Posted on by markusoreallyus · 2 Comments

Meta bollocks

You have to love social media. A friend (cousin, actually) posted, as a joke, a hilarious video of some whacked out conspiracy theorist talking about AI and vaccines and quantum entanglement — managing to get all three wrong. I commented, “where can I get those drugs?” Because only someone on a crazy trip could be so delusional.

Within seconds, Facebook notified me that my comment had been removed for violating “community standards”. They thought my comment somehow promoted the sale of illicit drugs.

What humourless community came up with these standards? And who allowed them to train Facebook’s model?

Their notification offered me the option of having my comment reviewed. I took them up on that. “You misunderstood my comment,” I selected from the list. On the next screen they provided another list. I chose, “It was a joke.”

A few seconds later, I was advised that they were putting restrictions on my account. I am not allowed to create ads, start or join calls, or create live videos for a month. All because their shit algorithms took offence to what I said, and further offence to my request for a review.

There is no option to appeal beyond this point. The algorithm has found you guilty, and that’s that.

This might be less galling were it not for Facebook’s role in spreading the kind of disinformation that makes cooks worry that quantum entanglement will trigger the nano bots implanted by vaccines when in the vicinity of a 5G signal. And that is hardly the worst of what they do.

Once upon a time, Facebook and other social media platforms at least pretended to be about sharing with people with whom you choose to associate. But it’s rare to see anything posted by someone you know. The majority of the slop in our feeds is advertising, and much of it promoting disinformation.

The only reasons I have accounts are to (try to) keep up with friends and family I don’t have an opportunity to see face-to-face all that often, and to promote my band. Otherwise, I would kick Facebook, Instagram & every other platform to the curb. I’ve done that before, and it may come to it again.

Posted on by markusoreallyus · 1 Comment

So long, Facebook (redux)

A few months ago, I went into a Facebook hiatus. After a month away, I decided to go back, because it was easier to keep in touch with people that way. Now I’m off again. Only, this time it was Facebook’s decision.

For many years, on many platforms, I’ve used the nom de plume Markus O’Reallyus. My friends know me by this online. My reason for doing this is to maintain a degree of privacy. Advertisers, trolls and other online snoopers, don’t need to know too much about me. Everyone who I feel has the right to know more will know more. On Facebook, pretty well all my friends are – were – people I know and associate with in real life.

But today I received a note from Facebook that ‘someone complained’ about my name. (Just the day before, someone had flagged my repost of a CNN Facebook post as ‘fake news’. I replied that it clearly wasn’t, they agreed and restored my post.) As a result, Facebook now requires I send them identification to prove my name is my name before I can access my account again. That isn’t going to happen.

I’m not sure who would have complained about my Facebook name. Certainly not someone on my friends list. Probably someone who didn’t like a comment I said somewhere. All my posts are set to ‘friends only’, so it would have to have been a comment on someone else’s post. Interesting that it occurs in the context of a provincial election here.

At any rate, I’m off Facebook again. I’ll be dammed if I’m changing my name or providing them with ID. Transnational companies don’t get to know any more about me than I choose to tell them. I’m the one who calls the shots on my public personae.

Posted on by markusoreallyus · 2 Comments

And we’re back

A little over a month ago, I deactivated my Facebook account. I’d had enough of the reposted nonsense that seemed to litter my newsfeed, and which usually illicited a reaction of you can’t possibly really believe that from me. The constant battle with Facebook itself about what should appear in my feed, and in what order, was infuriating. I was also tired of ‘like’ anxiety, and felt I was spending far too much time on something that really didn’t matter to me.

And now I’m back.

I haven’t grown any fonder of fake news stories and bullshit memes. But there are things I’ve missed. Most of those things have to do with keeping in touch with people.

Best of intentions aside, I don’t often compose emails when I’m not at work. I’ve grown to hate email even more than social media. Every day I spend an inordinate amount of time deleting emails. My inbox tends to fill up with even more crap than my physical mailbox, in which a half-acre of rainforest finds a temporary resting place each week, before being consigned to the recycling bin.

I have never been one for phone calls. I worked for close to two years in a debt collection call centre, which will put anyone off the medium. I do my best always to answer when someone I know is calling, or at least to call them back in short order, but it rarely occurs to me to initiate calls.

And so connecting with some people, especially those who don’t live nearby, but even some who do, has been tricky. Adele has mostly kept me up to speed with the friends we have in common on Facebook, but that’s not everyone. I miss the rest of you. Well, mostly.

In order not to hurry myself into another bout of social media burnout, I’ve decided to set some rules for myself.

  1. Do not install the app on my phone. This will help enormously with not wasting so much time on Facebook. Exception made for Messenger, since it doesn’t waste as much of my time.
  2. Less sharing and liking of posts, and fewer comments on them. Don’t take this personally. I still like you. Really, I do. And I might even find what you posted to be clever or agreeable. But that will be between you & me. Facebook doesn’t need to know.
  3. Unfollow people who continually post things that make me wonder how they can possibly believe – whatever. That oregano cures cancer, that the weather is a global conspiracy, that vaccines cause bipolar disorder, or that Justin Trudeau is actually a progressive. I don’t care what it is, or whether or not it aligns with what I already believe. This will happen double quick if these things are posted in memes.
  4. Try not to look at it more than a couple of times a day. And don’t worry if no one ‘likes’ the few things I can be bothered to post.

So… there you are, and there you go. If you want to like or comment on anything, come do it on this blog.