Interesting one

[andrewducker]

A long while back (at least a year, possibly a couple) I had a falling out with yonmei. She's possibly the only person on the planet with whom I'm currently in a state of "not talking to".

Yesterday, she added me on Facebook.

So I messaged her saying "Did you actually mean to add me, or did it just scan your address book and add me? Because if it's the former then I'll add you back - but it did seem like an awfully unlikely thing to find in my inbox..."

No response as yet.

I do like the way the universe keeps me guessing.

Comments

[guybles.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I got one of those too. I believe it scans your address book; I noticed that the reply-to address was Gmail.

This is just one of the many reasons why I am refusing to have anything to do with Facebook - I find their approach a little too saccharine and, at the same time, faintly sinister. Plus, there's the fact that Facebook became the new MySpace in almost no time, hence will almost certainly be replaced (probably by Bebo) in a similarly short amount of time. Closely followed by whatever comes next.

Plus, if nothing else, I have LJ and LinkedIn - I don't see myself needing any more social networking tools. In fact, I have real life for that too.

On the other hand, anything that inspires such nutty conspiracy theories as this has got to be worthwhile.

[0olong.livejournal.com]

To be fair, you don't have to let it access your address book, and you can uncheck all the names you want to after it does, should you so choose.

Does Bebo have any known major advantages over facebook?

[guybles.livejournal.com]

True, you can uncheck the addresses...but, by then, you've already given away your e-mail account, for all intents and purposes.

Meanwhile, I'm not aware of any major differences between Bebo and Facebook, but I'm sure there are some minor variations and methods of working. Nothing that convinces me of the merits of either of them.

[0olong.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's pretty dodgy alright - I can totally understand people's flat refusal to give away the details of their email accounts just like that. It is hard to imagine that nobody would notice if they were actively engaged in something dubious with it though (besides inviting lots of people to the site who don't necessarily want to be invited)...

I asked about major advantages because I think facebook's become so ubiquitous (albeit very suddenly) that Bebo would need something big to usurp it, on a par with facebook's lack of really, really horrible design and obnoxious band-related interactions relative to MySpace.

[robhu.livejournal.com]

What [Bad username or site: guybles' / @ livejournal.com] said.

[excursively.livejournal.com]

Me three. Word on the universe, too.

[ripperlyn.livejournal.com]

Wow. I nearly wound up living with her, back when I was looking for a place and wound up with purelyskindeep.

[0olong.livejournal.com]

Wow, I am amused by the notion of it coming down to a choice between those two... something close to polar opposites, eh? I can't help feeling that your life (about which I know nothing) would surely have turned out very differently if you'd taken the other path.

[ripperlyn.livejournal.com]

LOL...well when I say choice, I actually mean both were options open to me. I definately think I made the right decision. :)

BTW I don't recognise your username...hints?

[0olong.livejournal.com]

Ach, we have lots of common friends, but as far as I know we've never met in real life... although actually I think we've been at the same parties and *might* even have been introduced while drunk. :)

If not, I'm sure our paths will cross for real one of these days... in the meantime, pleased to make your acquaintance!

[mirukux.livejournal.com]

with facebook's address book checker (which i used when i first joined) you're first given a list of existing facebook accounts that match your contact list with ticky boxes next to each (all ticked by default on page load, although there's an obvious "Select All Friends" box you can untick at the top to unset this). then, once you've selected whoever you want to add, you click next and it then brings you to a page that gives the option to send out invites to the addresses it doesn't find. it's not really that hard to understand, IMO..

[poisonduk.livejournal.com]

Yes, I've had a few friends request from people on Facebook which I'd lost contact with, mostly through choice. It's an awkward decision whether to accept the add or reject in a pleasant manner or one i chose to totally ignore.

[0olong.livejournal.com]

Funny, I was thinking about her just today for some reason (something about gender & arguments, no doubt). No friend-request for me, though.

[darkoshi]

A similar thing happened to me with someone else a while back. A request for me to update my info in their online address book. I couldn't figure it out - was it done on purpose, as a friendly gesture? ...which was rather unexpected since I hadn't heard from this person in 4 months and they had ignored my emails during that time, or was it some automatic thing. I ignored it for a while, then decided that on the chance it was done on purpose, to send a short reply, noting that I had changed the info, as I did not want my real name listed there.

[darkoshi]

Oh, and by the way, that person never did reply to my reply, so I never found out if it had been done on purpose or not. But a year and a half later, that person IM'ed me a happy birthday greeting. A non-automatic one. Which quite surprised me in a confusing way.