So someone asked to be Facebook friends with a message saying they read and enjoy this blog. Great!1 Only, I pretty much hate Facebook and wish I didn’t have to be there (to keep up with a few family and friends who aren’t online anywhere else). All my Bookface “friends” I’ve met face-to-face, and there are still too many of them. So I’d like to reject the request, with a polite note explaining why.

Can I do that? No I can’t.

Presumably they’ve got their privacy settings locked down so non-friends can’t contact them. Smart move… except Bookface doesn’t make an exception for replying to a friend request.2

It’s probably a bug. But a cynical little voice keeps reminding me that this is yet another source of social pressure to accept yet more invitations, just what Bookface wants…

Lucky for me, I can presume this person will see this post instead. Or that they’re not a human. Problem solved.

Notes:

  1. Assuming it’s a human being, of course. Oh I am cynical today. [↪]
  2. There’s a “Send a message” link, but when the message window pops up it needs the recipient filled in … which has to already be a friend. [↪]