Chatting on Answerbank and Facebook

[venator]

It appears that a lot of people chat on both, and make up an "insider" group, making references to Facebook chats on AB.

I loathe Facebook, and the way it's spreading its tentacles like the new secret police, so avoid using it.

Does anyone else feel a bit left out sometimes?

[ummmm]

No, lol.

Loads of us used to talk on MSN before Facebook came along.

[boxtops]

I do use FB but in a very limited and as-private-as-possible way. Ed has said before that if ABers speak to each other outside AB, they should avoid saying so and keep those conversations for FB or email - it rather defeats the anonymity of AB if people bring the other conversations into AB too.

[anneasquith]

no disrespect to anyone who uses AB facebook,but i would never join, and no. i dont feel left out.

[pastafreak]

I don't use Facebook either-but I find it annoying both on here and on other forums when people make references to their personal messages or photos that can be seen. It can create a divide

[micmak]

I've never used facebook, twitter etc. Never felt either the urge or the need.

[erin-x]

I do feel out the loop sometimes but I would rather that than the other side of it. Just look at Rowan's thread yesterday... terrible stuff :|

[ummmm]

It's nothing to do with Facebook though. People were in contact before Facebook.

[boxtops]

I agree, ummm - people are in touch via throwaway emails etc (often initially for a specific purpose).

[Canary42]

Cliques form in every facet of society - live with it.

[EvianBaby]

I hardly ever see anything about 'outside' stuff that comes over on AB.

I'm part of the Facebook group but I've never got tangled up in any of the unpleasant stuff. Well, not to my knowledge anyway.

To be honest, nothing really happens on the FB group.

[NOX]

I'm on facebook, don't often chat with many people from here, but anyone can join and no I don't feel left out, nor can I understand why a grown up would care who chats to who. If you're feeling neglected you could always join as well- or not- as the fancy takes you.

[Barmaid]

I remember years ago when I first joined, there were groups of people who used to chat on msn and be very open about it, so its certainly nothing new. I never felt left out.

But its the nature of the beast. If you have any form of community, there will always be some who get on (and some who dont!) who will take the next social step.

[venator]

That's good - it's not just me, then!

It doesn't worry me at all - just wondered if I was becoming a bit odd in my declining years.

That said, I believe that Twitter is an invention of the Devil ! <]:-)

[tiggerblue10]

I'm on FB but very rarely log in. I've joined in a couple of conversations with ABers on there but they have been short. Mind you, I don't log in to AB as much as I used to either.

[China Doll]

Nah... In any part of your life there will always be people you get on with better than others so naturally gravitate towards.

[sunny-dave]

I think what AB actually has is many different groups of users - perhaps 'groups' is the wrong word, more like "people who tend to hang around in the same places and broadly get on OK" - and some loose (and indeed shifting) alliances tend to form. I drift around - always on the Listener threads, often in chatterbank, occasionally having a rant on the news topics - but never feel 'excluded from the party' wherever I go.

The 'clique' stuff is interesting - to me it's only a clique if it's deliberately exclusive and has a superiority complex about its position in the scheme of things. I don't see much (if any) of that.

As far as the FB users are concerned I can vouch for it being an extremely *non* exclusive group - I knew nobody (and nothing) a few months ago and yet seem to have been made more than welcome (checks carefully between shoulderblades for pointy metal thing). To me it adds to the AB experience, but it's optional and if you don't fancy it then it really doesn't matter one way or the other.

[venator]

Spot on, sunny-dave - aren't we a nice lot of people! If Marks & Spencer ran a chat site, it would probably get the same clientele. Even the trolls are pretty mild.

[B00]

The problem with the AB/FB crossover is that people seem far too eager to give out personal information about themselves on FB, when they fall out (and they usually do) the info is then spread to here out of spite, then the proverbial hits the fan.

[Frank97]

Can't say I'm big FB fan either or a big poster here for that matter, I just enjoy reading all the chat and stuff, so no I don't feel left out of anything that I don't wish to be left out of anyway.

[pusskin]

When you meet on other sites such as facebook, do you by then know each other personally? Names info about your families etc?
A/B is all about no-one knows who each other are in real life?
I dont understand it all I must admit, but good luck if you all have this connecting thing between you.