loosing old members

Eric&Lisa wrote:

Photomike wrote:
For me I prefer forums as they are a lot more searchable then say a Facebook group. ...

I do not want myself marketed to others as a product, so I do not participate in Facebook. I admit I am not like the majority of Internet users in that I value my privacy. I would be naive to think that there isn't data about me on the Internet. However by avoiding platforms like Facebook, I at least don't make myself the easy target.

-Eric

I agree completely. Some of my friends tell me it doesn't matter because "they" know everything anyway. But I know they don't and I know that the less involved I am with Facebook and other similar sites, the less I can be marketed. I know that some people don't care about that and that's fine, but some people do care and I'm glad we still have the option.

I don't like how everything still seems to be geared toward FB in the internet. Places I like don't have websites but have FB pages, so I don't visit them on the web. People sell on the FB Marketplace instead of local online sites. And people share information about what they're doing on FB, like a press-release, instead of emailing someone directly to check in. And yes, it has killed many a thriving fora. The university where I used to go had its own forum service that people from all over campus would use to discuss all sorts of matters, but as FB got more popular, people would use it less. And I fully believe that because people interact mostly, or only, on these types of platforms, they are less often exposed to real people with differing opinions (but they are exposed to Soviet trolls!).

I am trying to be more active on the various places I have joined to replace the FB discussions. It's more work, too, to log in to a bunch of different sites when FB is just one place, but that's the way it goes...