What is it with the social networking sites? They start out great, then they "make changes for the better" and we users end up hating the changes. Facebook is on my hitlist right now because of the newest change - "Live Newsfeed."
It sucks.
Period.
I do not need to know when any of my "friends" adds a new friend, joins a group or becomes a fan of something. All I want to see is what their status update is, if they post a note or photo so that I can comment on it if I want to and any quizzes they do.
Now my "status updates" newsfeed is filled with a bunch of garbage I could care less about.
So I joined the group, "Switch Back to the Old Newsfeed" at http://www.facebook.com/groups.php?ref=sb#/group.php?gid=155541434951, which has over 300,000 members and counting (please join it!)
I'm sick of the changes Facebook is making.
When Facebook started out, you need a real e-mail address from the school you either went to or worked for to become a member of FB. I loved that exclusivity. Then they decided to compete with Myspace and open it up to every Tom, Dick and Harry worldwide. Did you need a valid e-mail address from a real ISP? Nope. You can use a free e-mail address from Yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail, whatever to get an account. You don't need to verify who you are to get an account, so anyone can pretend to be another person. In fact, I have an alter ego who is a teen that I use to make friends with students at schools I'm going to be speaking at. FB doesn't care that people have bogus accounts with them. That is, of course, until said account is used in an illegal or immoral manner.
School resource officers, recruiters, employers, law enforcement, etc *all* get fake FB accounts to look for trouble online, check out potential students and employees, and even current students and employees to see what they're doing online.
It's just amazing how many people will approve a friend because they're:
1) A cute boy or girl
2) Mutual friends with at least one of their own friends (that really starts the ball rolling - as soon as other friends see "you" are mutual friends with their friends, they'll approve you, no questions asked)
3) In the same network
4) Just because they asked to be your friend
Another thing that sticks in my craw about FB is the inability to quickly report someone for harassing you. It used to be you'd click on "HELP" at the bottom of the page, then you could do a search for "harassment" and get a link to send a complaint in. Now, if the person is currently on your friends list, you have to Remove them as a friend, go back to their profile, then click on Report/Block this Person and fill out a complaint form.
I also would like to be able to pick and choose what updates I see from those on my friends list, especially if they're going to keep this new crapass Newsfeed. Let me choose from the following (and this is a suggestion for FB):
Check off the updates you'd like see from your friends -
__When they update their Status
__When they post a Note
__When they post a new photo
__When they join a group
__When they become a fan of something
__When they make progress in a game they're playing
__When they take a quiz
Can anyone think of anything else to add?
With all the options you can supposedly choose from in your settings, this is the most important that should be there and is NOT!
I'd also like the option to NOT be tagged in a photo without my permission. If someone decides to tag me, I should get a notification to approve/not approve the photo. Some people don't have a lot of photos in their profile for personal reasons and when someone tags them in a photo and that appears in their profile, it ticks them off. Then they come to me to ask how to get that photo removed. Oy.
What is it with FB that you can "like" something, but there is NO "dislike" button? Are they afraid we'll all become an angry mob and turn on FB? Maybe now we all will with the latest lovely changes.
Pick up your pitchforks, folks - let's go get those mad scientists at FB and give them what's what!
We want the old newsfeed back. We want the old Facebook back!!!!!!!
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Things that stick in my craw - parking idiots
What is it with people and parking lots? And I'm not just talking people driving cars. Pedestrians, too. But let's start with the drivers first.
You bought a new car and you don't want it to get dinged. . .just yet. If you're going to take up two spaces by parking diagonally, do it at the far end of the parking lot where no one else parks. Or someone will purposely shove a shopping cart into it.
If you see someone waiting patiently for a parking space, be polite and let them have it. Don't be an ass and steal it just because you happened to come the other way and have a better angle to get it. Or someone may purposely shove a shopping cart into your car.
Make sure you park between the two lines that designate the parking space. Don't be an ass and park so close or over one line that I can barely squeeze into my car or have to get in on the passenger side because you're a total numbnut.
I hate people who pull into a space, then drive through to the next. This is bad especially when I'm trying to park in the space you just pulled through to. Now you know why I gave you the finger.
Please be careful opening your door(s). I make sure I don't hit the car next to me. Do the same, please. Don't make me angry.
