Railfan Technology > Concerns about facebook

i would like to join facebook but they tend to be intrusive with constant tracking, i am unsure what needs to be turned on of off in order to use facebook SAFELY! Safely WITHOUT TRACKING or stuff that might steal my personal stuff called IDENITY THEFT! which is very scary to everybody

any tips for joining SAFELY if i want to join facebook?

nick

Be very afraid :)  .. a couple of weeks ago I tried to set up an account with FB, but as soon as I completed the email verification process, it immediately said my account was suspended!! Then they said I could appeal, but only if I uploaded a copy of my driver's license! NO WAY will that ever happen!!

Ted

Ive been on FB for more than a decade as a member of several close family and vets groups. No problems so far. But I have anything to hide.

ACR_Ted Wrote:
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> Be very afraid :-)  .. a couple of weeks ago I tried to set up
> an account with FB, but as soon as I completed the email
> verification process, it immediately said my account was
> suspended!!

What a difference 10 years make. I got an unsolicited e-mail from Facebook asking me to join, because all my friends were already there. I don't remember telling them who my friends were. Now, they reject new members?

I decided NOT to join. It's not like I couldn't contact my friends without Facebook, and if they already knew so much about me, they should join me! :-) 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/12/21 22:15 by cchan006.

Zuckerberg - be very concerned.  His aim is the total control of social media to support his leftist views.

Darthsimpletext Wrote:
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> any tips for joining SAFELY if i want to join
> facebook?
>
> nick

I can't help you with the specifics on privacy settings, since I don't Facebook.

There is a general etiquette in social media, though. Don't bring attention to yourself, stay out of politics, and treat strangers with skepticism as you'd do in real life (outside the Internet). Disciplined behavior will save you more than "privacy" settings. Not easy to do when you subconsciously forget to behave yourself, thinking you are safe behind the computer screen.

People say "I've had no problems with Facebook" like Lurch_in_ABQ above, and that's generally true. However, there's a price to pay for "free membership" and Facebook has access to your data, even your habits outside Facebook. Internet (or "The Cloud") remembers forever, so if you screwed up, you can't simply apologize and make things go away.

"But I haven't done anything wrong!" But who judges what's "right" and "wrong?" If you've been an astute observer of our society, it has all become relative, so you can become a villain with a slight shift in mob rule.

Anyway, good luck with Facebook. 

Curt Wrote:
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> Zuckerberg - be very concerned.  His aim is the
> total control of social media to support his
> leftist views.

Much more complicated than that. Zuckerberg is just the front man. If you agree with my claim, then it's even more scary than you realize.

There  were a few railfan sites I thought
might be interesting.  I set up an email
account with a fake name and along with an
old flip phone number created an account.

Your email account will be flooded with people
who want to be your friend.  That indicates they
don't know me very well !  I never reply and suspect
the exotic looking women who want to be my friend
have motives different than mine.

I look at the sites but never post.  Lots and lots of
misinformation from resident experts.  Sometimes
some good pictures and links to other sites.

Trainorders is all the social media I need.
 

I share some of the concerns about Facebook, although there are some interesting rail-related groups that I routinely follow. They are generally well run by the administrators and I've gained some information from them -- and perhaps some misinformation as well! I am cautious about adding friends and have unfollowed or unfriended some folks whose posts were just too numerous and annoying. I dislike the mudlinging that often takes place -- one is immediately branded a fascist or a socialist for expressing an opinion, for example. 

Just about all online apps collect information about you, mainly to harvest information that can be sold to advertisers.  FB often has lots of pesky ads that are of no interest to me. Google and other search engines also track you, so I would recommend a search engine like DuckDuckGo which does not. There are also browsers that limit your exposure to tracking. I have used a couple of them, but have ended up with Microsoft Edge, which seems to do less tracking.

The problem with social media is that it provides a forum for all kinds of rants and there is little opportunity for civil conversations. Having said that, I will continue using Facebook in a limited way, trying to avoid the name calling and misinformation.



 

I enjoy my time on Facebook.

Some of my friends are people I knew from before, and I like keeping up with their doings. Some are people I met online in various railroad groups, and got to know in person. And some are complete creeps, who I have blocked. I'm pretty selective in who I accept friend requests from. It's easy to filter out people you don't care about.

Facebook has a lot of interesting groups, which is where I spend a lot of time. There's a very active Empire Builder group, a Southern Pacific group, and a Ghosts of the Milwaukee Road group, to name a few. My latest favorite is the "Old Vegas, Baby," group, which is a great place to see old pictures of Sin City. I enjoy the San Francisco Fire Department history group. 

Interestingly, a good deal of railroad stuff pops up in groups dedicated to other history. Just this week, for example, I came across a pre-WWII photo of the SP Butler Road passenger shelter when it still had windows, and a 1960 shot taken from the back of a San Francisco-bound commute train departing Belmont. It was a great shot of the old Belmont depot. It was taken by a random high school kid in 1960.

Yes, Facebook tracks what I do, shows me ads for things they think I might want, and, if I let them, follows where I go. In my case, I'm willing to accept those trade offs because I generally like the content I follow there. Your mileage might vary.

