It's furniture-throwing time: New Angroyed thread

[Anne the Man]

Ugh. Face-ache, why are you so evil.

Odd that Mark Zuckerberg reacted to people's objections to their private information being available to everyone (like photos, or friendlists) by saying "but look, I'm doing it! See, I don't care!" Funny that when I click on his FB profile all you can see is his wall and info, no friends, photos or anything.

I would delete my account but it's how I find out about shindigs, and I don't want to fall out of the loop. I wish I had never succumbed though.

[elpollodiablo]

I know it's reductive and unhelpful, but my take on the whole situation is still basically that if you don't like the way they do things, don't use the service. It's not a public utility, it's not an essential service, you're not paying anything. Their policies and the implementation of them are unsavory, yes, and I think they should be held to account for any personal info that's currently already in the clutches of marketers due to actions on their part. But if their new privacy policies are concerning to you, you can certainly abandon ship, or pare your profile down to generic, vague information, or register under a name that's not yours.

In my opinion the best reason to quit Facebook is the one at the top of that guy's list*: it just doesn't work very well. I usually see it crash or gimp out in trying to perform some (to my end-user mind, anyway) routine function like checking notifications or posting on someone's wall. The photo uploader process is also in serious need of attention. The UI has just become really piss poor.
*Although arguing that one should be able to customize the appearance of one's page is also an argument for a return to MySpace IMO, so fuuuuck that.

[milesofsparks]

devil's advocating, for a moment, I think mega-social media sites do cross a line, the way a mall, for example, might be private property, but begins to acquire some characteristics of a commons.  I think it's a grey zone, especially when privacy issues come up. 

I also think Facebook does not handle change gracefully, and from a PR standpoint, they could do a WAY better job. also, I would argue we do pay for it by looking at stupid ads.

[jm]

While I do use some of the "features" of Facebook, the only thing that keeps me there is yelling at people about when my band is doing a thing.  I even still have a MySpace*, which I log into once every six months or so, but only so I can show people demos of the music that I write, and even that functionality has been fucked for the last year or so.  If it wasn't for any of this, I wouldn't even bother with either of them.

* As does my band, and for the longest time, nobody gave a shit if you actually had your own website, no matter how functional or nicely designed; if you didn't have a MySpace, people were just not interested in listening to your music or booking shows for you in any way.

[elpollodiablo]

Right, but even when the changes are relatively benign, like the couple of UI refreshes last year that didn't have much to do with any policy changes, you still get this childish whinging outcry in the form of hundreds of thousands of people joining groups with names like "BRING BAKC THE OLD FACEBOOK, HERE OUR VOICES." Facebook should definitely be held to account for its transgressions, like any large corporate entity, but there's no denying that the majority of FB's users are profoundly stupid and quick to anger.

xpost

[jm]

in other news, I hate "Cinco" "de" "Mayo" infinitely more than St. Patrick's Day.

[elpollodiablo]

Racist!

[jm]

I know, right!  I hate the drunk race!

[diesel_powered]

Nevermind, awkward joke.

[elpollodiablo]

Uh... what?

[jm]

Holy shit mac mini.  I would totally never use you if you weren't the only computer I have access to for writing music on.

Also, I don't know what happened in the interim with Squeezebox server, but that shit just either:

1) decides to interrupt whatever you're doing every couple of hours to tell you that you need to close and restart system preferences to make it work, or
2) pinwheels like a motherfucker if you try to turn it off.

[mixed cats]

My PowerBook has been beachballing like crazy since we got back from vacation, but it's nearly six years old so maybe it has an excuse. But it's still pissing me off. It'd been running 10.3 until March when I got my hands on a developer copy of 10.4, but I only upgraded instead of wiping it and starting over. Shoulda done that. The waiting and waiting is r really fucking irritating though.

[elpollodiablo]

I'm extremely pleased with how well my two year old MacBook is running. You really see the upfront cost justified in performance longevity with these things.

[FreddyKnuckles]

Yeah, I spent a little bit more on my Sony Vaio and it is still running strong and it is nearing two years.  I didn't spend Macbook pro kind of money on it but it has played dozens of pirated games and is only now starting to get a little outdated for newer games.

[davy]

I didn't know anyone else here had a Vaio. I like mine, but it's about a year and-a-half old and it's already had one hard drive replaced. I worry about the next year or so.

[mixed cats]

I think Bill's desktop is a Vaio! It's OK but there's a lot of annoying blue light happening on its front.

I know that my pbook is going to die soon, but I have no idea how to deal with that

[elpollodiablo]

Nothing to fuck up your morning like a $34 overdraft charge from Chase. Especially considering it was the result of a check that was deposited *yesterday.* A more paranoid man than myself might point out that in all other instances in which Chase did not stand to make 30 bones off of me, deposited checks usually take three days to clear at the *least.* Oh well, what the hell.

[Ignatius]

There's nothing paranoid about it. Chase is the worst.

[FreddyKnuckles]

I didn't know anyone else here had a Vaio. I like mine, but it's about a year and-a-half old and it's already had one hard drive replaced. I worry about the next year or so.

Mine has a rather loud fan, but other than that it has been perfect, and I abuse computers (IE near constant downloading of shady copies of things and installation of games/programs and deletion of said games programs)

I've probably downloaded then deleted a million gigs over the last few years.

[jm]

I'm gonna disagree, but only because Bank of America is about eighty billion times worse, somehow.  Out of everybody I've known who has ever dealt with them (and all of the things I've read on the internet regarding other people's dealings with them), I've known one person who has had a positive experience, and that's due to a long-standing relationship with the bank.

[FreddyKnuckles]

It is a true statement that Bank of America is the worst thing.

[elpollodiablo]

They really and truly fucking are. In selecting a new bank before moving to NYC, I chose WaMu due to a) its relatively progressive policies re: fees and such, b) its relatively good customer reputation and, c) the fact that it was not Chase. And now here I am.

xpost

[davy]

I didn't know anyone else here had a Vaio. I like mine, but it's about a year and-a-half old and it's already had one hard drive replaced. I worry about the next year or so.

Mine has a rather loud fan, but other than that it has been perfect, and I abuse computers (IE near constant downloading of shady copies of things and installation of games/programs and deletion of said games programs)

I've probably downloaded then deleted a million gigs over the last few years.

Speaking of fans, my Vaio is starting to overheat really quickly. What's the first step in dealing with this?

[jm]

They really and truly fucking are. In selecting a new bank before moving to NYC, I chose WaMu due to a) its relatively progressive policies re: fees and such, b) its relatively good customer reputation and, c) the fact that it was not Chase. And now here I am.

xpost

EXACTLY.  Yeah, Washington Mutual was fucking awesome.  I never once had a problem with them, and the one time I was in a tight spot and didn't expect them to help me out, they did without me having to do anything more than mention what was up.  Ah but the honeymoon she is over.

[elpollodiablo]

They also didn't charge fees for non-WaMu ATM withdrawals, which, wow. I've already dropped ~$50 this year on Chase fees *alone.*