The Crazy Bag Person of Facebook

[lagilman]

So there is a Person on Facebook who requested to friend me. Since I didn't recognize the name, I did a basic looksee -- account seemed legit, there were no obvious warning signs (being a member of NAMBLA, FantasyWritersRTheAntiChrist, etc etc), had a number of other writers friended, so probably was a reader -- so I said yes.

Didn't think too much about it until I happened on a post this Person had made, and -- being somewhat taken aback by the comment -- left a comment asking for clarification. Had Person -really- meant what they said, and did they realize how offensive it was?

In response, my legitimacy to question Person's statement was questioned, as was my education, my relevance, and my being there in the first place. And nope, never did actually respond to my request for clarification.

I have since come to realize that Person is the Crazy Bag Person of Facebook. Seriously, certifiably, somewhat pitiably full-out loony.

Should I keep someone on my friends list just because their wall is like reading surrealist theater? Mmmmm probably not. I don't have time to go down rabbit-holes, and people who wear tin foil hats make me itch. And yet... it's like watching a slow-mo train wreck where you know the sole passenger is too drunk to get injured. I just can't look away.

And it reminds me to be gentle with people, because sometimes they really aren't coming from our part of reality and it's not their fault.

But wow.

{in the end, I defriended Person, mainly because I didn't want anyone to see me on their f-list and think,"ok, Person must be all right, then" Because, no.)


And, to counter all that, a quote from a nicely rational human being:

"I’ll tell you one thing: I was a card-carrying Republican until he did this. Republicans are not this mean. I gotta believe that. I’m now an independent thanks to Scott Walker." - JOEL WAGNER (from an on-the-street interview in, I believe, Democracy Today)

Comments

[scottedelman.livejournal.com]

It was good of you to defriend so that your friends won't think you've vetted this person. You'd be amazed at the number of friend requests I get from people I don't know who have tons of mutual friends, yet when I check their recent statuses, I see they're inviting me to go look at their pictures off site which they promise I'll like. In other words, a porn bot. So instead of friending, I block and report them.

I think many people will OK any friend request with no research whatsoever. Not me.

[lagilman]

Yeah, as I said, I do a basic screening, and have ignored a lot of requests that didn't meet some very basic parameters (like some indication of WHY they might want to read my posts - either a personal or a business or a book connection.) I'm not there to rack up huge numbers, but to build a community.

[scottedelman.livejournal.com]

Yes, if I don't know them, never heard of them, and they're not either a writer or artist or a member of fandom (whether officially by going to cons and writing for fanzines, or unofficially by simply having lots of statuses in which they discuss books, etc.), then I am wary.

[chickwriter.livejournal.com]

have ignored a lot of requests that didn't meet some very basic parameters

Yeah, this.

I've friended a handful of people without doing due diligence (as above) and come to regret it: porn links, entreaties to join [insert religion name here], etc., ad nauseum.

Now, I'm a lot more careful.

[joycemocha.livejournal.com]

I do this as well. My Facebook community takes up a lot of various small circles that I interact with, including family, a long-term e-mail list serve membership, high school friends, and a former circle from a Usenet newsgroup (rec.equestrian) that was controversial in its own right, back in the day. Throw in a dash of old political connections, tiptoeing into teacher connections, and I definitely don't want to have the crazy intervene on Facebook.

Gotta say, it can be somewhat entertaining when the different groups start talking at each other. Like, say, the rec.eq crowd (rec.equestrian was not once known as "wreck.eq" for nothing, and my rec.eq connections were gleefully once part of that batch that made the wreck what it is!) talking to the listserve crowd, or the sf crowd. Can be entertaining.