If I'm coming back to my car and you are busy gabbing away on your cell phone or talking with whoever in your car with your door open so that I can't get into my car, shut the damned door. Let me get in my car.
If the sign reads NO PARKING, then it means NO PARKING. Especially in the Fire Lane in front of the store. Or in the crosswalk. You are NOT special. You're an ass. Drop your passenger off and find a proper parking space.
Look behind you and left to right before pulling out of your space if you're backing up. Don't just put it in drive and step on the gas, you ass.
Now to the pedestrians.
If you see a car backing up (that's what those lights on the back are for), stop and wait. The driver may not see you or they may just be an ass and didn't bother looking to see if you were there. Don't keep walking behind the car so that one or both of you give the finger (or worse)
Don't walk in the middle of the lane where cars drive. This also applies to families who are four, five or more abreast and take over the whole lane. For gods sake, single file, people. Keep to the right or the left. Let the cars have the right of way.
Don't post a spouse, friend or child to stand in an empty spot while you drive around to get to it. Play fair. Or your special person might get run over. Or hit with a shopping cart.
And what is it with these specially marked parking spots for pregnant woman? Do you get a special permit for this? How do you know if the woman getting out of the vehicle is really pregnant? Or maybe she's just chubby? Are you going to ask her? And at what point of the pregnancy are they allowed to park there?
This goes for the spots for mommies with young ones in strollers or carriages. I may just have to put my Cabbage Patch Doll in a carriage so that I can get special parking, too.
You know what? Why aren't there spaces for people who don't qualify for a Handicap sticker/hangar, but who are obviously incapacitated? Such as someone on crutches, walking with a "boot" from a foot operation, limping heavily, walking with a cane, etc. We want equal rights!
Don't just assume a car is going to stop when you come out of the store to go to your car. Stop. Look. Wait. If the car stops to let you go by, please wave a "thank you" to them and go on your way. If they don't stop, wait until the coast is clear, then go.
If you are sick and tired of idiots in parking lots, then this site is for you: http://www.youparklikeanasshole.com/
and this one:
http://parkingidiotsg.blogspot.com/
You bought a new car and you don't want it to get dinged. . .just yet. If you're going to take up two spaces by parking diagonally, do it at the far end of the parking lot where no one else parks. Or someone will purposely shove a shopping cart into it.
If you see someone waiting patiently for a parking space, be polite and let them have it. Don't be an ass and steal it just because you happened to come the other way and have a better angle to get it. Or someone may purposely shove a shopping cart into your car.
Make sure you park between the two lines that designate the parking space. Don't be an ass and park so close or over one line that I can barely squeeze into my car or have to get in on the passenger side because you're a total numbnut.
I hate people who pull into a space, then drive through to the next. This is bad especially when I'm trying to park in the space you just pulled through to. Now you know why I gave you the finger.
Please be careful opening your door(s). I make sure I don't hit the car next to me. Do the same, please. Don't make me angry.
If I'm coming back to my car and you are busy gabbing away on your cell phone or talking with whoever in your car with your door open so that I can't get into my car, shut the damned door. Let me get in my car.
If the sign reads NO PARKING, then it means NO PARKING. Especially in the Fire Lane in front of the store. Or in the crosswalk. You are NOT special. You're an ass. Drop your passenger off and find a proper parking space.
Look behind you and left to right before pulling out of your space if you're backing up. Don't just put it in drive and step on the gas, you ass.
Now to the pedestrians.
If you see a car backing up (that's what those lights on the back are for), stop and wait. The driver may not see you or they may just be an ass and didn't bother looking to see if you were there. Don't keep walking behind the car so that one or both of you give the finger (or worse)
Don't walk in the middle of the lane where cars drive. This also applies to families who are four, five or more abreast and take over the whole lane. For gods sake, single file, people. Keep to the right or the left. Let the cars have the right of way.
Don't post a spouse, friend or child to stand in an empty spot while you drive around to get to it. Play fair. Or your special person might get run over. Or hit with a shopping cart.
And what is it with these specially marked parking spots for pregnant woman? Do you get a special permit for this? How do you know if the woman getting out of the vehicle is really pregnant? Or maybe she's just chubby? Are you going to ask her? And at what point of the pregnancy are they allowed to park there?
