Or people who use face book just lack the basic social skills necessary to cultivate an in-person relationship?

See I can be unreasonably insulting too. :D

The big thing for me is that the people I've had "turn up" from my past have never been satisfied with a simple "oh hey nice to see you again, how you doing?" and a bit of catching up and then we all go about our separate merry ways. If of course there is a real mutual reconnection that happens and both parties are clearly interested in following up on that, it's different. But even when there isn't that doesn't seem to dissuade them from assuming that there is and trying to insinuate themselves into my life in ways that, under the circumstances, are IMO completely inappropriate and borderline disturbing.

I've had enough unpleasant experiences along those lines as it is. I don't need a FB account to make them even more likely.

I'm sure if you didn't have boobs it wouldn't happen nearly as much :O:

:O:

I think it has more to do with the fact that I don't like to be rude to people, or make them feel bad, combined with the fact that my admittedly introverted preferences regarding personal space and privacy and what is socially "appropriate" are often a sharp contrast to what's assumed to be the norm in a predominately extroverted society.

So I have sometimes not been as diligent or abrupt about enforcing my boundaries as I need to be when dealing with people who assume the boundaries don't apply to them for some reason. Or else I attempt to enforce them in a way that, if I were the other person, would be both obvious and sufficient... except I'm not the other person, and if the other person is already predisposed not to respect one's boundaries in the first place, that's a big problem.

Some long lost relative gets hold of my phone number or email address, contacts me, and I'm polite about it - oh yes, hi, I'm fine, hope you're fine, the end. To me that's not a reason to show up in town with no notice and then call me for directions to my home so they can come stay for a "visit." But apparently for some people, it is.

Eh. Recently I had a guy I dumped ten years ago show up uninvited at my door and leave messages on my machine saying he "really needs" to talk to me, apparently just because we ran into each other in public and I saw no reason not to be civil. Maybe I should've told him to **** off instead?

That one... sheesh. Still boggles my mind. It's been TEN YEARS. With NO contact. We are no longer part of each others' lives in any way, shape or form. There is nothing we "really need" to talk about. There is no "we."

I was on facebook, I tried to close it and you can't, it says it is but the info is still there,:doh: so beware!:stare:

Oh that would totally suck.

The best thing about having long lost relatives is that they are.

Bingo.

Especially when there are good reasons for them being "long lost," lol.

In this case it was mostly some longstanding mental health issues that eventually turned any encounter into an extremely uncomfortable experience. I realized this was still the case about fifteen minutes into meeting them for lunch at a restaurant across town, which I agreed to do because I didn't want to outright refuse to see them.

Even then I had to fend off repeated requests to let them follow me back to my apartment for an even longer "visit." Uh, no. These were people I barely knew as a child and not at all since then, with whom I have absolutely nothing in common, whose idea of "appropriate" is clearly vastly different from my own, and whose behavior is already freaking me the hell out. Fortunately I was able to tell them that I have a very small apartment, and that at the time every free inch of space in it was taken up by boxes of stuff I'd gotten out of storage temporarily. There was literally no place in my living room to sit down, much less entertain guests. All of which was true.

(Hey, did you know that when you show up in town unannounced to visit people who have no idea you're coming, they might not be able to accommodate you on demand? They actually have lives that don't revolve around you and your needs! Crazy, I know! But it's true!)

I also told them that I was not going straight home as I had a lot of errands to run that afternoon. Totally not true, although I did take the long way home just in case.

I have a facebook, but I don't use it, its pointless bull crap and I have better things to do with my time then screw with stupid little apps and deal with friend requests and bull****, I also have a myspace but that was made because my girlfriend wanted me to and I don't mess with that either except when I want to send a message to my gf when we are apart.

If you need to get ahold of me, I get on MSN all the time, I also have an email, and if I know you in real life then if I think you are worth talking to then call me.

Frankly my time is more important to waste on your stupid little social networking site. Also if you think facebook "Is the s**t and you should get on it!" then you are probably not worthy enough to communicate with me.

Rilder, I don't do networking either, and I only honor friends requests, both here and there, from people I actually know. I only joined facebook because Neal started a Subsim page there.

That said, you can look down on me and call me "unworthy" all you want, but I repeat that if I had not joined my long-lost daughters would never have found me and I wouldn't know about them or my grandkids.

Giving your opinions and reasons for not joining this or that is fine, but I certainly don't need you or anybody preaching down to me and calling me "unworthy". On the other hand, I don't think Facebook is anything special; just another tool.

Face what? Can't be bothered. :DL

I live 15 minutes from the town I go to school in and it's always hard to find gas and the time to stay in touch with my friends, being an only child I find I strive for communication.

My girlfriend is also away, the only way we can communicate is through skype and facebook (for when skype goes down, or when I'm not home)

I have friends say that my status updates elicit chuckles from them and their friends, my page seems to be built around comedy. people never ask me for rides anymore because I update the status on my gasoline and thus I never get bothered unless my friends have money.

ohh the convenience!

Sorry I must of been unclear. I was talking about those people that will go and tell me to get on facebook, and get mad if I don't add them on it, as if this social networking site is somehow an important facet of our friendship.

Plenty other and safer means to communicate with those you want to....some with video and audio as well. :up:

Precisely :yep:

Aye, FB's a bitch.

I made an account on FB year or so ago to check some pics my brother's friend had put up, after I was done, I deleted the account. Two weeks later, I got an email from FB thanking me of reactivating my account. :o I went there and sure enough, my account had been reactivated for some reason. :nope: So, deleted it again and haven't heard of them since.