Hey guys,
Just from today's discussion, people were wondering how to get banned from Facebook, and I found a site that talks about it. There's even a group on Facebook: Ways To Get Banned From Facebook.
http://www.squidoo.com/facebook-bans
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This is quite interesting for "social" reasons -- FB seems to be evolving into a "virtual country" (developing its own norms, laws, expectations about behavior, ideas of appropriateness/inappropriateness, etc). But the big thing is that IT IS NOT A DEMOCRACY! It is actually quite stealthy, erratic, and somewhat totalitarian: They have never revealed exactly what the laws are that you need to obey (although there are clearly terms of service that some people have violated), nor the relationship between the violation and the punishment. Moreover, who decides? What standards are applied? How is it appealed (or can it be)? It would like to see a constitution, a set of articles and amendments, a legal system, a legal process, and a true public forum where these violations can be debated. Right now, FB does all this in the dark, which is quite troubling.
ReplyDeleteThat's so ridiculous how there's a group showing how to get banned from facebook. Now I see how everything is controlled by a large company or the government. I feel that as our web technologies or anything media related grows, it seems to be more biased in a sense where it is controlled by powerful groups.
ReplyDeleteActually, I think it's ridiculous there's a group for a lot of things on Facebook. Some groups are really stupid. Some groups are very mundane. Some groups are created by people just for fun. I think having those groups is nice, but really? What's the point in joining a group about how you flip over your pillow to get to the cold side? Are you really going to discuss pillows?
ReplyDeleteBack to the topic at hand, I think it is inevitable that Facebook have its own set of rules for banning, due to it being a business. If people really were able to post up anything they wanted or say anything, I can imagine the chaos that would ensue. And that would drive a lot of users out of Facebook, which the company does not want.
I agree with you comment about the groups Vincent. I have to admit that I've joined some groups that I definitely never looked at again, just because they were funny...or "so true."
ReplyDeleteIn terms of the Facebook banning, I think that you're also right that chaos would ensue if people were allowed to post anything they wanted. But can't people post anything they want on blogs technically? Is Facebook only different from that because it is a private company and therefore must have a set of rules laid out. I'm sure that the rules of what you can and cannot post are laid out in the terms of service but in a very ambiguous way. I feel like there should be some kind of introduction to Facebook when you make a profile that tells you what you can and cannot say.
Also, if Facebook suddenly comes up with a new rule as to what is acceptable and not acceptable based on a user's infraction, they should alert all Facebook users so that we don't make the same mistake. I think it would also be interesting to look at the exact language Facebook uses to describe itself and its purpose. That can make a big difference in terms of what they do and do not allow.
I agree that facebook should have some sort of introduction or warning to what you can and can't do. However, after looking through the discussions in that group about common reasons why people get banned from fb, I have to say... a lot of them sound like the users are just being really stupid, and it's sort of like "well duh, why would you do that anyways?" For example, friending too many people. It's a bit ridiculous that someone would have 5000+ friends, let alone 5000 acquaintances they actually remember; for the average person my age, saying you're friends with 500+ people is already pushing it for reality. For the other reasons: if I was moderating activity in fb, joining too many groups, posting duplicate texts in a lot of messages, or the like do sort of look like spam. In this sense, I think the administrators are just making an effort to keep it modest and clean, especially because this site is their business.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the previous comment about looking at the exact language that is used. It would be worth looking at facebook's purpose (what is it supposed to achieve as a "social network") before discussing what should or should not be acceptable. I think it would help clarify what rights the users should have over their share on the internet as well.