This goes for the spots for mommies with young ones in strollers or carriages. I may just have to put my Cabbage Patch Doll in a carriage so that I can get special parking, too.
You know what? Why aren't there spaces for people who don't qualify for a Handicap sticker/hangar, but who are obviously incapacitated? Such as someone on crutches, walking with a "boot" from a foot operation, limping heavily, walking with a cane, etc. We want equal rights!
Don't just assume a car is going to stop when you come out of the store to go to your car. Stop. Look. Wait. If the car stops to let you go by, please wave a "thank you" to them and go on your way. If they don't stop, wait until the coast is clear, then go.
If you are sick and tired of idiots in parking lots, then this site is for you: http://www.youparklikeanasshole.com/
and this one:
http://parkingidiotsg.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Things that stick in my craw - Twitter
When Twitter became all the rage, and since my work is in cyber crime, I opened an account. I still don't know why. Because this is what sticks in my craw about Twitter:
1. Too many spammers, porn profiles, etc are allowed to be opened on Twitter. There should be a better way of monitoring that kind of stuff.
2. When you do get one of the above "following" you, there is no way to report the person on the pulldown link next to their profile name. All you get is "Mention," "Send a direct message," "Follow" and "Block." Of course, I block the idiot, but I want to report them as well. Twitter sucks at that.
3. If you find someone is following you, it's great. But if you log into your profile and see your followers numbers have fallen, you can't tell who dropped you. And if you have a lot of followers, that's impossible to figure out. So now you probably are following someone who dropped you. I want to know so that I can drop them for dropping me. Hey, tit for tat, or is that Twit for tat?
4. Speaking of Twits, if you're going to get a Twitter account, learn the lingo. I got this direct message from someone who started following me: "Thank you for following me! I do read all my Twitts and respond to them, let's start a great relationship." Um, it's "Tweets" you moron.
5. I'd like to add the web sites of my volunteer organization, but you're only allowed one web site to post. Pfft.
6. Most of the things people post is drivel. I still don't get Twitter. Unless you're into reading what celebs are doing every minute of the day, what's the purpose?
7. For the people who post all the time on Twitter, don't you people have jobs or something else to do with your life? Geezus.
8. I really don't want to read your Tweet about what came out of your butt this morning. I mean, come on, people. That's gross and I *will* stop following you.
9. Twitter needs to have a verification service for people who opens accounts with them (so do Myspace, Facebook, etc). If I start following Keith Urban, it had better be the real Keith Urban and not some stalker pretending to be him.
10. That said, follow me on Twitter! http://twitter.com/Netcrimes
1. Too many spammers, porn profiles, etc are allowed to be opened on Twitter. There should be a better way of monitoring that kind of stuff.
2. When you do get one of the above "following" you, there is no way to report the person on the pulldown link next to their profile name. All you get is "Mention," "Send a direct message," "Follow" and "Block." Of course, I block the idiot, but I want to report them as well. Twitter sucks at that.
3. If you find someone is following you, it's great. But if you log into your profile and see your followers numbers have fallen, you can't tell who dropped you. And if you have a lot of followers, that's impossible to figure out. So now you probably are following someone who dropped you. I want to know so that I can drop them for dropping me. Hey, tit for tat, or is that Twit for tat?
4. Speaking of Twits, if you're going to get a Twitter account, learn the lingo. I got this direct message from someone who started following me: "Thank you for following me! I do read all my Twitts and respond to them, let's start a great relationship." Um, it's "Tweets" you moron.
5. I'd like to add the web sites of my volunteer organization, but you're only allowed one web site to post. Pfft.
6. Most of the things people post is drivel. I still don't get Twitter. Unless you're into reading what celebs are doing every minute of the day, what's the purpose?
7. For the people who post all the time on Twitter, don't you people have jobs or something else to do with your life? Geezus.
8. I really don't want to read your Tweet about what came out of your butt this morning. I mean, come on, people. That's gross and I *will* stop following you.
9. Twitter needs to have a verification service for people who opens accounts with them (so do Myspace, Facebook, etc). If I start following Keith Urban, it had better be the real Keith Urban and not some stalker pretending to be him.
10. That said, follow me on Twitter! http://twitter.com/Netcrimes