Anyone who has been reading my Kiss My Big Hairy Spider is well aware of my contempt for all things Faffbook. I consider it a necessary evil, something required for promoting my projects in this day and age, but it doesn't diminish my disdain for it. As I've mentioned, I'm actually on my 3rd incarnation. Twice before I have "quit", but of course the all-controlling Facebook doesn't actually allow you to delete your page. All your content is owned by them. You can only make it inactive and go through the tedious task of deleting all your "friends".
Deleting "friends" ... let's start with that. I was surprised to learn recently that some of my actual friends, who I should add are very tech savvy, had no clue that you can unfollow friends so that they don't appear in your News Feed. You can even select the less severe "show fewer posts" by anyone or any page you have liked. I try to keep my News Feed very uncluttered and follow very few "friends" and very few things I've "liked".
But back to actually deleting "friends". As I type this I have 594 "friends". I don't want to hit the 600 mark. So I am going to pause this blog and go to Faffbook and start deleting "friends". Obviously, real friends and family will stay. People that I have an ongoing relationship with are also making the cut. People I've met and people I like. Of course, I may not have met them all, but at least I correspond with them on a somewhat regular basis and/or follow them and/or like their posts and/or see them liking my posts. Customers also get a pass. I have a feeling far fewer than I think will actually be deleted. Then I am going to go through those I am following and see if that number can be reduced. Presently out of my 594 "friends" only 189 are actually following me. That's not a bad thing. I know most of my family doesn't even follow me. Most of my stuff is about spiders and guns and such and they don't care. It's all good. You can follow someone's feed without actually being "friends" so I am hoping that my deletions do not affect this number. It would be too time consuming to compare one list against the other. So here I go ... Friend clean up time ... Will you make the cut? (although I am always game to offend, I mean no offense by this. I am sure I will cut some lovely ladies and gents. I know some unrecognized people are tarantula keepers who are fans of my work. But if I don't recognize your name you will become part of my downsizing and un-cluttering. I also will delete anyone using a pseudonym. If you aren't using your real name I've got no time for you. And I admit I am going to enjoy vaporizing a few cretins that somehow made my list in a moment of weakness ... Maybe this is my first step in getting off Faffbook again ... Back when I'm done ...
Back ... I now have 478 friends so I only cut about 120, less than I was hoping. My rules for accepting new requests just became ultra-strict. It was interesting to see that many cut had no profile pic and very few friends. They obviously are smart enough to spend little or no time on Faffbook. Conversely, there were plenty of people - some cut, some kept - that had 3000-4000+ friends (the maximum is 5000). Clearly, they accept every request and are constantly sending requests of their own. A few are legends (like Dick Bartlett and it is no surprise they have so many friends). Whatever. To each her or his own. Next I'll clean out my own list of people and pages I follow. It's actually not the people that create the clutter. I've liked about 1000 pages and certainly don't want more than 30 or 40 showing up in my News Feed. So this brings us to one of the evils of Faffbook. Targeting you for advertising. David Fincher is my favorite director and anyone who saw his brilliant The Social Network is completely aware of the humble beginnings of what would become Facebook. It's original purpose has nothing to do with today's mega-invasive tool to learn everything about you. Everything you like tailors the advertisements you will see. I don't mean page promotion. That's a joke in itself. It is a complete waste of money. I mean the actual corporations that see that you like "Starbucks" and "Inked Magazine" and "Orange is the New Black" and then run algorithms to figure out exactly what makes you tick and what you are likely to spend your dirty American dollars on. With 1000 pages liked by me some computer somewhere knows exactly what I like, probably better than I do myself. Mark Zuckerberg didn't become a billionaire by connecting university students to each other. Facebook has become a giant and not too different from the National Security Agency as modern day's big brothers pry into every recess of your existence.
