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Facebook CP groups are nice but....

.....it gets a little nauseating seeing all the slime balls that have been banned from this and other forums for very valid reasons (scammers, ripe off artists, and thieves mostly) posting "like there's no tomorrow" on popular group pages, including the ICPS facebook page.

Maybe I shoulda kept this to myself...but I didn't.

Am I alone in this or are there other here avoiding Facebook groups for this reason?
 
There's plenty of people who avoid Facebook (though I think it's mostly people who just don't want to use Facebook in general.) I'm aware of the people you speak of and choose to ignore them. Personally I don't like Facebook as a forum-hosting platform because Facebook's content system is very transient and not conducive to long-term discussion. The problem is, most of the very experienced growers have migrated there over the years and don't visit forums any more. Facebook also has by far the largest and most active (that I'm aware of) CP trading community.
 
Facebook is nice for some things, not so much for others; forums I like because, as nimbulan noted, topics don't disappear after a day or two and can be continued in very in-depth and informative. Facebook is a good way to reach large audiences if you're into sharing photos and interesting tidbits (which I am). As for the displeasurable characters, you learn who to ignore and who to actively avoid pretty rapidly as is, no matter whether it's forum or FB.
 
I must be missing alot of action because I'm not on fb. I have noticed a significant drop off traffic on the forums, but it hasn't really limited my ability to trade and aquire plants. I'm sure I might be able to find deals and plants quicker but I like the community here. Same reason I don't buy from eBay. I like knowing the people I get plants from.
 
I must be missing alot of action because I'm not on fb. I have noticed a significant drop off traffic on the forums, but it hasn't really limited my ability to trade and aquire plants. I'm sure I might be able to find deals and plants quicker but I like the community here. Same reason I don't buy from eBay. I like knowing the people I get plants from.

:D
 
I left FB a many years ago. If you research it, there is a lot of creepy ways they use your information, and they have access to it all.

But some folks love it, it's engrained into their lives and they don't like it when others diss the website they depend on. I'm not here to try and convince anyone about anything, just giving my two cents. I won't post anything more on this subject. :D
 
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I must be missing alot of action because I'm not on fb. I have noticed a significant drop off traffic on the forums, but it hasn't really limited my ability to trade and aquire plants. I'm sure I might be able to find deals and plants quicker but I like the community here. Same reason I don't buy from eBay. I like knowing the people I get plants from.

Well, what you're missing if your a member of multiple groups is you wall being covered with a non stop barrage of photos with comments, basic cultivation questions, and trades / sales. I agree the sales and trades are nice. And the photos are also nice. I honestly don't mind most of what goes on I just get a little .... annoyed ... seeing certain individuals who we all know are vermin of the lowest sort, commenting, sharing photos, offering up trades, and *gasp* one of them has started a CP business (zomg!!!!). And the newbies to the community are duped by these individuals into interacting with them. You know the day is coming when they start ripping people off on Facebook just like they did here and on eBay.

Hopefully that don't happen but, can a leopard change it's spots? People don't really change much imho.

I'll shut up now. Maybe....
 
I must be missing alot of action because I'm not on fb. I have noticed a significant drop off traffic on the forums, but it hasn't really limited my ability to trade and aquire plants. I'm sure I might be able to find deals and plants quicker but I like the community here. Same reason I don't buy from eBay. I like knowing the people I get plants from.
To be fair, quite a few of the eBay sellers are well-known. I've only personally spoken to one myself, though.
I left FB a many years ago. If you research it, there is a lot of creepy ways they use your information, and they have access to it all.

But some folks love it, it's engrained into their lives and they don't like it when others diss the website they depend on. I'm not here to try and convince anyone about anything, just giving my two cents. I won't post anything more on this subject. :D
People bring this up a lot but I don't see why it's such a big deal. They only have as much information as you give them. If you don't like it, don't give them any information. You don't have to post any pictures, add any friends, like any pages, and you can easily block any tracking scripts/cookies they use. You don't even have to use your real name (technically you do, but I've never heard of Facebook actually enforcing this rule, how could they possibly verify it?)

In any case, it's not Facebook you should be worried about, it's Google. They've got data collection running on pretty much every website in existence (not to mention all the "free" software they provide.) They know more about you than you know about yourself.
 
People bring this up a lot but I don't see why it's such a big deal. They only have as much information as you give them. ....

Actually, I wish that was the case but it's not. I am a self-employed insurance agent and Facebook advertising is one of the many ways I gain new clients. Facebook allows me to show ads to people that match a VERY specific criteria and the amount of targeting available at my disposal is quite alarming.

For instance, if I want, I can show my ads to people 1.) within a 50 mile radius 2.) that are between ages 50-64 who 3.) are self-employed that 4.) make between 100k - 500k annually. Who also 5.) own their homes, not rent. People that 6.) lean conservative or liberal or both, people that 7.) are gay or straight or either one. People that 8.) have shown interest in insurance within the past 6 months. And if I want to be VERY specific I can also target by job title or industry. Now wrap your head around this: Facebook doesn't ask how much you make, they don't ask if you rent or own, they don't ask you if you are liberal or conservative, and they don't ask if your gay or straight. How do they know these things? Also, how do they know if you've shown interest in insurance within the past 6 months (hint: browser history)?

If you are skeptical about this, try starting a business page and then running an ad. The audience targeting options are mind boggling.
 