If you do join Facebook, pay attention to the privacy controls. There are a lot of settings under the hood, so you can customize them to a point. 

Facebook's user interface is relatively friendly, and the mobile version works great. Maybe that's not your thing. I prefer the modern interface there compared to the 1980s BBS style of Train Orders. It's not 1985 anymore.

One note about Facebook advertising -- it works. I've made several purchases based on FB ads, and haven't been burned yet.



 

I find M$ Edge to be the most invasive and tracking browser I've ever used! There are a couple of websites that do not work correctly or at all with Firefox and/or Brave, so I have to use Edge. After closing Edge I then run CCleaner, and it reports Edge is still running in the background, even though I closed it. The number of trackers Edge plants is far more than what FF or Brave leaves behind.

The fact the Edge continues to run in the background after closing it should say something about how bad M$ has gotten with tracking and spying, and I bet with Windows 11 it will be even worse.

Ted

If you are connected to the Internet, some one has your information.

If you have a telephone, some one has your information.

Yes, I have a FacePlant account and I am a member of about a dozen groups. But my account is via an email address that is solely used for that, nothing else. The phone number is my home phone number, which I never answer. 

Like everything else in life, the effort you put into protecting your privacy and information is how well it will be protected.

About a year ago, since we were now live-streaming out Sunday church service on FB, I could create and account and use my bluetooth hearing aids in conjunction with my cell phone to clearly hear each sermon rather than resorting to a recorded version. 

So, I took the plunge and created an account.  I was almost immediately flabbergasted when FB came up with a list of 'people I might know'.  It was approximately 50% populated with people in MY email directory and 50% of people with Russian-looking names.  What threw me a curve was it even listed the grandchildren of my lady-friend on the other side of town!  Obviously, as she and her grandchildren are FB members, it linked them to me through her!

Anything THAT 'snoopy' is to be feared.  So I immediately set out to cancel my FB account.  It took maybe 10 minutes groveling through their 'help' screens to find out how to do it.  I haven't had any communications to or from FB ever since.

Also note:  As a PC techie, I recently learned that the newest version of Microsoft Edge browser automatically imports ALL your favorites/bookmarks from ALL the browsers on your computer!  I removed Edge from my computer about a year ago.  If one spins the clock back about 15 years or so, working on a friends computer, I discovered that AOL was a 'hunter/killer' browser that not only copied bookmarks but then deleted his previous browser!  I suspect Microsoft considered that for Edge, but the legal aspects of causing malicious damage to others property probably stopped them.

There are thousands of railfans on Facebook.  The groups and conversations work very well.  I have been on it for years and enjoy it very much.

Many of the railfans are just train lovers.  Some are young.  FB gives us diehards an wonderful opportunity to teach about our hobby and its content.

It's interesting and fun.

Marty Bernard

Yes, FB  works for me and over all enjoy it.

But then those who know know nothing about railroading but they they do spoil it.  Course guess we could say the same about TO or any social site.

This time my attempt to create a FB worked...I used a different browser, email address and birth date. It did not ask for a phone number or selfie photo - I thought for sure that it would.

I did find a group about the Algoma Central which was my main reason for signing up.

We'll see how fast the spam storms and ads start :)

Ted

MartyBernard Wrote:
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> There are thousands of railfans on Facebook.  The
> groups and conversations work very well.  I have
> been on it for years and enjoy it very much.
>
> Many of the railfans are just train lovers.  Some
> are young.  FB gives us diehards an wonderful
> opportunity to teach about our hobby and its
> content.
>
> It's interesting and fun.
>
> Marty Bernard

Well said Marty!  I don't get into all the FB bashing that goes on.  I realize it's limitations (such as I would never buy from their advertisers as many are just Chinese scammers) but I am able to share videos on groups that enjoy them.  I shoot videos and put them on my YouTube channel (Georgia Rail Videos) as a retirement hobby.  I also gain a lot of info and head's ups on current operations.

By the way, thanks for all your informative posts here and on FB.  Your many historic photos are great!

Darthsimpletext Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> i would like to join facebook but they tend to be
> intrusive with constant tracking, i am unsure what
> needs to be turned on of off in order to use
> facebook SAFELY! Safely WITHOUT TRACKING or stuff
> that might steal my personal stuff called IDENITY
> THEFT! which is very scary to everybody
>
> any tips for joining SAFELY if i want to join
> facebook?
>
> nick

Don't join/use. Facebook is the Malware everyone should be afaid of. One login and acceptance of its cookies is all it takes.
 

SlideSellerII Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> Don't join/use. Facebook is the Malware everyone
> should be afaid of. One login and acceptance of
> its cookies is all it takes.
>  

My large extended family have been on FB for years with no problems.  There is nothing to be afraid of.   Marty

I'm in about a dozen FB groups. My personal  page, a high school group, and probably a dozen photography groups. My privacy settings are 'Public' and I post nothing I don't want the world to  know. I've had noproblems with any posts.

James Nelson
Thornton, CO
www.flickr.com/mojaveflyer