad enough giving your phone number to a company that you dont expect to sell your personal details then a few days later you start getting phone calls from somewhere in india asking you about if you have been involved in an accident.

 

Data is money now and they are not getting a dime out of mine

 

 

I could just get a throw away sim card but why should i? Its the principal of the thing. What will they ask for next? Biometrics?

 

They have all got to big for there own boots.

[Lexi C]

well there is always the sunday personals....

[tracy_j]

17 hours ago, Maid In Bedlam said:

I could just get a throw away sim card but why should i? Its the principal of the thing. What will they ask for next? Biometrics?

 

They have all got to big for there own boots.

 

You have it there - a bit of a farce really as anyone with criminal intent would just do that and they would be non the wiser. I have noticed that things are getting tighter. Even with emails they now almost demand a contact phone  number. Maybe they do with all new accounts on Yahoo and Hotmail. It's like this cookie business. I have things set to delete them on exit so they go anyway. I suppose most people don't so are easily targeted with spam etc. Is directed spam better than random? 

 

It has always amused me that Facebook claims to have so many million users. It's amusing because of the number of fake and non person accounts.

 

Tracy

[Ellora]

I stopped using Facebook shortly after the 2016 election in the US. Didn’t want to listen to all the political bs and I was kinda bored with FB anyway. Sure it’s a great way to keep in touch with friends and family. But it also takes away from the personal side of contacting/ communicating with friends and families. FB just uses/sells out information and photos for their business anyway. I haven’t missed FB , plus it’s freed up a ton of time. I’m not constantly checking what everyone has said, or if people have “liked” a post I made. The FB Drama isn’t there. People get super upset over the smallest things on FB, they will lose their minds over anything. I’d rather go back to MySpace before I go back to FB. 

I prefer TP for any social communication personally.

[Jani]

I have never used FB and refuse to, especially after all the news about how they violate privacy.   You're right @Ellora that it seems to be a big time-suck.  My wife uses it and she tells me of all the hate and silly stuff there.  Why?  If I want to catch up with someone I call or text them.     

[Ellora]

Just now, Jani said:

My wife uses it and she tells me of all the hate and silly stuff there.  Why?  If I want to catch up with someone I call or text them

Ya, I got sick of all the drama and hate. People lose their minds if they are blocked, it’s really bizarre how personal FB gets. Not worth it. 

Exactly! Call, text, or meet up with someone. We have gotten too detached from people, too desensitized from the lack of human contact, and this is coming from an introvert, lol. 

[Josie Beth]

I think I read that waves of people have left Facebook in the last few years. Sometimes the exodus is up to 300,000,000 at a time. That’s really astounding. So what does that mean? This: They are also claiming accounts that are no longer in use, or as in my case, accounts that were shut down for this bogus reason that they are too intrusive about my personal information, too demanding that I have a 3 part verification, or just won’t believe that I am me. Or people who just abandoned Facebook entirely and didn’t look back. It’s pretty sad when there’s more bureaucracy for a social media site than there is to get a passport. I think mr zuckerman has overstepped his function in society. He now fancies himself a government agency simply because he shares a lot of information with them. It may be the truest indication that we are already under fascism, because the lines are so blurred there. But it’s a subtler and more bland type of fascism. Granted I left Facebook long ago for many of the   same reasons that other people did too, the drama, the oversimplified and adolescent political divisions, and the constant bombardment of my page with “controversial” nonsense that wasn’t really all that controversial, just blown way out of proportion. But now I’m just looking for a networking tool because I’m able to weed out the nonsense easier than I used to and I can’t even enjoy that part of it because of a silly restriction. I’m starting to think that YouTube, for all it’s problems, and google social media platforms, and maybe reddit, are the last bastions of true dialogue left, because everyone else is so censored or closed off, that nobody wants to be on these other sites that are still trying to say they are still the trailblazers of social media. It’s also sad that they could have a reasonable work around like some dating sites that require a face picture with a verification number on a 3x5 card, but apparently that just makes too much sense. So I’m back to square one and looking for alternatives. Only one so far has worked at all, and that’s Ello, the rest don’t even seem to send a verification email at all no matter how many times I click resend. 