I mentioned earlier another evil of the monstrous Facebook. It has your content. Every photograph you post is now archived. This may be an oversimplification and I have no intention of riling myself up by researching the legalese of what their usage rights are. Just know that every single post you make is examined by "big brother". The NSA investigates every word on a list of potential dangers. Every picture is stored and archived for eternity. Here is a quote from Facebook when a professional photographer wrote asking for clarification of photo licensing: "We appreciate your concern. Our license or sublicense does not affect ownership or copyright privileges for material on the site. Facebook uses user content in connection with various features and services on the site (for example, displaying it in profile pages, photo pages, news feeds and other messages to users' friends, etc.). Additionally, though it may not happen often, there are cases when law officers and judges issue subpoenas or other legal orders requiring us to provide certain information about specific users for use in court." So they do claim that they are not taking ownership or copyright away from you, but this is just another reason I - cautiously - use a prominent watermark.
I've read one article in The Guardian where the author claimed that "If you think that it's only Facebook fiddling with the parameters of morality in today's cyberworld, then you might be interested to know that Google is evil too. For those who know Google's motto, "Don't be evil", and have taken it at face value, this could come as something of a surprise. But for those of you who, like me, have a Gmail account and feel ethically torn about it but way too lazy to delete, it might not be such a shocker."
Here is another interesting article in The Guardian on Facebook if you are interested in reading more.
But the above comment about Google may be surprising to you. I have had a Gmail account since it existed and I have been trying to gradually switch to my iCloud email for some time. It wasn't even with regards to the way Gmail reads your letters. It's just that I hate it and its apps. I hate the two-step verification. Even if you check the box to never ask again on this computer it will. So you better make sure you have your cell phone handy when you are asked to log into Gmail, or Google+, or YouTube or any of the conglomerate's other products.
"Gmail has been accused of "automatically scanning" the private contents of emails to and from your e-buddies for a while now, and using the information to tailor the advertisements it places in the corners of your screen. From 11 November, it will be widening its remit and taking "names, photos and reviews" from connected sites like YouTube to use in marketing. In other words, don't be surprised if your face and words start appearing in the online adverts that presently irritate you on a daily basis." Click here for source and more.
But I have digressed. I just wanted to fairly show that Facebook isn't the only thing on the Internet that is invasive. And Libertarians like me are staunchly against anything interfering with our privacy and personal rights.
But how do I leave Facebook behind. I announce this blog. I like to share my photos. But I will be weaning myself off of it more and more. One reason I have kept it going is to promote my SPIDERSHOPPE business, but that is being phased out more and more each day. My shopping cart will be closed as soon as the annual fee has been exhausted (update: see #25). I will be reducing my spider collection to only breed my favorites, which I will sell wholesale. As I've threatened again and again, my retail sales will eventually cease except for some good existing customers and personal friends. I will keep a small list on my primary website, but the e-commerce shopping cart will be closed very soon. I just need to do some work on exoticfauna.com in preparation for that move. As far as vending at shows, I really only do the Tinley Park NARBC. The only reason I am doing this August's Arlington NARBC is because I got a free booth in return for my lecture on Poecilotheria. To be honest, the only reason I am continuing at Tinley Park is that I feel obligated if I wish to continue holding my ArachnoGathering in association with NARBC each March. However, it is very expensive for the booth, electricity, van rental, hotel rental, etc. and I may just have to look into other options for ArachnoGathering. First I'll ask Brian Potter if he'd allow me to hold it even if I stopped vending. So many decisions ... But my "semi-retired" status needs to become "retired". I am looking into employment in other industries that I have great interest in. I need to get out of the house more. And I'm done with the pet industry and tired of selling tarantulas on a retail level.
PS - If you have my email in your address book as exoticfauna@gmail.com please change it to m.a.jacobi@icloud.com if you are a "real friend" (we've met or we correspond often) and spidershoppe@icloud.com if you are an acquaintance or customer or arachnophile that I don't really know well. I will be obliterating Gmail/Google+ within the week. I will keep YouTube ... I guess I have to unless I switch to Vimeo or something. The real irony is that this Blog (Blogger.com/Blogspot) is also a Google product. What the fuck can ya do?
The lesser of two evils is still evil.
Excuse my meandering... Enjoy your Monday, MJ
1 comment:
I see a gathering of sorts in the north woods soon.....just saying bro
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