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General Category >> General Board >> So...Facebook, huh?
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Message started by Jeangoldstrom on Nov 6th, 2010, 2:02pm

Title: So...Facebook, huh?
Post by Jeangoldstrom on Nov 6th, 2010, 2:02pm

There was a discussion here a few  months ago about where are people posting nowadays (meaning...not here, why?) A suggestions was made about today people post on Facebook.

I did indeed check some other zines comparable to Anotherealm, and indeed practically nobody was posting there, either.

So, I guessed Facebook was the big trend. Okay, I went over there, got an account and...well, there was a ton of stuff there to read. If you are interested in what people eat for breakfast or who is publishing a new book, you will be in Heaven there.

I became suspicious when my "friend" count went over 500 -- and I mean out of those 500 I know...three. Maybe four.

What is going on here, I wondered? I started reading accounts (not on Facebook) about peoples' FB accounts getting hacked, etc. Yikes!

So I closed my account there.

I really hope some of our friends continue to post here. To me, this is a much more pleasant and interesting venue for our conversations.

What do you think?

-- Jean

Title: Re: So...Facebook, huh?
Post by ente per ente on Nov 7th, 2010, 10:00pm

Well, as for me...never  liked  Facebook  and  never had an account there :)...eh,eh...somebody  asked  me for joining  it  many times, but simply  I'm not  interested 8-)...it's not my kind  of  social network....eh,eh...I usually  follow  Forums  on Sci- Fi/fantasy/Horror and  scale modelling... :D

Title: Re: So...Facebook, huh?
Post by Webbie on Nov 8th, 2010, 4:51am

It seems that facebook is for the younger generation.
It just doesn't work as a forum for what we do here.

Doesn't make it a bad thing rather a tool that works best elsewhere.

Title: Re: So...Facebook, huh?
Post by Jeangoldstrom on Nov 8th, 2010, 7:29pm

Ente per ente -- cheers for you!

Webbie, you are right. I thought I should give it a try, and I did, and...well, that's over now!

I'm not saying it's bad. It just amazes me that so many people involved with it see it as The Meaning Of Life...or something.

Although, here is an interesting (to me) sidelight. John Scalzi, author of Old Man's War, a good s-f novel, did a lot for his book via his blog and his Facebook entries. I think John puts more effort into his blog and his Facebook items than most people put into their novels. He blogs daily, and it's light, bright and fun to read. So are his facebook entries. As a result, he had hordes of fans ready to buy his first novel, which I am sure was not lost on his publisher.

So for people who can do that kind of blog and Facebook follow, it is another way to (hopefully) get the book published.

-- Jean

Title: Re: So...Facebook, huh?
Post by J. Davidson Hero on Nov 9th, 2010, 4:43pm

Jean, Webbie, Sergio,

I am a regular fakebook er... facebook user and I really don't see it as a substitute for a good forum at this point... maybe in the future.  I know users can set up groups and pages for having discussions on specific topics, but I don't see how to maintain discussion threads in a structured way like you do on a forum.  Every new post on a facebook page, no matter how trivial, just pushes everything else down the wall.  

To me facebook resembles more a class reunion that never... ever ends, with me as the poor stooge in the corner that no one wants to talk to. :P  

I got on originally intending to just connect with family members to share photos and day to day minutiae and then, BLAM, college and high school classmates started sending friend requests, even old teachers, pretty soon I was adding people I was only barely acquainted with.  

You quickly realize most of the people that want to add you as a "friend" are just nosy (I was equally nosy) but have no intention of having an ongoing friendship with you.

And most of those people (old classmates, co-workers, family) with only a few exceptions don't seem to be overly interested in posts about my writing either.   :-?

As far as I'm concerned you are lucky you've escaped the facebook vortex relatively unscathed.  I haven't.  It promises a lot more than it delivers.  Facebook's header really should say "Abandon hope all ye who enter here!"   [smiley=evil.gif]

Hero

Title: Re: So...Facebook, huh?
Post by Jeangoldstrom on Nov 9th, 2010, 6:51pm

Dear Hero;

Thanks for your thoughts. Sorry you are having such a non-fun experience on "fakebook." But I must admit it makes me feel better about _my_ cranky thoughts about it. Perhaps it is one of those "Next Big Things," which will be replaced by the even-newer Big Thing. As it seems the MySpace phenom has somewhat died out, as being replaced by ----book.

You know, you can delete your account, and it is gone. Then if you decide you'd like to get it back, all you have to do is log in again, and it's all back, just the way you left it.

I long for the "good old days" here at AR, when our Forum was a busy place as people commented on stories, tried out ideas, or just remarked on their observations about life. At one time we even had two story boards going here. I thought that was fun!

Does anyone know if storyboards still exist? If so, where?

-- Jean

Title: Re: So...Facebook, huh?
Post by JeffL on Dec 12th, 2010, 5:43am

I am still an active Facebooker but everything that has been said before is correct.  It is not the place for detailed discussions except in when you are chatting.  But I very much enjoy keeping in contact with friends from all around the world.

I admit that I only swing by AR every few weeks these days and today is the first time I have posted anything in months. I like to check the contest topic to see if it something I can participate in.  And I did so last spring.

Unfortunately AR is not the only genre-based forum that gets fewer posts. Bewildering Stories still publishes short fiction on a regular basis but their forums are basically dead too.  Gallifreyan Embassy used to be a hopping place but it isn't anymore, which is too bad for us Dr. Who fans.  SyFy.com still has a busy forum although it often gets nasty.

Since I am a bit of a beer connoisseur I spend a lot of time on ratebeer.com and beeradvocate.com posting reviews and comments to their forum. In fact a majority of my writing these days is beer reviews!  I have over 800 of them on ratebeer and over 500 of them on beeradvocate.

Title: Re: So...Facebook, huh?
Post by Jeangoldstrom on Dec 14th, 2010, 12:58pm

A total of 1300 beer reviews? Some online gamer spam. I am impressed.

       -- Jean

Title: Re: So...Facebook, huh?
Post by Jeangoldstrom on Dec 14th, 2010, 6:50pm

Please pardon the "some gamer spam" in the previous msg. I forgot that every time you write "w--o--w" on this bbs, the system replaces your word with "some gamer spam." What I actually said was, 1300 beer reviews -- w--o--w!!
         -- Jean

Title: Re: So...Facebook, huh?
Post by monsoonster on Oct 27th, 2011, 5:25pm


JeffL wrote on Dec 12th, 2010, 5:43am:
I am still an active Facebooker but everything that has been said before is correct.  It is not the place for detailed discussions except in when you are chatting.  But I very much enjoy keeping in contact with friends from all around the world.

I admit that I only swing by AR every few weeks these days and today is the first time I have posted anything in months. I like to check the contest topic to see if it something I can participate in.  And I did so last spring.

Unfortunately AR is not the only genre-based forum that gets fewer posts. Bewildering Stories still publishes short fiction on a regular basis but their forums are basically dead too.  Gallifreyan Embassy used to be a hopping place but it isn't anymore, which is too bad for us Dr. Who fans.  SyFy.com still has a busy forum although it often gets nasty.

Since I am a bit of a beer connoisseur I spend a lot of time on ratebeer.com and beeradvocate.com posting reviews and comments to their forum. In fact a majority of my writing these days is beer reviews!  I have over 800 of them on ratebeer and over 500 of them on beeradvocate.

Ooops. I guess I've been beating a dead horse. Sorry. Guess I should read more instead of running my fingers.   :-X

Oh. And I do see the reason for the w-o-w thing I mentioned in another post. All my question will be answered, I guess, if I just read more.  

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