[Lexi C]

Hey JB whats Ello?..is that meet up site , dating site or just another social media platform like FB, because  I am fan of fb

[Ellora]

“Hundreds of millions of Facebook users phone nun beers found in an unprotected online database.” Is another reason why I don’t use FB. 

 

FB is a genius way to get people to give a corporation all of your personal information, ALL of it, and you give them other people information too. FB only cares enough about its consumer to make money off of them. They don’t want fake accounts, extra accounts and animals, cause they won’t bring them New personal information to sell. 

[Lexi C]

?

[Maid In Bedlam]

 

Just about says it all

[tracy_j]

LOL, This reminds me of an old computer saying - 'Garbage in, garbage out'. I am aware of all manner of infringements from various people. I suppose with complex data analysis there is value in what they have and the majority of users are somewhat open, at least with their accounts, but to regard it as clear cut would be a mistake for any advertiser.

 

Tracy

[Maid In Bedlam]

Problem for them Tracy over here anyway is GDPR. Unless you openly give them your data they cant just go get it. Therefore as with the original post and my altercation with twitter. They now have to use tactics such as. You cant use the platform unless you openly tell us everything of your own free will. Im sure under GDPR you cant be forced to give details but somehow they manage to go round the blackmail and thats what it is when you get down to the nuts and bolts.

 

As far as im concerned i can give them the grand old saying 

 

"Dont tell them pike" Springs to mind

[Maid In Bedlam]

oh and forgot to metion

 

25. Photos posted publicly in forum topics or comments, if they depict a person, must depict only the member posting them. You may not publicly share pictures of other people, even if you are included in the photo. This restriction does not apply to photos uploaded to the gallery section of the forums, as it is visible only to registered members who are signed in.

 

Im not Zugenberg. Wish i had is money mind you.

 

Forgot. My bad. Remove if you deem unsuitable. As i cant take it down.

 

 

[Josie Beth]

Ello is a social media platform for people who enjoy art or create it, but it has a decidedly lgbtq leaning to it. I think it’s something started by Austrian or NZ users who left Facebook after one of the many instances when privacy was violated. It’s not as big as FB but it’s growing. 

[tracy_j]

@Maid In Bedlam I love your 'Minnie the Minx'.

 

I dread to think the problems that Facebook and others would have in policing a rule like that. They avoid the issue by putting things onto the user who can restrict access. That is perhaps showing a major difference between a fairly small forum (many of which also have fairly strict guidlines) and these social media sites whose intent is to make money so trying to get the largest, hopefully genuine, membership as possible. With any organisation like that though there are also the sharks who approach trying (and succeeding) to pick off stragglers.

 

Thank you for the update Josie

 

Tracy

[Maid In Bedlam]

5 hours ago, tracy_j said:

@Maid In Bedlam I love your 'Minnie the Minx'.

 

 

 Thanks Tracy. It was a dilemma. You missed it but for half an hour i actually put a lil picture of myself on.  Then I lost my bottle lol. So for you. You are most brave and i commend you. and your picture ?

 

5 hours ago, tracy_j said:

 

 

I dread to think the problems that Facebook and others would have in policing a rule like that. They avoid the issue by putting things onto the user who can restrict access. That is perhaps showing a major difference between a fairly small forum (many of which also have fairly strict guidlines) and these social media sites whose intent is to make money so trying to get the largest, hopefully genuine, membership as possible. With any organisation like that though there are also the sharks who approach trying (and succeeding) to pick off stragglers.

 

 

They already do. I cannot use twitter as a useful platform unless i give them more personal information. Which is not going to happen for the following reasons Its none of there business and i do not see how giving them my phone number will make twitter any more useful than it is now.  They just want to sell it on. Thats my take on it. They also collect data while your useing the site the same as FB does. So they can target advertising.

 

I have even seen Videos where google is listening to everything you say. We all know alexa listens. Thats how it works.

 

Its silicone valley. They do as they please and are a law unto themselves. This is why they dont set up in the UK we have to many rules regarding personal data. This is why most forums are based in other countrys with more lax rules on data protection.

Even this site falls under US Law.