  • #10
It doesn't surprise me at all that they would be able to target ads that specifically, but none of that says how many of their users they can obtain that level of detailed information for or whether its even possible for unregistered users. They shouldn't be able to read your browser history, but they can certainly use tracking scripts/cookies to track your web use in real-time (if you're concerned about this there's a great browser addon called Privacy Badger that will block this stuff for you, Ghostery is another good one.) Despite this, I suspect their main source of information is what people put on their Facebook accounts - liked/browsed pages, pictures posted/tagged in, friends, etc. There's a lot of details that can be determined about a person based on careful analysis of the friends they have, where they live, the clothes they wear, etc.
 
  • #11
I don't mind the facebook groups too much.

I think my biggest issue is that there's just so many of them! How does someone know which are good and bad? Checking them all is just a huge waste of time and the sheer multitude makes it easy for scammers and poachers to just move to a new group.

Forums are nice because, as nim mentioned, they're conducive to long-term discussions as well as do a better job at consolidating interest...IMO anyways :p
 
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  • #12
Facebook partners with data collection companies that show your purchasing history (both online and offline), and they develop a "buyer profile" based off of the things you mentioned + data gathered from other sources completely outside of Facebook. They also embed cookies to track your browsing history and if you've clicked on an ad in the past, they embed a cookie in your browser so they can re-target you for the same or similar ads in the future. Yes those cookies can be blocked by any number of extensions or even by the browser's settings. Even if you access the internet via FireFox + FoxyProxy and a dedicated private proxy server, behind 3 firewalls and a router, all the while keeping the information you provide at registration to a minimum, they'll still have enough data on you to target some ads. However, Facebook does allow people to opt-out of being pinpoint targeted for ad placement but most people don't know this and wouldn't be bothered to actually do it.

There's an article about all of this here: Facebook Lets Advertisers Tap Purchase Data Partners To Target Customers, Categories Like Car-Buyers | TechCrunch
 
  • #13
That's not enough to make me or others stop using it, but it just shows that Facebook does not limit their data mining to what goes on within their platform.
 
  • #14
I don't mind the facebook groups too much.

I think my biggest issue is that there's just so many of them! How does someone know which are good and bad? Checking them all is just a huge waste of time and the sheer multitude makes it easy for scammers and poachers to just move to a new group.

Forums are nice because, as nim mentioned, they're conducive to long-term discussions as well as do a better job at consolidating interest...IMO anyways :p

Well that problem isn't specific to Facebook. There are a LOT of different CP forums out there too. There's always a bunch of people who want to be in charge so they make their own forum/group for various reasons. It just ends up fragmenting the community, but the alternative of having everybody in the same place would cause too many problems (just think back to how many people have left various forums due to conflicts with other users.) In a way, I think Facebook actually cuts down on this problem by limiting the accessibility of older discussions. It still happens of course, but I feel like it's less of a problem there.

And yes, ramdacc, I do realize how intrusive Facebook is but focusing so much on them isn't a good idea because they are far from the only company doing this. We don't want to give people the impression that Facebook is the only one. Personally, I try to avoid Google products (though it's difficult to avoid Youtube since pretty much every video on the internet is posted there) and keep my interactions with Facebook to a minimum, though I see it as a necessary evil since social networks have become such a ubiquitous part of modern life. I literally have no other way to keep in contact with many people I know.

There are other issues as well - I've been told by people in the industry that if a job recruiter sees that you have no presence on Facebook, their first thought is to wonder what you're trying to hide. With no account, others can freely post things on there that may make you look bad and you have no control over this content.
 
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  • #15
And yes, ramdacc, I do realize how intrusive Facebook is but focusing so much on them isn't a good idea because they are far from the only company doing this.

I very much agree and that's kinda my point. People avoiding Facebook always use the information I posted as a reason to stay away from it, but a lot of Facebook's data comes from outside sources, meaning they aren't the only one's that have access to it. Those data companies sell that information to whomever is willing to pay for it. I've bought marketing lists from companies like Salesgenie and their targeting criteria are just as specific as Facebook's. What I'm getting at is, people need to realize that their personal information isn't infinitely "safer" just because they aren't on Facebook. Embrace it for what it's good for, but it does have it's drawbacks (my original post, for instance).
 
  • #16
I use forums for other hobbies as well and the experience just feels of a higher quality than I would get from Facebook. I just don't feel like others that Facebook is conducive to serious discussion. Wish I could say that I didn't use it for anything else either.
 
  • #17
I am part of some of them, but I prefer Instagram. Upon reentering the hobby this winter, I made a plant instagram account just to keep all of my pics in one place, but it turns out a pretty active cp community has grown on IG during the few years I was away. I've already done a good deal of trading and chatting, and even did an international group buy, with people on there.

That said, I don't think either Facebook or Instagram are a complete replacement for good forums. As already mentioned, forums are great for long discussions, archives, etc..
 
  • #18
Personally, I like the FB CP groups.... most of them. A lot of the people are TF, but there are people on FB that are not here. I've made new friends and worked out more trades.
 
  • #19
I am on FB for both personal and business reasons. It started as the best way for my extended family to keep in touch, then when my son was overseas (government contractor) he had free internet and started using messenger as a way to keep in touch with everyone. I have a business page and am able to keep myself in front of targeted FB groups for my services. My local bird clubs have moved almost exclusively to FB. They maintain up to date websites, but FB is the only way to get interaction with other members.

I limit my FB feed to only those groups I want. I am a member of probably 20 FB groups on various subjects but only get active feeds from four of them. The rest I look up as a desire. This way my page is not cluttered with photos, et al from all different groups.

Finally, as to targeted ads. I can't believe the number of ads on line, mailings to home, and spam phone calls I get that have me pigeon holed as someone I am not.
 
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