Beware of the OTHER messages box on Facebook.

If you are on Facebook, do you ever check the OTHER message box? This is the spot where The Zuckman’s staffers (or more likely, the site robots) tend to tuck notes that come in from non-friend users. Some are simply spam, while many of those messages are astonishing or alarming. Others are altogether hilarious.

Lately, the OTHER messages box on Facebook has been called MESSAGE REQUESTS. But it’s no less scary.

20 doozies

Here are a few gems from the OTHER messages box, quoted without corrections of spelling or grammar. Bear in mind: These are from total strangers. OK, they are from much-stranger-than-strangers. And they go back a bit. (It’s been a while since I’ve sorted, deleted, or reported stuff from the mailbox of mire.)

1. “Help! I would want know you please.”
2. “I search for friend we lost contact for long time, but I find your page instead.”
3.  “how are you today? It's nice that people can socialise using FB method, I am not often here but I would like us to know each other more better,”
4. “I am impatiently waiting your answer.”
5. “You arrested my eyes.”
6. “i looking for serious relationship for ever and am not here to joke with any one”
7. “You wish I get a chance.”
8.  “I draw to people who quirky... do you mind if we can get be connected?”
9. “I bet if they are elect Miss Face Book … she has be you.”
10. “i must confess you are the one that cross my hearth.”
11. “So sorry if contracting you here is wrong.”
12.  “i wildly like to know you to better, sir. I do hope hear you soonest.”
13.  “OMG. You are indeed appetizing.”
14. “My fortune need bank transfer. Rule world with me.”
15. “one thing you have to know is you queen ammong all.”
16. “Please, can we be best of friends? my instinct tells me that your friendship will bring more joy my life.”
17. “I will hoping to hear from you so that I tell you more about my self.”
18. “Dear my best friend in past life.”
19.  “Please don’t think it as fake message. My name is …”
20.  “Hello? Hello? Hello?

Are you as creeped out as I am? And who was that last one, Adele?

Gotta say it: I don’t answer these mysterious missives. Heck, I usually don’t even read ‘em. This time, I scanned the first lines from the message listing for the purpose of this article. I opened a few to pull out the quotes listed above. And then I wanted to call a Hazmat team and schedule an emergency session in a decon chamber.

That OTHER/MESSAGE REQUEST box is a quagmire!

Sure, I know I should never even venture into the OTHER message box on Facebook. On the other hand, I occasionally find real messages tucked into that spot. Sometimes genuine folks may send well-meaning and informative notes without actually becoming Facebook friends. As such, their messages may be placed in that box.

So I steel my nerves and take a look once in a while to see what has piled up. But I still feel as if I need a bottle of brain bleach afterwards.

Best beware of the OTHER/MESSAGE REQUEST box on Facebook.

Here’s something especially funny.

I’ve compared notes with a few friends (of all ages and shapes and sizes and descriptions) and found they have received many of the same messages (verbatim) from the same people! Do we dare hope a mutual friend or two may have been pranking us all?

Images:

Adapted by this user from public domain artwork

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Parents: Would you make a Facebook profile for your new baby or little kid?

Scores of parents are apparently creating Facebook profiles for their new babies, their toddlers, or their young children. 

Moms and Dads: Would you do this? Why or why not?

Parents interviewed by CBS CBS Pittsburgh, for example, described how they enjoy uploading photos of their children to the youngsters’ own Facebook profiles – in many cases, even before the kids are old enough to operate a computer.

“It’s easier than emailing,” one parent said.

Most often, these parent-originated Facebook pages are set for high privacy, sharing items only with family and perhaps a select group of close friends. But the stuff is still out there.

Lots of folks tag their little kids in photos on their own or loved ones’ profiles too.

Not sure this is delightful at all, but something certainly seems amiss.

Besides the simple fact of violating Facebook regulations (Currently, Facebook has a minimum age requirement of 13 years.), this practice seems to raise serious questions about personal privacy for minor children, personal security, and parental responsibility.

Anyone else find this alarming?

Maybe we should ask a few of those kids in about 10 years. Gotta wonder how a growing kid might feel about having his or her baby pictures posted on Facebook, when that youngster takes over the profile. Sure, photos and posts can be deleted, but caches and screenshots can still exist.

