VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

Lee Gordon

As those of us who use it know, Facebook has a bizarre habit of occasionally making your friends spontaneously disappear and, once in a while, reappear (perhaps I should have put this in the "Schroedinger's Cat" thread). This can be unsettling as you wonder, "who unfriended me?"

Well, thanks to a tip from none other than D.B. Cooper, I started using a browser plug-in called "Better Facebook" ( http://www.betterfacebook.net) and one of it's features is the "Friend Tracker" that identifies which of your friends has unfriended you. (It's not retro-active, so it only identifies unfriendings after you start using it, and only as they happen.)

But it doesn't work in reverse. If one of your previously disappeared friends reappears, it doesn't tell you who came back. So here's the strange thing: this week my friend total went up by one without my having added anyone and now it's driving me just as crazy trying to figure out who came back as it would have been trying to guess who had left.
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Lee Gordon, O.A.V.
Voice President of the United States
www.leegordonproductions.com
Twitter: @LeeGordonVoice

Jeffrey Kafer · Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2011 1:31 pm Post subject:

How could they have come back without requesting to be friends?
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Jeff
http://JeffreyKafer.com
Voice-overload Web comic: http://voice-overload.com

Lee Gordon · Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 1:22 am Post subject:

Two possibilities come to mind. One is that somebody had suspended his or her FB account (or FB did it) and then the account was reactivated.
The other is just chalked up to quirky FB behavior; the same mysterious force that made the connection go away, made it come back.
_________________
Lee Gordon, O.A.V.
Voice President of the United States
www.leegordonproductions.com
Twitter: @LeeGordonVoice

Jacob Ekstroem · Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 3:13 am Post subject:

I use BetterFacebook myself and there's a really weird bug in it, causing some of your friends to appear MIA (thus, un-friending you). After a few days they return. I have one paricular friend this phenomena happens with all the time.
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Jacob - Danish Voice Overs (try it... it sounds really funny, too!)

Jeffrey Kafer · Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 12:36 pm Post subject:

I'm a BetterFacebook user as well and the friend finder very clearly says "There's a bug in facebook that sometimes reports incorrect friend data. Always check to make sure the friend has actually unfriended you."

Or some such very clear explanation.
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Jeff
http://JeffreyKafer.com
Voice-overload Web comic: http://voice-overload.com

Jen Gosnell · Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 10:50 pm Post subject:

Mushmelon · Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 11:27 pm Post subject:

I'm a little tired of all the notifications I get from people I already have as friends requesting to be friends. I check my friends list and yep...there they are. I confirm the new request and am told they already are a friend. Next time I log back in...Lo-and-behold the request is back again.
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Tony Impieri
www.tonyimpieri.com

Lee Gordon · Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2011 12:54 am Post subject:

As if on cue, one of my friends from high school, who just yesterday sent me a message and "liked" one of my posts in a group for our class, disappeared. I know he wouldn't -- and didn't -- unfriend me. I typed his name in the search box and he does not show up as being on Facebookat all. And the "thumb up" symbol on the post he liked is still there but if you hover your mouse over it, it says "No one currently likes this."
I predict he'll be back in a few days and may never even know he was gone.
_________________
Lee Gordon, O.A.V.
Voice President of the United States
www.leegordonproductions.com
Twitter: @LeeGordonVoice

Bruce · Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2011 8:58 am Post subject:

This whole "like" and "unfriend" business reminds me of grade and high school, when if Jimmy or Susie didn't like you anymore your whole world was coming to an end!!!!

I've ridden this planet for quite a few orbits now and I've come to realize that everyone from casual acquaintances to deep friends will drift in and out of your life, for reasons good to totally inexplicable and hurtful. I'm afraid that is a cycle of life that we can't do much about. I regret any excessive time and emotional energy I've spent worrying about it....time I could have used to nurture new and existing friendships. Forward I say.

B
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VO-BB Member #31 Enlisted June, 2005

I'm not a Zoo, but over the years I've played one on radio/TV. .

Lee Gordon · Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2011 1:31 pm Post subject:

I guess that was my point. It's silly enough to worry about who unfriended you, but it makes even less sense to waste time wondering about who has returned from the void. And, it's like when a name is on the tip of your tongue and it drives you just a little crazy (for no good reason) until you finally think of it.
_________________
Lee Gordon, O.A.V.
Voice President of the United States
www.leegordonproductions.com
Twitter: @LeeGordonVoice