Seamus Caldwell was a gaelic variation on one of my names: James. Combined with my mother’s maiden name, it created an alterego for the nightmare that is FB. The whole account was disabled because I also faked my birthdate, and got caught out by the algos who finally figured out that I must have been one of the oldest people on FB at 110+ years old.
Now, to understand why I created this, think back to the fakery that was Facebook a few years ago, combined with weak credential systems, invariable hacks over the years, and the unrelenting spate of spam that infests FB. Why would you want your true identity to be known to all & sundry? Why indeed? TeamPassword | Facebook Hacks: a History of Security Breaches at Facebook and Meta recorded over 2 billion accounts were leaked with email & passwords.
Fakebook: 22.5% user accounts faked
One of the larger groups I used to mod had 21000~22000 members and dozens, sometimes hundreds of new members each and every day. I got really, really good at spotting the fakery: faked accounts, hacked accounts, spam accounts. Finally, I stopped admitting new members to the group because even though FB prevented some spam, the tools FB gave us were inadequate (like a hammer to drill a hole, in fact) to do the job.
New members were the biggest source of spam, accounting for a large percentage of the fakery. After blocking all new members, the spam went to almost zero, including the sleeper spam accounts that wouldn’t risk blowing up their account. At that point I think out of 500 new membership, only about 50 or 60 were genuine. Pity.
So it’s just sheer bloody-mindedness on FB’s part to permit fakery among advertisers while denying us individuals the rights and tools to protect ourselves in THEIR marketplace. Until you realize that we’re the meat in the butcher’s shop. FB is selling us to whoever pays the most… FB knows that advertisers don’t want to advertise to fake accounts because fake accounts do not have $$$.
But guess what advertisers (fake or not) have! Unfortunately, what is apparent to mods but not to most users is the sheer scale of automated fakery on FB, that FB specifically allows, that FB fails to mitigate… it is relentless. That’s the way it is.
FB claims that fake accounts only represent a small percentage of users. I’m not exactly sure how they’re slicing and dicing those stats. But they’re claiming to be ‘not a problem’ is ridiculously & clearly fudged: nearly 700 million accounts removed in Q4 2023 out of slightly more than 3 billion active users. Not small fry: 22.5% of their accounts in any given quarter are faked. With AI… what do you bet that the problem is going to get worse?
Glass Houses: Throw a stone, I dare ya!
On FB, if you must use an account, make a profile account and use that as your FB account. Don’t risk your main account. Or better still, don’t use FB or IG. You’re not in charge of the game, unless you’re spending money.
Now, in hindsight, when you live in a glass house, it’s a salutary reminder not to throw stones for fear of breaking windows. Unfortunately, I got into a gun debate the night before with some ridiculous profiles who were advertising guns as a safety tool for runners.
I’m flat out against guns, gun ownership in society in general and the companies that enable that. It is also incredibly stupid to carry guns while running. The risk of a misfire or an incident with your gun will be the least of your worries. Of course, if it’s so dangerous that you’re outside running with a gun… perhaps you need to rethink your priorities.
Not only was this against FB TOS, but FB moderation had clearly failed to identify the posts. Unfortunately, the entire thread got erased and I guess quite a few accounts were blitzed in the process, even those who were protesting this failure of moderation. I guess FB doesn’t see this as anything more than collateral damage in keeping its image clean.
No worries. FB is bit of a cesspit in some ways, keep your views to yourself, connect with friends and people IRL only. Stay away from big groups or public discussions, esp. when there are idiots out there quite happy to brigade poor victims. FB ain’t got your back, that’s for sure.