Facebook Perplexes Me

ctwo

Merely Rhetorical
TL;DR? Skip to the last two paragraphs.

Almost 10 years ago, a friend goaded me into creating a FB account. I friended him and we had just a few exchanges, like a Merry Christmas. I never added anything to FB other than a profile picture and I quickly stopped using it completely, especially when they had this real ID push, I just opted out and thought it done.

Every so often, FB would send me a notification to the email I used to register, usually something along the lines of, so-and-so added a new photo... I eventually marked FB as spam and have long forgotten about it.

FF to a few months ago, this friend twisted off and basically ended the friendship. And while not at all related to this thread, the riff was about whether ketchup should be put on a hotdog, and I plain wouldn't care one way or the other. I honestly was not aware that it was an issue. A few years ago I picked up dogs for all of us at Costco and loaded them up with all the condiments, including Ketchup. He took one bite and noticed it, then tossed the dog in the trash...

Anyhow, FB sent me a notification the other day that this friend uploaded a new photo. I hadn't seen one of those in so long that I'd forgotten about them (what happened to my spam filter?). I clicked the link and boom, I was logged into my old FB account. I was perplexed because I'm using a work PC, and we get a new PC every 2-3 years. How does this happen? Is the link coded because it came to my registered inbox? Another thing, my FB notification preferences had email notifications turned OFF, so why is FB harassing me with email notifications?

A thought - having this FB account now interests me, because there is marketplace and maybe something I can get out of it. Whatever happened to the real ID campaign? If I can use it as-is then fine. The problem is that I do not know the password. How could I fix that? Will they require an sms text verification to change it?
 

cheez

Master Of The Darkside
There's a password recovery dialog that will send to either your mobile phone number, if you provided one, or email address, to reset your password. You can also 'find your account' here.

FB is losing users and is pulling out all the stops to bring new eyeballs. Your comments sound like the writing from scenes in "The Social Dilemma"- "we've lost him, deploy the 'long lost friend posted a new photo' tactic!"


youtu.be/3FmX8SBIeco

I use FB a lot, or used to. The genuine interactions I used to have there are being replaced by group and marketplace posts, and that sucks. I think my friends largely have less time for it than I do, but FB has also changed the algorithms and content up a lot over the past decade. ;)

Good luck, either way.
 
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ctwo

Merely Rhetorical
I'll give it a shot - I might try a few logins in another browser. It seems this one remembers and I still go straight into my account when returning. Amazing!

I might have to watch that movie - it didn't get terrible ratings...
 

rodr

Well-known member
Sounds like when your work PCs were upgraded they did something to preserve your browser profile, including cookies.
 

ctwo

Merely Rhetorical
IT gives users a new PC with the corporate image, and the employee typically has to rebuild their own system. I don't transfer stuff like cookies and I keep all my working files on the network or an external drive. It's always a PITA.

I copied the link from the email notification into a different browser and got a login screen with the user ID pre-populated. I guessed at a password and FB then presented a screen to enter a code that they sent to my email, which I entered; then they presented a new password screen. I entered the same password I tried and am in again. I'm still in on the other browser too, so maybe I remembered my PW or I don't know...

I commented on my "friend's" image and he subsequently blocked me from his page and unfriended me. I guess FB does not notify you of that but my friend list went from 1 to 0. :laughing
 

cheez

Master Of The Darkside
IT gives users a new PC with the corporate image, and the employee typically has to rebuild their own system. I don't transfer stuff like cookies and I keep all my working files on the network or an external drive. It's always a PITA.

I copied the link from the email notification into a different browser and got a login screen with the user ID pre-populated. I guessed at a password and FB then presented a screen to enter a code that they sent to my email, which I entered; then they presented a new password screen. I entered the same password I tried and am in again. I'm still in on the other browser too, so maybe I remembered my PW or I don't know...

I commented on my "friend's" image and he subsequently blocked me from his page and unfriended me. I guess FB does not notify you of that but my friend list went from 1 to 0. :laughing

:laughing

Sounds about par for Facebook. Feel free to friend me if you like.
 
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