Facebook haters: please read and digest!

This has been on my mind for sometime and on a quiet Friday evening before NYE 2011 I've decided it's time to say it how it is with regard to everyone's favourite (well almost) social media platform, Facebook.

The main reason I'm writing this post is that I'm seeing more comments about FB related features, upgrades and 'improvements' being posted on FB and I seldom agree with either the sentiment or the accuracy.

Some are just copy/pasting what someone else has posted, so a comment/hate goes viral - often inaccurate or unfounded. If you don't like Timeline after you have seen the 'sample profile in Timeline mode' THEN DON'T OPT TO GET TIMELINE.

Some are just one liners with no explanation, "I hate timeline" or, "I hate the sidebar". Then there are those strange requests people copy and post that request you, as their friend, to do something so that you can't see what your friend is doing on FB.


If you don't like Timeline after you have seen the 'sample profile in Timeline mode' THEN DON'T OPT TO GET TIMELINE.

Let's just start with the premise of the 'deal' with the FB user and FB itself. Firstly, Facebook is NOT a committee or community based forum for you to meet your friends or make new ones. It's run by a company. They have the right and I would argue, obligation to improve the site and make changes as THEY see fit, NOT you.

If you feel so strongly about the change or the 'improvement' you don't like you can leave FB, no one is making you stay.

FB should be applauded for making improvements and developing the site - if there were no improvements in the tech/online world we would all be still using WordStar for our word processing and battling with the F keys or still battling with DOS or the first Windows.

Now, not everybody will like improvements that FB do to their service and no one ever expects that - again, if you don't like it enough then you can leave and not use this free service.

The contract you have with FB is that you can use the service for free and in return you will see advertising and sometimes FB will sell your information enmass and you will see advertising that may be more appealing to you - not that bad a deal I think.

IF you don't like your information being used in this way then either don't use the service or don't put information up on FB that you don't want them to use this way - simple stuff isn't it?

Over the past couple of days I've seen this:


"With the new 'FB timeline' on it's way this week for everyone please do us all a favour and hover over my name above In a few seconds you'll see a box that says 'Subscribed'. Hover over it, then go to 'Comments and likes' and unclick it. That will stop my posts and yours to me from showing up on the side bar for everyone else to see, but most importantly it limits hackers from Invading our profiles. If you re-post this I will do the same for you. You'll know I've acknowledged you because if you tell me that you've done it I'll like it. Thanks."


1) Timeline has nothing to do with the sidebar. Timeline is the 'opt-in' new version of your profile - it is going to be available for everyone but at the moment it's 'opt-in' which means you have to WANT it. If you don't then keep your profile as is.


2) You can un-check 'Comments and likes' for your friends if you want and then they will not show up in YOUR sidebar but unless you are friends with someone the activity there would NEVER show up "for everyone else to see".


3) Hackers don't gain access to your account from the sidebar! They don't even see your likes and comments in the sidebar unless you have hackers for friends. Hackers get to your account (and only if it's worth hacking and most are NOT) by two main methods - sloppy or easy passwords. 123456 or PASSWORD is NOT a password. The other way is by you leaving your FB logged in and your computer in an area where someone can open it up and change your password - I see FB accounts 'high-jacked' daily by family and friends who post joke status updates - the next step up from this is someone you DON"T know gaining access. The sidebar is NOT a way in to your account!


So, dear FB user who hates this or hates that about FB, please don't post hate comments - I think you should leave the service if you are so pissed off. Also, before you go making changes to your settings - make sure that the instructions are based from FACT not fiction.


Also, take time to look at your settings on Facebook. These settings are your control. Adjust your settings to control the access people have to the information you upload rather than just unchecking individual friends in a non-effective and ad-hoc way that does little to control access to anyone, whether friend or hacker!


Happy New Year!

When a life is lost...........

Is there anything more tragic and heartbreaking than when someone you know, or a family member, passes away? It becomes harder to deal with if they go 'before their time'.

With pets it can hit just as hard - even though we all know that, generally speaking, we will outlive our cats and dogs, it's still a wrench when they pass on - especially when, often, you have to 'put them to sleep' and making that decision is something I just had my first experience of.

I just got back from our vet after realising that our little Lulu (6 month old orange female cat) was not right at all. She started presenting with all the symptoms of a virus called FIP which is the mutated form of FACV which she probably picked up when she was a tiny kitten.

Her little foibles that were initially put down to 'quirkiness' started to make sense over the past couple of days in a symptomatic sort of way. Her ability to pee in the middle of the floor, her very limited appetite and her constant sleeping became pieces of a larger puzzle.

Then yesterday she lost use of her back legs which completed the diagnosis.

Web research was done and a fairly accurate diagnosis was made and confirmed by the vet. I then agreed that we had to put her to sleep.

I've had, and lost, a few cats in my life but all have been given away at some stage or ran off or killed in some variation of motor vehicle incidents. I've never had to put a pet to sleep - it's not an easy thing to do especially when the little mite is only 7 months old.

I thought I would be ok in dealing with this as it was and still is the right thing to do - but it has hit me a lot harder than I ever thought possible. Maybe it's because Lulu was such a lovely little kitten or maybe it was the fact that I was there holding her while she passed away - I don't know. I do know that what happened today, although not cruel, was very very sad to the point of heartbreaking, and I'm a tough guy, right!?

What am I going to be like when Meg (our dog of 7 years) dies or needs the same decision making? A good friend died a couple of years ago of a heart attack the night before his wedding - he was in his early 30's - tragic and sad, and I was very sad - and it hit me in a different way. My Grandad died when I was 20 and I was sad but he was old and it wasn't such a shock, after-all - old people die.

Maybe the level of sadness or reaction to death is not only linked to the strength of the connection you have with that person or pet but also to the shock factor when they go all too soon.

Lulu was not the healthiest of cats but before the weekend I had no idea I would be taking her to the vet to end her life today. Maybe that is the reason I'm a mess right now? Unforeseen decision of life or death thrust upon me out of the blue.

Poor little Lulu - she deserved more than 7 months of life and most of that she was cranking out symptoms of the virus she had iside her - she liked her green blanket and her cat tree house and she loved her bed by the heating vent that used to be Meg's bed.

Meg will miss eating her poo! I'll just miss hearing her little bell on her collar as she slips around the wooden floors...... rest in peace little Lulu - you were only here for a short time but you affected me and Mar and the people who met her more than those few months really should have. Hope you are in a better place and able to jump and run and bounce around like you were meant to in this life.