pebkac thoughts

On Tue, Nov 27, 2007 at 12:35:09PM -0800, Facebook Support wrote:
> Hi Cristóbal,
>
> Unfortunately, the functionality you are requesting is not currently available.

Right. Because it was removed:

http://www.boingboing.net/2007/11/26/facebook-privacy-mel.html

If that’s not true, the world really should know it. Step up and tell
me I’m wrong, please. I want to believe that it’s wrong because its
truth cuts to the quick.

> We will keep your suggestion in mind, however, as we continue to improve the site.

Please do. Your site does provide a valuable service. This and the
news feeds launch makes two major creep-outs. Two strikes.

> Facebook is now affiliated with  a variety of websites, [... formletter ...]
>
> Thanks for contacting Facebook,
>
> Pam
> Customer Support Representative
> Facebook

I hope they’re paying you well for helpdesk work. And I hope you have
a feedback mechanism to express your own personal concerns to those
above you in a way that you feel is recognized and valued. If not, you
should leave. Soon.

Do you believe facebook is doing right by its users, Pam? Maybe you
believe users are getting what they pay for, right? It’s a free
service, so how could people possibly not be grateful?

I work helpdesk too, Pam. I take tickets for ibiblio, and sometimes
ridiculously unreasonable requests from irate contributors hit my
inbox. I sincerely hope you’re not having to respond to unintelligible
all-caps abuse. The fact that my superiors value my feedback and that
I know what we’re doing is right–not just *not evil* but right–is the
only reason I put up with it. I can keep taking those help tickets:

http://www.ibiblio.org/help/

I hope you can place yourself in the shoes of the two or three of us
writing in on this topic and ask yourself if it’s really fair to put
that four-item burden on your users. Somebody made the decision that
there was a lot more money to be made by not giving the users that
opt-out button. That’s wrong. It was there. It’s what?  A boolean flag
in a database?

It would be one thing if I were asking your developers to do heavy
lifting. I’m not.

I’ve written in to facebook before. I remember when you guys were
using RT as your help ticket system. You at facebook made (likely
still make) great use of fantastic Open Source Software. Ibiblio
started out as sunsite.unc.edu, a repository of Open Source Software
(and other things). That’s still part of ibiblio’s mission. Facebook
would never have made it if not for linux, apache, php, RT, and
innumerable other projects that only work because of the community
behind them. Please don’t forget that.

Please don’t forget that we facebook users, *your* community, are the
reason you thrive. Friendster forgot:

“Rather than improving the software, Friendster went on a partnership
binge.”

http://www.inc.com/magazine/20070601/features-how-to-kill-a-great-idea_pagen_4.html

Hmmmm. Familiar?

> Facebook is now affiliated with  a variety of websites

Please don’t sell out the community. Yanking code that’s already
there, code that makes life better for some of your users who really
want it: that’s selling out. That’s turning your back on the
community. It’ll bite you in the end. Maybe not this time, but if you
can cut that deal once, you’ll be even more eager to make it the next
time. Is it worth it?

Is that helpdesk paycheck worth it, Pam? Tell me I’m reading this
wrong, Pam. I don’t like the most obvious conclusion. I don’t like
coming off as holier-than-thou. I don’t like feeling like I’m
preaching into the ether.

Cheers,
–
Cristóbal Palmer
ibiblio.org systems administrator