OJ's Thread Foggy Foggy Dew

[barfwinkle]

OJ brings up an interesting question. How many users of this site use social media (i.e. Facebook, twitter, or others) instant messaging or skype? or blogs?

Just curious on this snowy day in Oklahoma.

Fair winds

[Duncan]

OJ brings up an interesting question. How many users of this site use social media (i.e. Facebook, twitter, or others) instant messaging or skype? or blogs?

Just curious on this snowy day in Oklahoma.

Fair winds

Snowy day in Quebec, here.
I don't use Facebook or Twitter, partly because I don't think they respect their users' privacy, and partly because I am not very interested in the "service" they provide.
I doubt very many users have ever read their Terms of Service to see how unfairly they favour these big outfits.
I think it's a bad bargain, where users freely provide info that the big sites and marketers use to make megabucks at our expense.

[Troy Scott]

I occasionally use Facebook, and I've gotten back in touch with a lot of folks with whom I would never otherwise communicate. BUT, I rarely check in, maybe once a month. I'm amazed at folks who have time to look at Facebook several times a day....; I don't. However, after my nephew committed suicide 18 months ago, Facebook is where everybody got together to deal with it. I can honestly say I don't know of any other forum that would have worked as well. Still, I don't post ANYTHING there that I don't mind the whole world seeing. In fact, most of the internet should come with that warning. Even private email can, with a few keystrokes, be made very public.

Now, I see where this discussion is going. A facebook page, or pages, would work well for CDSOA announcements and public discussions. HOWEVER, we need to be careful. Our current website works pretty well, and it can be MODERATED. Facebook cannot..... I can envision a free-for-all that could lead to a situation none of us would like.

[Neil Gordon]

I'm on Facebook but not particularly active there.

You can find me on Twitter @BostonSailors and @CDory28167.

[ronkberg]

Facebook somehow got into my personal email address book and sent me their names as potential friends. That is too invasive for me and I do not login very often. I do enjoy looking through some of my friends sites to see their photo albums. It is a way to watch my extended family member's children grow. I have accepted some older friends but then realized they had too much time and sent too many details of their lives....so I cut 'em off. Not too interested in their grocery shopping, illness, weekend vacations, and other booring details.

Makes me sound grumpy? Maybe so! Not into twitter.

I love this CD site and communicate with whomever I feel like commenting with and use PM or Email when privacy necessitates.

Ron

[Joe Myerson]

Ron,

Like you, I somehow allowed Facebook to tap into my e-mail account and send "friend requests" to everybody on that list. In some cases this has led to my reestablishing contact with old friends, but it also has led to some strangers responding.

In one case, I got an e-mail from somebody I must have contacted once on business. His e-mail was: "Do I know you?"

Add me to the list of Facebook-grumps!

--Joe

[ronkberg]

I do not think the email list was sent because I did not get any responses. Maybe some folks got email and decided they DID NOT want to chat with me......LIKEWISE, I want to stay hushed!

I was told that I could have blocked the email access but do not know how. Any clue?

Getting ready for some snow now but not quite as much as OJ gets.......I hope.

Ron

[BubbaThePirate]

I listened to the audio from a HOPE conference years ago. That is HOPE: Hackers On Planet Earth. One of the keynote speakers (a g-man IIRC) said: "You don't have any privacy anyway, get over it."

It sounds to me like Joe and Ron have two separate issues. When you sign up for FB, it will ask you to access your email account. Joe, it sounds like you hit a button to invite all the friends FB found to be your friend. Ron, my theory is you allowed access but did not choose to make the invitation to all your friends. FB will, however, OFFER to make friends with people from your email account. It is serving up possibilities to you, but those people were not contacted.

I use FB a fair amount. There are a lot of my friends, new and old there.

In fact, an old friend of mine introduced me to a friend of hers who is a pro captain who has circumnavigated. He has helped me A LOT thru FB on my refit! Ya never know!

Cheers,
Bubba

[Joe Myerson]

Bubba,

I think you're right.

There was some kind of a "new feature" on my FB home page, called a "friend finder."

Like a chump, I clicked it, giving Mark Zuckerberg access to my email.

Not that there's anything to hide there ... and FB has allowed me to reconnect with former colleagues as far afield as Budapest, Paris, Australia and (get this for exotic) Chicago.

--Joe

P.S. More than a foot of that stuff that belongs in Oswego, and it's still falling!

[BubbaThePirate]

I feel for you, Joe. My brother and his family are in Hingham. He is already fidgety from stay at home days. And tired of shoveling I imagine.

I am in an interesting geographical spot. 10 or 15 miles West of here gets lots of snow off Lake Michiigan. When the wind howls, the snow seems to miss us and land 10 miles further East. That's OK with me. It is, however, very cold this week!

[Sea Hunt]

OJ brings up an interesting question. How many users of this site use social media (i.e. Facebook, twitter, or others) instant messaging or skype? or blogs?

Just curious on this snowy day in Oklahoma.

Fair winds

Bill and all:

Cold, windy day in Miami. Lucky if we get to 68 degrees. Tonight low 40s; upper 30s. Tomorrow expected lousy as well.

Facebook: I sort of know what it is; I am not signed up; no desire to sign up. If I want a friend to know what I'm doing I will call her on the phone (rotary dial or push button).

Twitter: I do not know what it is; I have no desire to know what it is.

Instant Messaging: I do not know what it is but think it may be akin to emails. Again, if I want a friend to know what I'm doing I will call her on the phone (rotary dial or push button). Sending an instant message to tell a friend I am at the package store buying a case of Guinness is probably not necessary.

Skype: I think it is some type of video phone but no real knowledge and no real desire to know what it is or what it does or how it works.

Blog: I think it is some type of website forum but again no real knowledge and no real desire to know what it is or what it does or how it works.

I have a cell phone that I rarely use. During an "active" month I will have 25-30 minutes of "air time".

Apparently unlike my friend OJ who is vigorously embracing this new electronic media communication age (a college coed may have been an incentive ), I yearn for the days of sitting at a table with a mug of coffee (or beer) and talking to someone face to face. I sit in a diner now and most people are staring down at some electronic device or talking loudly into their cell phone, oblivious to those around them.

On the plus side, websites like this one are an excellent source of information and long distance friendships. These benefits would not be possible without this new electronic media communication age. However, on balance, I think the positives are outweighed by the negatives.

Just the rambling missives of a "wanna be" tadpole sailor in between Cape Dory sailboats