What about voyeurs and creepy porn producers, who prowl the internet and lift photos of children for all sorts of icky purposes?

Images:

Parents: Would you make a Facebook profile for your new baby or little kid?

Created by this user, including public domain clipart

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Facebook foibles: Can unfriending be amicable?

Facebook friendships can be a tangled web – or a prize fight.

I received a friend request the other day on Facebook. Hey, it happens. But this time, it was a little weird.

Frankly, I didn’t recognize the person, but we had lots of mutual friends. Plus, she apparently belongs to several of the same special-interest/recreational groups to which I do. So I accepted her friend request.

That’s where the trouble started.

Before the day was out, I spotted a post she had put up in a Facebook group to which we both belonged. It linked to her personal Facebook page and her Facebook business page as well. 

The post quoted one of my online articles – verbatim and in full – without permission for publication.

It was copyright infringement, plain and simple.

My publisher does not take kindly to such things. So I messaged this new “friend” and informed her as kindly as possible that the information was copyrighted.

Hey, maybe she didn’t know about copyrights, plagiarism, and publication laws. Lots of people don’t. Or, at least, they claim they don’t.

I suggested she remove the post (and all shares of it) before the publisher spotted it and possibly took action.

Apparently, she did remove the offending posts. But she also removed me promptly from her Facebook friends list.

This person, who approached me first and whom I still don’t even know, was friends with me for about six hours. That was it.

No harm, no foul. Right? Maybe … or maybe not.

Facebook does not issue notifications when someone dumps a friend. But it’s easy to tell, if one looks at that person’s page and sees the “Add Friend” button. That’s pretty much a dead giveaway.

So much for alerting someone ahead of time to possible legal action. And so much for a new friendship.

Well, you can pick your friends, but …

Image/s:

Vintage/public domain artwork

Zonked

Zowie! Zoink! GadZooks! We've zoomed through the A-Z Challenge.

OK, I'm zonked. Zapped. Zoning out. (I did it with SEVEN blog sites this year. That took a bit of zig-zagging, but I'm done!)

It's time to catch some zzzz's.

Congratulations to all the zippy bloggers, who completed the April A to Z challenge. And



Delightfully Amiss: Berzerkians Gone Amok and Finding the Funk in Dysfunction is participating in the April A to Z Blogging Challenge again this year. Stop on back, so you don’t miss a single post!

Image/s:

1-Word Wonders from A to Z 
Created by this user

Other photo/s by Nickers and Ink 
for Delightfully Amiss

Feel free to follow on Google Plus and Twitter. Like this blog?  Check out Practically at Home on Facebook. You are also invited to join this writer's fan page, as well as the Chicago Etiquette Examiner, Madison Holidays Examiner, Equestrian Examiner and Madison Equestrian Examiner on Facebook.

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What's in a wheelhouse, anyway?

Sometimes, a popular wording may be weird. Occasionally, it seems outright idiotic. Here's a prime example.

Wave at us, if you've heard this one:

"That's right in your wheelhouse."

Or this one:

"It's not exactly in his wheelhouse, but he did a good job with it."

What!?! OK, we understand the intent of the phrase. But it's still awkward and weird. What's in a wheelhouse?

We know this phrase is supposed to evoke images of technological prowess and power. But it still makes us think of hamsters ... or even the dreaded rat race.

You can find this "wheelhouse" design on cups, totes, and other fun products at CafePress.


Delightfully Amiss: Berzerkians Gone Amok and Finding the Funk in Dysfunction is participating in the April A to Z Blogging Challenge again this year. Stop on back, so you don’t miss a single post!

Image/s:

1-Word Wonders from A to Z 
Created by this user

Other photo/s by Nickers and Ink 
for Delightfully Amiss

Feel free to follow on Google Plus and Twitter. Like this blog?  Check out Practically at Home on Facebook. You are also invited to join this writer's fan page, as well as the Chicago Etiquette Examiner, Madison Holidays Examiner, Equestrian Examiner and Madison Equestrian Examiner on Facebook.

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