Quote

TransPulse is hosted on servers physically located in the United States. As content on our servers is stored within the United States, US law prevails in consideration of any legalities. By your use of this site, you agree to the jurisdiction of the United States - more specifically, Ada County in the State of Idaho.

 

So we also have to abide by US Law technically. That isnt a dig to the site. Thats just the way it is. If you dont agree then you dont have to use it.  Like most sites including facebook/Twitter etc.

 

 

History lesson coming: Do you know where data protection rules came from? Germany.

Do you know why? Because World War II and the atrocities of the Nazis, who systematically abused private data to identify Jews and other minority groups  Ie anyone they deemed as not being part of the plan. Homosexuals, Transvestites, Transsexuals. Gypsys, You get the idea!

 

Thats the popular believe anyway.

 

Therefore

 

This is why we now have gdpr. To protect peoples privacy in every way shape and form. Its a gatekeeper so to speak.

 

Anyway thats enough serious stuff. Back to being Minnie the Minx or Maid in Bedlam whichever you prefer ?

[tracy_j]

17 hours ago, Maid In Bedlam said:

 Thanks Tracy. It was a dilemma. You missed it but for half an hour i actually put a lil picture of myself on.  Then I lost my bottle lol. So for you. You are most brave and i commend you. and your picture ?

 

 

 

Thank you. Locally I am pretty much out anyway so am not worried about my picture for that. I suppose I could get online hassle but here is very protective of everyone so I (and everyone else) can rely on support. I am generally confident so, although there may be places it could be embarrasing, it is unlikely to be damaging. I suppose if someone is out to be nasty they could be anyway. A few year ago when making the decision on where to go I decided it was better to be bold and face the consequences than continue down the spiral I was going. This is always a personal thing dependant on individual circumstances though.

 

I must admit I avoid the serious stuff except when I need to. I have an email account which asks me to provide a phone number virtually every time I log on, but then I usually see a little insignificant box which enables me to avoid it. You have to provide an email address for security, which is sensible but creates a ring of them. Not having a smartphone means that I cannot use these various apps for them anyway. There are usually ways around. I don't use a phone much so don't have a contract, just one of those top up free sims. I have to remember to check the balance once in a while to keep the account active. I think it was well over a year ago, maybe two, I put some money in. I think that since I opened various online accounts for sites the entrance requirements have changed greatly. Maybe I need to try a new account on social media just to see what's required LOL

 

Tracy

[Maid In Bedlam]

I do not put a picture up because im Stelth. This would cause me all sorts of problems should anyone ever relise any diffrent as you could imagine. Hense i never post a picture. Anyway how do you know this isnt really me? Perhaps im actually Minnie the Minx ?

 

But seriously. So may apps are needed now for this and that. im sure some people now consider it weird if you dont have a smart phone.

Not having a mobile at all would be considered stone age.

I can still recall when Phones were in a red box on the corner and if you needed to call you had to put money in them. Just wonderful memorys. You dont see many now. They are becoming extinct.

 

I must admit i have considered going retro and going back to a phone that actually just rings and thats about it.

But I actually like my phone and all its gadgets and apps. I would miss it to much. very sad i know.

 

Emails, I dont mind giving emails. its impersonal. But a phone number is something thats to close to home for my likeing.  As i said the way things are going it will be fingerprints and retena scans soon.

 

 

I value my privacy and im one of those people that do consider the concequences of where my data goes. Even those dna tests for the find my ancesters sites concern me. They have your dna they have all they need. Im sure they do not just dispose of it. It goes on a database somewhere. Ready to come back and bite you.

 

We should still value our privacy as something sacred

 

 

[Josie Beth]

That’s something that I really agree with. My privacy is important. But they already do biometrics on phones and laptops. Several have fingerprint scanners. My last job required it to clock in. Facial recognition is also a very common method for unlocking phones. Phone booths are really rare over here. On my street there’s maybe 2 pay phones that are still standing up but the handset is torn off or the cash box is broken out. I always wonder why they didn’t just get it over with and yank them out. They just make the neighborhood look even more ugly. And this is within a couple blocks of the trendy places downtown. Pay phones really don’t exist much outside of airports and bus stations anymore. And those usually use debit cards. But by the time you pay for a call you might as well just get a cell phone and walk around like everyone else is.