I've Had Enough

This is going to be a shortish post… maybe.

Facebook sucks. It really does. As some of you know, I was put in the penalty box on Facebook. Why, you ask? Well, for having the audacity to post an image of a message I received. A creepy proposition. Someone wanted to become my “sugar daddy”. It might have been stupid to turn down such an offer in this economy, but I did. I wish I had been cleverer about it than simply ignoring the message and deleting it…

Anyway, I posted it on Facebook to both vent, and show to folks the nonsense women must continually endure just for existing in a public space. I went through and hid any identifying things of the original sender; his offered email and What’s App number.

I was the one who was punished by Facebook. Not the person who made such an indecent proposition.

I submitted a dispute, obviously, but based on what I’ve seen from other creators, I hold no hope that I’ll get out of the penalty box. I’m not inclined to fight it. I’m not interested in wasting my time trying to get idiotic AI bots to understand anything.

Beyond that, Facebook keeps throwing things at me I have no interest in. Primarily, pro-LLM/AI, uber conservative posts; bible verses, memes, etc. It does not matter how many times I have clicked “not interested” or “Hide Post” or “Hide All by [god-bothering, uber conservative, anti-woman account]” they just keep. Showing. Up. In my feed. It would be a small issue if I wasn’t already so damned pissed off with the site.

So, if you don’t see me posting on Facebook much anymore, it’s because Facebook is horrendous.

I don’t want to be there anymore. I honestly hate the experience. Passionately.

If you are similarly irritated by Facebook, I implore you all to join me on Hey.Cafe. You can friend me here. The best part of this, besides the site being owned and operated by a small Canadian team, is the that the user experience is actually quite lovely. It’s not just that the folks are really awesome on there… it’s that there are real people on there. Not bots. Not a barrage of ads. Real people. Having real conversations about things.

If enough people I know move over, I can create a café just for us, much like I have my group on Facebook. If my friends all make the move, I can create a private café for them so we can share stuff just between us. The same for all of my family members. Even better, I don’t have to create a new public profile if I want to keep my work and social life separate like I must with Facebook (that’s why I haven’t posted anything to my personal profile in years and years). I can post publicly about my writing/work, and privately in my cafés about the stuff not intended for a wide audience.

Let Facebook push its alt-right agenda to the bots that infest the site in a self-devouring ouroboros of slop. Come over to where the real people are.

For the love of all things good and green, let’s start punishing enshittification, and start moving to better places. We have the alternatives for it now. Let’s use them.

Alright, I’m done grumbling about the state of social media. I have to get writing now.

Slán go foil!