Where you been?

[Katfish]

No idea on the personality conflicts, but traffic has declined.
Alan was always working on something and had valuable input on a wide variety of issues.
It's  a shame to lose the knowledge base.
I too canceled my FB account 20yrs ago, but just may have to go back.
Although I consider FB truly evil, it's where the traffic is.

[dodj]

Although I consider FB truly evil, it's where the traffic is.

Moving to the Dark Side Luke?...I mean Rod? 

[dodj]

I gotta admit, I had no idea this thread would go the way it did. But I too hope that some of the veterans from years past come back.

[JH27N0B]

I have strived to keep a low online presence for privacy in this digital world, I just post on some car forums and no social media sites. I don't even bank online anymore, though do pay and manage my credit cards online. 
But even though I've never joined facebook or tik tok, Instagram etc I wonder if its all for naught.  I've had some things happen that really make me wonder.  I'll look up something on my work computer and then later at home some imbedded ads on sites I'm looking at on my home network will be for that item.  Has to be more than a coincidence.
Just yesterday I had something happen at work that had me thinking.  A coworker assigned me to review a truck order with issues with its 5th wheel setup.  I did a cursory search in one of our bill of material databases on a work application tool.  A few hours later I took a breather and was looking at headlines on MSN, and some of the imbedded ads there were for Fontaine and some other 5th wheel company's 5th wheels.
So even though I'm sure my work's network no doubt has a high level of security and firewalls, somehow someone was able to either harvest data from that email or from descriptions in the internal bill of material database I looked at, and use that to determine that I might be interested in buying 5th wheels.
Even though places already are harvesting all kinds of data on me from when I'm online, I'm still staying away from Facebook!

[dodj]

no social media sites.

It still amazes me we cal it 'social media'. It is about the most 'unsocial' environment I am aware of.

[70_440-6Cuda]

I work for a global corporation in the data and software (among other things) business - I actually work in the Buildings side of things, so construction,  service and maintenance and of course software to help "run" their businesses.

Just to give an eye opener, which maybe everyone already knows: more data has been generated in the last 2 years than in the entire recorded history of the world.  Data collection in and of itself is relatively useless, its creating something actionable out of the data that has value.  From my industry exposure, I do not think there is a way to be truly off the grid unless you are living off the grid with no cellular or internet connection - not very realistic in todays day and age.

But in all reality, why do I really care?  I take precautions with my personal / financial information, but the reality is if you have a grocery store rewards # they are tracking what you buy so they can market to you and hopefully you buy more.  If you know that going in, and manage the advertising influence, other than mildly annoying who cares?  I can have an oil filter delivered to my house sometimes same day - I will put up with targeted ads in my scrolling for the convenience of not having to drive to the store and find time to beat traffic and get their before it closes to find out they dont have what I need anyway

Its all a trade off- but I find Facebook annoying to try to use - I have been on my wifes a few times - it aint for me - then again this and LinkedIn (for work) is the extent of my social media

[YellowThumper]

Agree with data collection issues on the public forums.
Interestingly there jas been multiple times where I have had conversations with people in person (not on phone) and then immediately have advertisements pop up for what was verbally discussed. Phone only being carried in my hand.

[RUNCHARGER]

Agreed, my wife and I notice that all the time. These phones that we pay for spy on us and collect data which I am sure is paid for. It's not a nice world we live in right now.

[tparker]

It's not just social media and phones that collect data, but all those discount programs at stores also collect your purchases. This includes grocery stores and auto parts places or any other place you swipe discount card or enter a phone number. And now doubt the people running the registers and point of sales devices where you swipe your card collects your info as well as the credit card companies. If you get coupons printed out on the back of your reciepts, that is info based on your purchasing habits.

There is an old story where a guy was informed that his daughter was pregnat based on her purchases. Basically he was getting coupons for diapers and formula or something and he asked why he was getting these. Believe it or not, there are some interesting statistics and info that can be  gleammed from what you purchase.

This is all likely to get worse as tech continues to evolve. Cars collect data and some what that to be sent back to the manufacturer and to be used in court; Face recognition software is being tried out in various places; Police are trying to gain access to ring cameras; and the number of cameras around town are sky rocketing. I don't think there is much to do. Your info is out there and othere people can leverage it for a variety of reasons.

I don't like it, but I don't think it is nefarious, heck I save money with it. However, it can be abused and is creepy.

[Chryco Psycho]

As with All tech it can be used for both bad & good , it is sold to us on the good aspects of course .
 Right back to the first stone hammer .

[ec_co]

Agree with data collection issues on the public forums.
Interestingly there jas been multiple times where I have had conversations with people in person (not on phone) and then immediately have advertisements pop up for what was verbally discussed. Phone only being carried in my hand.

It's been a known thing that the Facebook application just being installed listens to  your conversations to scrape data for advertising even when it's turned off. I know this was absolutely a huge thing several years ago because they got caught with their pants down with transmitting data throughout the day when it wasn't needed or necessary and I'm assuming that they really haven't changed their tactics at all.

[ebodyproducts]

I enjoy the site and wasn't here until recently.  I rely on this site entirely for advice and have made lots of friends.  I'm not personally going anywhere.  I have had zero drama here with anyone.  FB is not an option for me.

[RzeroB]

HE is one of the main reasons I have been scarce here

C'mon back Chryco ... we miss you. As Dodj has said, HE (who shall remain nameless) hasn't been very active here since April (is that really true?) HE's doing most all of his self promotion over Facebook now. Even with that, HE is still the top poster here by almost 50% over the second most prolific poster. That statistic is kind of staggering - that's a LOT of self promotion!!

[DeathProofCuda]

HE is one of the main reasons I have been scarce here

C'mon back Chryco ... we miss you. As Dodj has said, HE (who shall remain nameless) hasn't been very active here since April (is that really true?) HE's doing most all of his self promotion over Facebook now. Even with that, HE is still the top poster here by almost 50% over the second most prolific poster. That statistic is kind of staggering - that's a LOT of self promotion!!

I vaguely recall reading through an old thread here that included folks complaining about the prolific posting of He who shall remain nameless.  In his defense, he claimed to have made some deal with Cody that required or maybe incentivized him to chime in frequently, maybe to keep up traffic on the site??? 

[Chryco Psycho]

I am back to checking every day or so not monthly