I am over there and didn't realize that was Pal! Thanks for the clue.

WB, I've used a fake name on FB for years. Used a throw away email account when I signed up and made no friend requests. All the pages I follow are hidden from my profile.

Why? I follow stores that I like, news outlets, our town FB page and a few other things like Sophie's page.

Occasionally FB truncates my feed because it says I "need more friends" but eventually my news starts up again.

That's fine, but none of that prevents facebook from tracking you.

I have a real FB account AND a fake one. I have multiple email accounts as well-I think 5 in all. 3 of them are legit, but confined to certain interests (for example, DH and I share an email account that we use for contractors, travel, stuff like that).

I may see if I can request them.

I’m over there too and didn’t realize it was Pal. Should have recognized his writing style though, as I kick myself for that.

Sophie has been ill, just to inform those who are interested.

They aren't tracking me. They are tracking a fake name and fake info. If they find out that fake name who lives in a fake town follows the Sephora page, it's not a big deal to me.

I completely understand the notion of not using FB because of their business practices. But it is possible to use FB and maintain privacy. Not easy but possible.

I'm on Facebook, under my real name, and belong to a variety of different groups that serve different purposes. I have found it difficult lately to keep up with those groups (other than family), two of which I've been part of for almost 20 years on other venues. The last thing I need or want is yet another Facebook group. Even for Pal. I'm making do with what we have here and managing ok.

Aren't people aren't tracked by their IP addresses, not their names?

I do the same as d_gw. I follow a ton of FB pages but don’t do anything social on it and have no friends. My real name and email aren’t associated with it at all, so they can track away! I really don’t care.

There was an even more interesting segment on NPR about how your phone apps track you and how data are being sold. They referred to a NYT story:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/10/technology/prevent-location-data-sharing.html

Yes, you are tracked by your IP address and then in turn whatever else goes on at that IP address - unless your internet activity is done on the dark web. Then you aren't tracked. When you have an alias email and alias FB account it's just not as obvious that your activity is being tracked.

So what are they tracking? My political posts? My shopping habits? How can it come back to cause me a problem?

I'm sorry that they both left and miss them.

oh I'm registered there and I knew right away Pal is Pal he's hard to be confused with anybody else

I miss him and others tremendously...I do visit but very rarely ..because it's stupid but since I "left" FB, because I hate the format and is very draining, psychologically, it feels a bit like a betrayal to my friends..like I don't come there for them, even though some of them I knew all my life or half my life and all, but still come for others..

This FB also has this stupid feature where everybody can see you're actually online there. And most people are sensitive. Especially those who claim they're not:) Lol.

I still get notifications there and use messenger if really needed, but I avoid hanging there, commenting, etc. Rarely I deviate.

I also wish would be some other site, not FB. More than that-I wish all that whatever happenned wouldn't have happenned. Well one can wish.

As for privacy-I'm under the same nickname everywhere for years, but since it's same nickname all this anonimity stops being that much anonymous at certain point lol. Yes I keep very private there-even when I was posting, to the outside world my page looked empty. I filtered a lot of what posts were seen to whom-my family doesn't need my weird rambling, my friends won't care about 50 photos of my kids.

as for what FB tracks? everything. actually I'd be happy if they go to hell, and there's no FB anymore. This site gets on my nerves. They sell you out to anybody and everybody.

I realize it helps many people to get in touch etc, and has its pluses and all. But to me, minuses outweight the pluses. Or started outweighting them.

I thought Pal was just taking a break. I hope he comes back and posts pictures of his kitchen when he’s done. I want to see his copper . I would also like to see his green lacquer project area in his home.

jt, he recently posted some copper updates. Looking good : ) .

pal also just started his own group with RE listing photos. Some fascinating stuff.

I'm hampered by my unfamiliarity and dislike of the FB format, which to me feels very disjointed. I feel like I'm missing posts, and then I don't bother going to FB, and then I really have missed a bunch and can't be sure I've found/seen them all. I think I'm the original old dog who can't be taught new tricks lol.

Pal deleted his account here, as far as I know, so I'm not sure he'll be back

Becky the format feels very disjointed there because it is disjointed

it was created to keep in touch and share pics..that's about it

It can't accomodate other stuff in a good way. Long discussions, posts in form of a journal, etc. You can't even follow easily post that interests you the next day-hard to find it. And it's like it's not expected for a discussion to continue for more than a day.

And I'm not one of these people who have many friends, and of few I do-I read on not all..and I stopped checking the feed at some point, I just went by names..and still was overwhelming and hard to follow. Somebody shares a link-you go to read the link-by the time you're done the post you started with already is drown in a sea of others.

