Weekend Update 7/3/16

[milw12]

Yes, but mostly from tracking what you do off of Facebook. The site isn't as bad as all the sites that have a Facebook button. And that is what Ghostery is for.

A friend turned me to Ghostery a year or so ago, will never look back. Between that and Ublock Orgin for ad blocking (which is off for TRW!), it's almost like I can browse the internet in peace 

[nkalanaga]

Yes, I have Ghostery.  And both Peteski and Iain are right about the main reasons I don't join.  If someone wants to track me ON THEIR SITE, that's fine.  It's the same as going into a store and being watched by the staff.  But I don't like being followed after I leave.

And, if they want to make money from my personal data, they ought to share some of that with me. 

[jmarley76]

I see what you guys are saying, and I can respect that. Privacy is important. It just seemed to have a grain of humor in the notion that one chooses not to participate in a system, then complains because that they can not participate without participating...

Yogi Bera talked on this when he spoke about it once. 

[peteski]

I see what you guys are saying, and I can respect that. Privacy is important. It just seemed to have a grain of humor in the notion that one chooses not to participate in a system, then complains because that they can not participate without participating...

I'm sure you realize that the point here was that if someone creates a FB account (to document progress of their layout build) which is only accessible to FB members, they are limiting their audience. I realize that the number of people who refuse to be assimilated into FB is fairly small, but still, it doesn't seem like a good thing to do.

[John]

https://www.torproject.org/

[sirenwerks]

I hate receiving unsolicited advertising as much as the next guy.  I'm on the national do not call list, have written the credit bureaus to lock my accounts, and what not.  But a couple of things make me okay with it all:

• My father worked for NSA;
• I'm a Federal employee myself whose data and fingerprints are now part of some digital file in China or Russia or wherever;
• TSA provides me a nice letter in my luggage every time I fly saying they peeked and my underwear was all in order; and
• Aside from a few misguided paths in my youth, I keep my nose clean.

So I guess grew up okay with people knowing things about me that I may not even know about myself (I learned I was a twin and that I had autism pretty late in life) and if not having grown up with it, I'm gonna have to just learn to laugh about it all anyway.  Funnily, there's a picture in my Dad's security file of my Grandmother and the two KGB agents assigned to her during her last unannounced trip to Slovakia, for which he got in trouble for.  The funny part is she knew who they were and so she made them useful, and had them carry her bags.  A very Kundera moment. 


The picture is a segway to my point... We all complain, especially here, about how products are never designed right for us.   Well, the usage tracking and stuff is also (often but not always) used for designing better software, websites, products, etc.  It's a lot easier than focus groups and cheaper, and the end users often get what they want without having to ask.  Point is, there's an embraceable side to the peering.

[Ian MacMillan]

Just this from me. HO hum...

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[nuno81291]

Wow Ian that backdrop looks great!

Pushing forward on a first pass of ground cover.. Lots and lots of glue flying everywhere so no moving trains for awhile! Had to fix the Masonite behind the backdrop (note: secure this stuff to prevent humidity expanding and putting an unsightly warp in your photo backdrop  )

[nkalanaga]

Jeff:  I'm not complaining that I can't get to the Facebook page, that doesn't bother me.  As Peteski said, if you have a FB page, and access is limited to FB members, that limits your audience.  Now, if it's a private page, and you want it limited, or don't mind it being limited, that's your decision. 

My concern is that a business person might decide it was a good place for their shop, intend for it to be open to the general public, then find that some prospective customers can't get it.  That would hurt the business, and, in the long run, could hurt FB, if businesses start looking elsewhere.

[jmarley76]

Just this from me. HO hum...

Very nice! That rusty roof looks awesome and the backdrop is a winner! 

[jmarley76]

My concern is that a business person might decide it was a good place for their shop, intend for it to be open to the general public, then find that some prospective customers can't get it.  That would hurt the business, and, in the long run, could hurt FB, if businesses start looking elsewhere.

Yes, I agree that a business having their only presence on the world wide web as a Facebook page does not fit with best practices. So somewhere in all this, the joke was lost. Maybe someday we'll actually met in person and have a laugh about that Facebook thing.