FB can't be what it wasn't supposed to be. It's more of a chat format than forum. Where one can save things. Chat with albums. Yet it wants to be a forum too. And it fails I think.

They do a good job with photos, I'll give them that.

Pal deleted his account here, as far as I know, so I'm not sure he'll be back

He has said he won't be back.

And I'm not one of these people who have many friends, and of few I do-I read on not all..and I stopped checking the feed at some point, I just went by names..

I never used FB for family and friends (though if I had, I probably would be having an easier time with the format). I hate the idea of checking in/being checked on in real time, esp because we live in a different time zone from most friends and family (who are on the east coast) and have such a strange schedule (farming) which sees us working at odd hours, sometimes around the clock.

They do a good job with photos, I'll give them that.

And that's the one thing (aside from all my real life info) I really don't want to give them -- my photos. Argh.

April...on Facebook you can turn off the chat (showing you are online) feature.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/2018/04/20/how-facebook-tracks-your-every-move-facts-vs-fiction/521613002/

Facebook tracks your location (from your phone --- actual physical location)

Facebook can follow your every move on the Web (even when you're not on FB)

Facebook can track what you buy when you’re offline

maddielee, I can?!?

wow.

how? thank you in advance!

(sorry..too excited..I looked for this feature of course, maybe is a new one(like now I can use the messenger without logging in ), or, in any case, I couldn't find it before)

“wow.

how? thank you in advance!”

There’s a little gear wheel thingy at the top in the chat box. Click it for options.

oh thank you so much. will do

I have a lot of objections to FB, and recently I did try to put FB messenger on my phone because I was trying to meet someone from a plant exchange group, and I was having trouble finding the address. Now I cannot get rid of FB on my phone, and even though I logged out of FB, my phone still keeps telling me that I have notifications on FB. It makes me want to get a different phone. I do keep my phone turned off much of the time - I turn it off every evening, and I don't turn it on the next day until I am ready.

On my desktop computer, I use FB on Chrome, but I do the rest of my browsing on Firefox (where I am not on FB), and that seems to have limited FB interference to some extent. I generally turn off chat on FB, but I have several friends who like to use it, and that is about the only way they communicate with me. If I didn't have friends and family who use FB so much, I would delete my FB account. In fact, I tried to do this once but was not successful.

I was thinking of Pal recently because I am planning a trip to Philadelphia in August.

Lars, I had the same problem with FB on my phone. If you installed their god-awful annoying messenger app, just delete that app from your phone.

I did something similar - allowed FB to download messenger on my phone - and I started getting deluged with crap messages like, "so and so is waving at you." Since I'm not 12, AND I'm incredibly busy, I couldn't possibly care less who is waving at me.

Delete the app, problem solved. :)

Me too me too--- ( I actually do use FB but NOT on my phone) that messenger thing is like the plague. I somehow deleted the app, but I still will get notifications that so and so sent me a message but I am now thankfully unable to read it on my phone. I am fine with it on my chromebook. I keep telling people I cannot view FB messenger on my phone. AND I DON'T WANT TO. :)

For those still receiving unwanted notifications from Messenger and other apps.

Can’t you turn off ‘notifications’ of apps and programs in your phone’s Settings? I know it’s easy do do on my iPhone and iPad.

No, I have not been able to turn off notifications in my phone's settings. I think that the phone came with FB installed, but until I first started trying to use it (only once), I never had a problem. Now I have a problem that I cannot get rid of. I have a Samsung android, and I understand now that they have FB automatically installed, whether you want it or not, and I do not. This is why I want a new phone.

Lars, my grandson just showed me on his older Samsung phone (Android). It is different then on my iPhone. You need to tap and hold the Facebook app, then proceed. Hope this helps.

1. Tap the Apps icon in the bottom right of the home screen.
2. Hold down your finger on the Facebook icon, drag your finger to the App Info section at the top of the screen, and release.
3. Uncheck the box that reads Show Notifications.

Thanks, Maddie! I think I got it disabled. I don't know if I did it from the home screen - I just used the first screen that showed up, where it says, "Swipe to unlock". This is the only place I found the FB icon - it does not show up in "Apps" at all. I tried disabling it in Chrome, but that didn't work either, but when I held down the FB icon on the very first screen, it did bring up the option to disable notifications.

Anyway, your tip to hold down the FB icon is what worked for me. I do not use my fingers - I have a stylus that I use instead, as I do not like fingerprint on my phone.